For 27 years, Toronto’s Rendezvous With Madness Festival has wowed audiences with intelligent and hard-hitting programming, blowing open tough conversations about addiction and mental health. This year’s closing night film, Irene’s Ghost, is no exception. The Guardian gave it a 4-star review, praising it as “profound”. We know it will inspire a lot of important conversations around motherhood, postpartum depression, and more. 

Irene’s Ghost is a stunning 6-years-in-the-making documentary that follows a son’s search to find out about the mother he never knew. Iain Cunningham breaks the silence and tracks down his mother’s friends and family to rebuild a picture of her. Cunningham was three when his Mother Irene died. His Father never spoke of it and the family’s silence around Irene meant that she was alive only in Cunningham’s imagination as a thistle seed or in the image of the moon. The birth of his own child inspires a journey to discover the truth about Irene, piecing together fragments of the past to make sense of the present. Utilizing gorgeous animation alongside moving archival footage, Irene’s Ghost lovingly rebuilds Irene’s lost life.

Like Rendezvous With Madness, we at Shedoesthecity, try to fight stigma, when it comes to outdated, ill-informed, and/or downright harmful perceptions of mental health issues. It’s also incredibly important to us that issues that have been misrepresented, or purposefully muted (especially women’s health issues), are given a platform, to help individuals see their stories, and feel less alone, but also to bring about positive change. Given that we share many of the same values as Workman Arts, and Rendezvous With Madness, we’re proud to be a media sponsor for this year’s closing night film: Irene’s Ghost—will you join us?

We have ten pairs of tickets to giveaway, and you’ve got three ways to win:

Tweet, “Dear @Shedoesthecity, I love a profound documentary, especially one that fights stigma. Please send me to the #RWMFest19 screening of Irene’s Ghost this Saturday at @WorkmanArtsTO Theatre. #GetMad”

LIKE + COMMENT our Irene’s Ghost posts on Facebook and Instagram. 

Irene’s Ghost will screen on Saturday, October 19, 8:30PM, at Workman Arts Theatre (651 Dufferin Street). Bring tissue, this one will crack you open.

Winners will be selected Friday by 1pm EST. Watch the trailer for Irene’s Ghost now.