Still crazy after all these years
Madness film fest starts tonight Tortured artists are in the limelight
Is madness on the rise, or is it just that the subject is getting more serious attention from filmmakers? Whatever the case, the annual Rendezvous with Madness Film Festival gains impact with each year of screenings at the Workman Theatre, situated in the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health on Queen St. W. Mandated to dispel myths about mental illness and addictions, the festival this year presents 50 works, including features, shorts, animated films, documentaries and dramas. A moving portrait of his schizophrenic brother, Pierre Tétrault’s This Beggar’s Description opens the festival tonight. The 65-minute production from the National Film Board traces the life of Phil Tétrault, a talented poet who took to the streets of Montreal after his first bout with schizophrenia. Shabby and dishevelled, but somehow dignified, Tétrault plies his trade, selling hand- printed copies of his poetry in a bookstore near boul. St. Laurent.
Bereft of all his toes after a spell living in the woods in winter, he plays his panpipes in a city patch of green known as Leonard’s park, after Leonard Cohen. Near the end, the senior poet and the schizophrenic sit on a bench in the park and Cohen reads Tétrault’s poems to him, saying how much he likes them and why.
That documentary is preceded by a screening of This Crazy Game Called Life, an NFB animated short that plays with stereotypes and misconceptions about mental illness with a metaphoric board game.
Artists afflicted with mental illness make a running theme in this year’s festival. The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Jeff Feuerzeig’s doc about the alt-music singer/songwriter, got good buzz when it screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. Johnston’s outsider status comes from a troubled mind that had visions of satanic interventions. The film screens on Friday, Nov. 18.
Derailroaded, screening next Thursday, presents the life of Larry “Wild Man” Fischer, a protégé of Frank Zappa’s seemingly diagnosed with several major forms of mental illness. Director Josh Rubin portrays the cult musician through the commentary of those who have worked with and admired him, including Zappa’s wife Gail, Weird Al Yankovic and Ruth Buzzi.
Allen King’s Memory for Max, Claire, Ida and company
is the Canadian documentarian’s account of memory loss in the lives of residents at the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care in Toronto. The film, programmed along with other works about families affected by mental illness, screens Saturday.
In a category about kids confronting trauma come two NFB productions about adolescent behaviour. Shredded deals with obsessive practices in the gymnasium. It’s about a group of teenage boys who emulate media heroes with their weight lifting. XS Stress: Teens Take Control introduces three youths forced to the edge through gay bashing, dyslexia and self- laceration. Director Patricia Kearns looks at their coping strategies and their interactions with their contemporaries. Both films screen next Thursday. Tomorrow’s Remembrance Day programming concentrates on the mental effects of war, with screenings of Susanne Bier’s Brothers, about a Danish soldier sent to Afghanistan and One Shot, a look down the barrel with the sharpshooters of the Israeli Defence Forces. The festival is also sponsoring an exhibition of work by the Torontobased Cuban artist Pedro Alderete, entitled A FETISH OF MILITARISM: Let’s Give Peace A Chance.
On Oct. 17, the artist died way before his time, crushed between a hydraulic lift the warehouse door he was painting at Downsview Park. An important film from the past screens on Wednesday night. Legendary director Sam Fuller made Shock Corridor in 1963 in an insane asylum, using it as a metaphor for American society. The screening, as are many others, is followed by a panel discussion.
Ever wonder what it means to suffer from heroin addiction ( Invisible)? Trichotillomania, or obsessive hair- pulling ( Bad Hair Life)? Or living with obsessive collectors ( Packrat)? Rendezvous With Madness will take you there, with a range of shorts that either deal with or express different forms of madness. The festival closes Saturday, Nov. 20 with El Sonador/The Dreamer, a short film from Spain about a man who can sleep for up to three consecutive days, and the feature Familia. Quebec director Louise Archambault’s first feature is about Mimi, an aerobics instructor, gambling addict and mother. Making a heartwrenching story out of dysfunctional parenting, Familia shared the prize for Best Canadian first feature film at Toronto’s film festival. Just the facts What: Rendezvous With Madness Film Festival When: tonight at 6 p.m., through Sunday, Nov. 20 Where: Joseph Workman Theatre, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 1001 Queen St. W. Tickets: $8 per screening @ 416-583-4606