Featured Films of Cultural Exploration

The film "Travels In Schizophrenia” picks up on the life of Philip Tetrault, an accomplished poet living with schizophrenia, as he tries to find a home where he can fit in. His odyssey through Montreal was previously covered in the award-winning film "This Beggar's Description" (NFB 2005) and now this latest documentary in 2022 follows him from rental room to room as he is asked to leave abruptly and very often without explanation by his landlords. The documentary's point of view is that the current rental market is totally inadequate for people like Phil and that until we create housing and communities that can accommodate and support his eccentricities, we will pay extra millions for police, court and hospital interventions that could have been prevented. The system must adapt to the client because what we have in place now is not working for the families dealing with the problems or the public. "You don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows." Bob Dylan

Philip Tétrault has been locked up in jails and psych wards, kicked out of the house by desperate friends and family and spent long periods living on the streets of Montreal. However, he is also a talented writer and loving father whose deep family bonds and friendships have helped him come through periods of incredible darkness brought on by his schizophrenia. Directed by Pierre Tétrault, This Beggar’s Description tells his brother Phil’s story — one of art, love, and madness — capturing the far-reaching effects of schizophrenia on one man, his friends and his family. Phil’s writing is central both to his life and to this documentary — offering extraordinary insights into street life in Montreal, the beauty of nature and what he calls “the gymnastics of my mind.” His unpublished novel, Travels in Schizophrenia, is so intense that to this day Phil can’t read it, for fear that it will bring on his schizophrenia. Today he spends his days with friends on the street, collects cans for beer money, plays his beloved pan flute and writes as much as he can. Phil often mentions the manuscript poetry book in Montreal, which is attended by his old friend and great supporter Leonard Cohen, whose songs are woven throughout the film. In this powerful and moving portrait, we are reminded that rather than consigning to isolate those with schizophrenia, it is a far richer experience to make a place for them. --- ABOUT THE DIRECTOR With This Beggar’s Description, actor, director, artistic director, and playwright Pierre Tétrault launches his film career after making his mark in theatre. Previously, he developed theatre for young audiences at Carousel Players (St. Catharines, Ontario), before joining Young People’s Theatre, Toronto in 1998 as artistic director. Notable shows include Dora award nominees Mella Mella, The Prince and the Pauper, and Ghost Train. Tétrault’s co-writing credits include Crack Diary, *Peacocks and Bandadits, The Nightingale and Gandhi High* --- ABOUT THE PRODUCER Gerry Flahive has worked on more than 30 films for the NFB, including the Genie Award-winning Just Watch Me: Trudeau and the ’70s Generation, McLuhan’s Wake, Project Grizzly, Shinny: The Hockey in All of Us and The Next Big Thing. In 2004 he produced the award-winning It’s a Girl’s World, about social bullying among girls. --- Written, Directed and Narrated by PIERRE TÉTRAULT Produced by GERRY FLAHIVE Director of Photography PIERRE LETARTE c.s.c. Editor GREG HOPEN Sound Designer CHRIS MILLER Original Music by DONALD QUAN Creative Consultant DORIS RASJAN Executive Producers SILVA BASMAJIAN, SYLVIA SWEENEY Featuring the prose and poetry of PHILIP TÉTRAULT Featuring the music of LEONARD COHEN --- © 2003 National Film Board of Canada

They have been called "village idiots", "imbeciles", "fools", "sub-humans" and "retards". They have been incarcerated and abused in prisons and institutions. They have been feared and misunderstood for centuries. They are people with intellectual disabilities. Directed by Pierre Tétrault, The "R" Word tells the stories of three generations of families and individuals, their incredible stories of courage, vulnerability and love. We come out of these stories with a new understanding of the urgency to create conditions where all people can maximize their potential without fear of discrimination and dehumanization and how that process in turn makes us all more fully human. Executive Producer, Writer, and Director: PIERRE TÉTRAULT Producer and Writer: DORIS RAJAN Director of Photography: ERICK NETTEL Editor: KUNAL GAUBA, SOHAN LALL MEDIA Original Music: DONALD QUAN, QMUSIC Featuring the Music of ANDREA KOZIOL Narrated by JOE CLAYTON Produced and Developed in Association with OMNI TELEVISION, a division of Rogers Communications Copyright © Pierre Tétrault Media Inc. For more information contact Doris Rajan at d.rajan@rogers.com