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Program 2004The 12th Annual
Rendezvous with Madness Film Festival
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| This year, the Festival presents 38 films from six countries, including eight features, eight featurettes and twenty-two shorts. Of the documentary, experimental, animation and drama on offer, seven are world or North American premieres and eleven are Canadian or Toronto premieres. | ||
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For Box Office information, click here Program At a Glance (95KB PDF) Film Synopses (185KB PDF) | ||
One of the pioneers of Canadian animation. Oscar © nominee. Poor beggar. An artist unable to create. God observing the world. Fallen angel. Arrogant. Shy. Broken. Not destroyed. In Ryan, we hear the voice of Ryan Larkin and people who have known him, but these voices speak through strange, twisted, broken and disembodied 3-D generated characters… People whose appearances are bizarre, humorous or disturbing. These appearances reflect director Chris Landreth’s personal world of “psychological realism”.
Join Deirdre Logue, Executive Director of the Canadian Filmmaking Distribution Centre, in a one-hour introduction to the expanding definitions of experimental film and video. – Free -
This collection of short, experimental films and video’s delve bravely into the psyche, revealing our agitations, dysfunctions, obsessions and minor manias. The characters and stories in Losing Sleep trigger our impulses to reconsider the meaning of our lives and force us to accept the unpredictability of experience. These are thoughtful renderings, both emotionally and formally, probing the personal and breathing light into dark.
Norman is a character who is lost in an ambiguous dreamlike nowhere space where he obsessively turns, climbs and twists. The gritty, hand-processed aesthetic reflects Normans’ intense psychological state. The film is divided into three short sections: Turn, Climb and Norman.
This work captures the internal worlds and sufferings of a young boy while he lies in bed, using the light of the moon to make shadow puppets on his bedroom walls.
The autobiopic “My Life in 5 Minutes” tells a life story with a bittersweet song, animation and family snaps. Some photos hold painful or awkward memories for the artist; through computer animation, she enlarges her own eyes to blink the pain away.
A compelling portrayal of a young mans struggle and ultimate success in coping with a debilitating form of panic disorder. See how he comes to grips with crippling panic attacks that date back to his childhood, triggered in the past by such common activities as school dances for simply walking through the school halls. Watch as he regains control of a life once dominated by a disorder that threatened to leave him a powerless man.
(Co presented with the Ontario Coalition for Poverty)
Lost and Found is a personal view of two shelterless individuals who have lived on the streets of Toronto. The film delves briefly into their past and takes an in-depth look at how they survive from day to day, and cope with their isolated position in society. The two men have strong ideas about how to live their lives, which appear to sustain them in the face of extreme hardship. Richard is an artist who tries to support himself by selling his paintings to locals and passers-by. Fred is a poet, a songwriter and an athlete from a family background, which should have destined him for better things. The film shows the human face of homelessness, opening a window on a world peopled by the vulnerable, each with a story to tell.
(Co presented with The Schizophrenia Society)
Why would a physician decide to hide from her father with schizophrenia? In this compelling personal documentary, physician and filmmaker, Delany Ruston, decides to confront her schizophrenic father after years of estrangement. Will she be able to have the same compassion for him that she would if he had a physical rather than mental illness?
Over three years, filmmakers Abbey Jack Neidik and Irene Lilienheim Angelico followed three young men living with mental illness. Unbreakable Minds captures the emotional, personal journeys of Randy, Brad and Rob as they struggle with their inner demons and try to find their own place in a world that consistently regards them with fear and hostility. With the invaluable guidance of WillPower, a unique organization founded by frustrated family members, they maintain their hope and courage. With exceptional honesty and bravery, these three men speak candidly about their darkest days and brightest triumphs, allowing the audience to live through their experiences, getting to know schizophrenia from the inside out.
Inside Outside, is a work of hope created by ex-patient filmmakers. The film depicts the lives of eight people, with very significant histories of institutionalization, as they transition from nursing homes and psychiatric hospitals into the community. In the spirit of the U.S. President’s “New Freedom Initiative” and the U.S. Supreme Court’s “Olmstead Decision”. The film carries the message that recovery and life in the community are possibilities even for people who are viewed as the most impaired. The film leaves audiences cheering for these eight individuals as they make their journey from inside institutions to full community inclusion on the outside.
(Co presented with White Pine Pictures and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)
Shake Hands with the Devil is the searing, emotional journey of Canadian Lt-General Roméo Dallaire who commanded the U.N. peacekeeping mission to Rwanda in 1994. 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered during the Rwandan genocide. This experience led to Dallaire's own life tragedies as he dealt with the psychological fallout of witnessing a genocide he was powerless to stop. Filmed during General Dallaire's first return to Rwanda in April 2004. It is based on his best-selling book of the same title.
Stranded explores a narrative of Charlotte’s compulsion and fear. She is repulsed by her hair. She is also terrified of dust – both remind her of her fragile mortality and fill her life with dread. Her story is animated by a succession of oddly organic images, metaphoric in their relationship to Charlotte’s fear of dead skin cells.
During his senior year of college, artist John Cadigan had a psychotic break. He dropped out, cycled through a number of drugs and doctors, then decided to film his agonizing battle with mental illness. People Say I’m Crazy is the first-ever documentary photographed and directed by someone with schizophrenia. John invites audiences to tour the world inside his “beautiful mind”—a complex, paranoid and creative universe where he struggles to know what is real and what is not. The illness bonds John’s family closer together, as he comes to terms with his brain disorder and fight to build a fulfilling life.
(Co-presented with the National Film Board)
Walking is an artist’s observation of the way people walk. Larkin employs a variety of techniques—line drawing, colour wash, etc.—to catch and reproduce the motion of people afoot. The springing gait of youth, the mincing step of the high-heeled female, the doddering amble of the elderly—all are registered with humour and individuality to the accompaniment of special sound.
One of the pioneers of Canadian animation. Oscar © nominee. Poor beggar. An artist unable to create. God observing the world. Fallen angel. Arrogant. Shy. Broken. Not destroyed. In Ryan, we hear the voice of Ryan Larkin and people who have known him, but these voices speak through strange, twisted, broken and disembodied 3-D generated characters… People whose appearances are bizarre, humorous or disturbing. These appearances reflect director Chris Landreth’s personal world of “psychological realism”.
Ryan Larkin and Chris Landreth are Alter Egos. Ryan is living every artist’s worst nightmare: losing his ability to create and to provide for himself. He panhandles on the street to make ends meet. But more than thirty years ago, he was among the world’s most celebrated animators and an Oscar® nominee. Chris, a rising star in animation, is on the opposite trajectory in his career and beginning to experience the kind of adulation Ryan saw decades earlier. In this poignant study of artists, addiction and creativity, director Laurence Green explores these renowned filmmakers and the reasons for their divergent paths.
What happened to Ryan Larkin? In his award-winning animated documentary Ryan, Chris tells part of the story. Seamlessly incorporating this film in its entirety, and with excerpts of both men’s other Oscar®-nominated works, Alter Egos delves deeper into the curious tale of Ryan’s descent and explores the complex and utterly fascinating relationship that developed between the two men.
Three years in the making, this new film from acclaimed documentary filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (the team that created BROTHER’S KEEPER and PARADISE LOST) provides a fascinating, in-depth portrait of the most successful heavy metal band of all time, as they faced monumental personal and professional challenges while recording their first studio album of original songs in five years. In the tradition of such seminal music documentaries as DON’T LOOK BACK and GIMME SHELTER, this film seeks to transcend the conventions of the “rock ‘n’ roll movie” genre, trading rock-star posing for truthful introspection, and revealing an intimate portrait of the individuals behind a legendary band and their unique creative journey.
A portrait of an artist with dissociative disorder (popularly known as multiple personality disorder), A FINE STATE THIS IS captures the many “alters” co-habiting within lesbian artist Deborah Fargo Whitman, who has had celebrated solo exhibitions at the Whitney and prestigious New York galleries. An endearing six-year-old girl named Genie; a gay teen named Anton; a little boy named Wiley, an alcoholic; an ape and dozens of others live separate yet harmonious lives inside Deborah's body. Without dwelling on clinical evaluations or details of childhood abuse, director Jessica Chandler deftly captures the individual personalities as they emerge. Spiked with captivating visuals of Deborah's art and the healing images of the alters' paintings, this is a mesmerizing film whose whole is undeniably greater than the sum of its parts.
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