Crazywise
★ 6 · 2017 · 82m · Documentary
Western culture treats mental disorders primarily through biomedical psychiatry, but filmmakers Phil Borges and Kevin Tomlinson reveal a growing movement of professionals and survivors who are forging alternative treatments that focus on recovery and turning mental “illness” into a positive transformative experience.
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Out of Mind, Out of Sight
2014 · ★ 5.7
Four-time Emmy winner John Kastner was granted unprecedented access to the Brockville facility for 18 months, allowing 46 patients and 75 staff to share their experiences with stunning frankness. The result is two remarkable documentaries: the first, NCR: Not Criminally Responsible, premiered at Hot Docs in the spring of 2013 and follows the story of a violent patient released into the community. The second film, Out of Mind, Out of Sight, returns to the Brockville Mental Health Centre to profile four patients, two men and two women, as they struggle to gain control over their lives so they can return to a society that often fears and demonizes them.
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Foster Child
1987 · ★ 5
Gil Cardinal searches for his natural family and an understanding of the circumstances that led to his becoming a foster child. An important figure in the history of Canadian Indigenous filmmaking, Gil Cardinal was born to a Métis mother but raised by a non-Indigenous foster family, and with this auto-biographical documentary he charts his efforts to find his biological mother and to understand why he was removed from her. Considered a milestone in documentary cinema, it addressed the country’s internal colonialism in a profoundly personal manner, winning a Special Jury Prize at Banff and multiple international awards.
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Attila
2023
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Sixty snowmobilers, indigenous and non-indigenous, join forces to take part in a huge snowmobiling expedition: a 3500 km journey to be completed in 16 days. The goal: to cross a large swath of Quebec to work towards reconciliation between peoples. In this choral film, which is as much a physical ordeal as a spiritual and psychological one, the participants take on the mission of raising public awareness of the issues dear to their communities. Through the challenges posed by the weather and the long daily journeys that put the group to the test, a powerful bond is forged between the participants, who face enormous adversity. A journey on the land of ancestors that reveals the strength of togetherness.
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Beyond Hoarding
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"Beyond Hoarding" takes a fresh look at hoarding through the experiences of people afflicted with this compulsion. Mental health experts shed light on this psychiatric disorder which is treatable.
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1991 · ★ 10
An intimate exploration of the circumstances surrounding the incarceration of Native American activist Leonard Peltier, convicted of murder in 1977, with commentary from those involved, including Peltier himself.
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2009
Rescue bridge of the Tupinambá de Uruçumirim village, headquarters of the Tamoia Confederation until 1567, when it was destroyed in a genocidal operation, commanded by Portuguese led by Estácio de Sá, with the support of the Jesuits Manuel da Nóbrega and Anchieta, here founding the city of Rio de January. Testimony and contemporary point of view from Pajé Sapaim Kamayurá.
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