Au Contraire - An Interview with Philip Silverberg

Au Contraire Film Festival 2016

On Tuesday, October 18th, CJLO's At the Movies (With Iconic Sounds) had the opportunity to interview Philip Silverberg, who is one of the organizers of the Au Contraire Film Festival. The fourth edition of the festival starts next week, and strives to achieve awareness and advocacy for mental health issues. The festival runs from October 25th until October 28th. One thing is to note that Mr. Silverberg expressed is the distinction that this festival is more than your regular film festival.

October 25th, being called "Opening Night" sees standup comedian and spokesperson for the 2016 ACFF, Christophe Davidson, deliver a monologue that "Will crack the barrier and crack us up".  Also on the 25th there is Patient's Rites, a film from director Issa Ibrahim making its Canadian premiere. The film fallows Issa's perspective from 20 years of being hospitalized and is being described as "A Therapy session set to the music in a self-produced film on a shoestring budget."

October the 26th, "Therapy Night", sees various films, but when you focus on what exceeds the regular film festival themes as Mr. Silverberg stated in his interview with us. Patients from director Alex Widdowson makes its Canadian premiere as "A semi-autobiographic animated documentary about psychosis". There will also be two Italian films shown with English subtitles, Bellissima and Millelire.

October the 27th, "Documental Series" & "Chabad Lifeline", showcases some more great work. The ones that are highlights of the festival would be the short film Good Words from Canada directed by Concordia University alumni Robby Reis. It tells the story about a gifted highly candidate during a job interview, that all things are going well until the conversation turns towards the subject of mental illness "While this film is a work of fiction, research indicates that it represents a reality played out daily". "Chabad Lifeline" showcases the film Krisha from director Trey Edward Shultz is "An extraordinary portrait of addiction and family storage, plays the troubled black sheep of a Texas family SXSW grand jury prize winner.

The festival closes on October the 28th with a series of animated shorts and a closing ceremony "Animated Minds & Closing Ceremony". The festival is being hosted this year at the Maxwell Cummings Auditorium located at Le Musée des Beaux Arts (1379A Sherbrooke Ouest, Montreal, QC, H3G 2T9, Canada). More information and tickets for the events mentioned can be found at www.acff.ca. This is a great festival that not only sheds light on awareness and advocacy for mental health issues. The smart design does so in a way that entertains and educates, which is the power that media and film have.

PRESS PLAY

--All of what is new and out! Join Remi and Danny for At the Movies (with Iconic Sounds), every Tuesday at 8AM, only on CJLO 1690AM.