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This annual film festival showcases international films about mental illnesses. Some of the films are so disturbing to watch particularly because they are based on actual treatments on the mentally ill. The treatments look like torture causing more damage than healing. One gets the impression that whoever walks in for treatment becomes worse and if they were not insane, they eventually become so from the treatments. Noteworthy films: 'Four Minutes' about a talented female prisoner who is trained to play the piano for competitions; 'Opium' about a sexual relationship between a female patient obsessed with writing and her doctor; 'Severing the Soul' about Rosemary Kennedy's lobotomy which made her mute; and 'Borderline' about a sex-obsessed female recovering through writing and her damaged relationships. Some really disturbing scenes from these films show a treatment where a large nail is hammered into patients eye sockets to make them passive, full body water immersion of patients into water tanks, and the gradual loss of speech from a lobotomy. After the films, directors are invited to speak with the public on the films in a Q & A style panel discussion. This is a useful method to explain the films and the treatments and some members of the audience are psychiatric consumers and survivors who understand the problems of healing mental illnesses. There are parties in the nearby restaurants and galleries for the public and filmmakers and staff: Nyood restaurant, T.A.N. Coffee shop, Thrush Holmes Empire gallery, and psychiatric consumers artworks on display inside the CAMH walls. Such support from businesses in the community is a positive sign for the mental health field which is more and more trying to integrate treatments within a community framework instead of segregating with walls and isolation. Consumers formerly known as patients can live a full life while coming and going for treatments without confinement. Rendezvous with Madness Film Festival and Being Scene Exhibition allow the public and consumers a dialogue which aids in understanding the psychology of mental illness and how it impacts sociologically on society. Joseph Workman Theater is aptly the location for this film festival since it is within the grounds of the Center of Addiction and Mental Health along Queen Street West in the Design District. The old walls which enclosed the compound have long been torn down to allow free access in and out for treatments and counselling. It is currently being renovated to allow for more integration within the community.
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