The importance of mental health awareness has been a focus for Workman Arts for years. This year is no different, especially with their linup for the 29th edition of the Rendezvous With Madness Festival (RWM). This is one of the largest and longest-running arts festival in the world dedicated to the intersection of mental health and artistic expression.
Since many of us are still feeling the emotional effects of months of isolation, income precarity, and anxiety over what the future holds, the Rendezvous With Madness Festival offers a unique opportunity to come together in reflection and discussion.
I have attended RWF for many years, and highly recommend you join in this year if you are able to. The list here includes my personal recommendations for films and other events that have piqued my interest.
Film Picks
OPENING FILM
KÍMMAPIIYIPITSSINI: THE MEANING OF EMPATHY (2021)
Director Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers | Documentary
In-person screening + Panel: Thursday, Oct 28, 6:30PM
Watch Online: Oct 28 – Nov 7 available across Canada
The Meaning of Empathy premiered at Hot Docs and was one of the Rogers Audience Award winners. The film chronicles the impact of the opioid crisis on Indigenous communities and advocates for a harm reduction approach for people who use drugs rather than criminalization.
I saw the film at Hot Docs and frankly, it is a must-see in my opinion. Kímmapiiyipitssini is a Blackfoot word for empathy and kindness. The Meaning of Empathy explains why embracing this practice is critical to combating substance use involvement.
IF YOU ASK ME YOUTH SHORTS (2021)
Director: Various | Short films
In-person screening + Panel: Sunday, Oct 31, 5PM
Watch Online: Oct 29 – Nov 7 available across Canada
The world has changed substantially since the initial planning of If You Ask Me 2021. This year’s cohort of filmmakers adapted their practices to ever-changing conditions. Join the Q + A session to learn how recent events informed the production of their films and hear their predictions on how this time will shape the future of film.
RETRO RENDEZVOUS HALLOWEEN: SAFE (1995)
Director: Todd Haynes
In-person screening + Panel: Sunday, Oct 31, 8PM
Watch Online: Oct 29 – Nov 7 available across Canada
Another highlight is a special retro screening of this classic film starring Julianne Moore as Carolyn White, a well-to-do California housewife who suddenly finds herself struggling to breathe while doctors continually insist that nothing is amiss with her health.
AS I WANT (2021)
Director Samaher Alqadi | Documentary
Watch Online + Pre-recorded Q&A: Oct 29 – Nov 7 available across Canada
Arabic with English subtitles
CW/TW: Sexual assault
Alqadi utilizes her camera as a form of protection and begins documenting the growing women’s rebellion in the Middle East, not knowing where the story will lead her. When Alqadi becomes pregnant during filming, she begins to re-examine the societal constructs of her own childhood in Palestine and what it means to be a woman and a mother in the Middle East.
WHAT EVERYONE GETS: SHORTS PROGRAM (2018-2020)
Guest Curators: Shahbaz Khayambashi, Clare Samuel
Director Various | Short films
Watch Online: Oct 29 – Nov 7 available across Canada
Virtual Panel Discussion: Thursday Nov 4, 5PM ET
Death holds a paradoxical place for us: we understand our own death is inevitable, at the same time as it feels utterly inconceivable. Recently, death has felt closer than ever as millions of people have died of Covid-19 and the deadly effects of global warming accelerated in earnest. This collection of films explores dying in relation to ritual, spectacle, care, love, and the traces we leave behind.
VISIÓN NOCTURNA (NIGHT SHOT) (2019)
Director Carolina Moscoso | Documentary
Watch Online: Oct 29 – Nov 7 available across Canada
Virtual Q&A: Monday, Nov 1, 5PM ET
Spanish with English subtitles
CW/TW: Rape
Few challenges are harder for a first-time filmmaker than the one Carolina Moscoso set for herself: to make a film based on the rape she was the victim of eight years before, when she was a film school student. The title Visión nocturna refers to a function that allows digital cameras to film at night, to see
in the dark, by enhancing their sensitivity.
CLOSING FILM
DRUNK ON TOO MUCH LIFE (2021)
Director Michelle Melles | Documentary
In-person screening + Virtual Panel: Sat, Nov 6, 6:30PM
Watch Online: Oct 29 – Nov 7 available across Canada
The film focuses on Melles’ daughter, Corrina Orrego, a young woman who has experienced mental illness for much of her adult life. The film strives to change how people perceive those with mental health issues framing their conditions as potentially insightful rather than burdensome disorders, and will lead to conversations about ways the Canadian mental health programme succeeds and fails to accommodate and support young people in their healing.
Exhibitions / Performances
UNBREAKABLE
Amplify Collective
In person show is Sold Out
Virtual performance: information available here
Amplify Collective is a community of individuals with lived mental health and addiction experiences. Despite these challenges they have prevailed and hope to share a message of resilience and growth. Through the use of symbols, body movement, music, distressed textiles and elaborate, wearable sculptures, this performance experience weaves the strength that exists within their communities and the weight of injustice.
SZEPTY/WHISPERS: DIALOGUE
Collaborator Artists Talk
Recording available online Oct 28 – Nov 7
The process for Szepty/Whispers: Dialogue began when artist Veronique West invited seven collaborators to make audio recordings in response to open-ended questions about mental health, language and lineage.
Through the voices of various artists, this web-based experience explores the relationship between mental health, language, and lineage. Many awareness campaigns urge us to “break the silence”. But the question of whether – or how – to speak is complicated.
This piece aims to expand the possibilities for how we communicate about madness, trauma, and neurodivergence. The content is offered in the form of audio files, transcripts, and ASL videos.
Full festival details are available on the RWM website.
