Featured Films on Social Justice

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 His unpublished novel, Travels in Schizophrenia, is so intense that to this day Phil can’t read it, for fear that it will bring on his schizophrenia.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.

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.

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

CAMH, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, requested a film based on its new booklet called "CAMH Bill of Rights." The booklet outlined in point form, the rights clients could expect to have while going through treatment for mental health issues in the hospital. It was to serve as a guide for staff and clients alike to refer to during the time they spent in treatment. We created a film that reenacted situations in hospitals that could possibly emerge between staff and clients with a view to give visual clarity to best and worst practices in these instances. These scenes are fictional as we are not saying these situations actually occurred in the hospital. We are saying that if they were to occur, there is a Bill of Rights in place at the hospital that would indicate best and worst practices in those situations. The film was screened many times over the years and we were told it was a very useful tool to bring the booklet to life for clients and staff alike, leading to better communication and less misunderstanding.

Healing Rani is a Canadian comedy short film that was also developed as a half- hour television pilot program in 2007. The story centres around the trials, tribulations, and ambitions of Rani, a Canadian born single mother of Indian background who aspires to break into stand-up comedy. Desperate for her big break, she enlists the services of a recognized American comedian to mentor her and help her find success, and break with the monotonous, boring corporate job she has. Healing Rani was screened at the 2007 New York International Independent Film & Video Festival, where it won the International Award for Best Cinematography of a Short Film. It was also recognized as part of Toronto's ReelWorld Film Festival circuit around that time, highlighting the work of emerging filmmakers.

This is a very short film about a very important topic. It calls for people with disabilities to make sure they get screened for cancer as statistics showed they were often overlooked for early screening and often cancer would be diagnosed as at a late stage when they were finally screened.