Judy versus Capitalism opens the Rendezvous with Madness Festival

14 Oct 2020

"With the emergence of the global pandemic as well as growing awareness of profound racial and structural inequity, discussions around mental health have been critical as we seek ways to cope, process, and reckon with the changing world around us,” are the wise words from Workman Arts Executive Director Kelly Straughan. And what more apropos time could there be to experience the Rendezvous with Madness Festival? The festival has by necessity moved online, including the visual art installations Re:Building Resilience augmenting the 48 films from 24 countries, most complemented by Q&As or panel discussions.

The festival's opening film, Judy versus Capitalism, is a powerful journey into the mind of social justice activist Judy Rebick. The subject is a familiar face to anyone who has been paying attention to the struggles for women's rights, particularly the battle for a woman's right to choose abortion. Footage of Rebick speaking or leading a protest march in a contagious chant of "We won't, we won't, shut the fuck up," reveal a firebrand who is articulate, warm and determined. So it is shocking, and illuminating, to discover part way through Judy versus Capitalism that Rebick is living with dissociative identity disorder as a result of childhood sexual abuse.

Judy versus Capitalism is not a conventional bio-pic. Queer director and close friend of Rebick's, Michael Hoolboom, is an experimental filmmaker and he layers on dizzying and distorted images that contradict and reinforce the narration that Rebick provides. She is matter of fact and straightforward. The imagery - much of it of Rebick but out of focus, out of frame, or slashed with jump cuts - creates unease and requires concentration. Often the connections are ephemeral - a parade of children in Halloween costumes only makes sense in context of Rebick's discovery of her other personalities, a lengthy Pride parade segment provides an inexplicable counterpoint to Rebick's work with Dr Morgentaler (is there a queer context that I missed?) - but even when Rebick is communing calmly with nature, the camerawork is seething and jittery.

Archival footage is mixed with staged footage made to appear archival. Memories are jumbled with recreations. A pivotal moment unfolds in a simple slow motion sequence that is at first a relief from the bombardment, only to turn to horror at what the moment means and why it is so solidly stuck in time. The conceptual framework of putting the viewer inside a similar existence as Rebick's works though the film is unable to express Rebick's assertation that her disorder has powered her work. Judy versus Capitalism left me drained, inspired, full of admiration for Rebick, and hungry to read her memoir Heroes in my Head.

 The rest of the festival is just as intriguing and, undoubtedly, as packed with unexpected twists and revelations. Rochelle Richardson has a theatre piece as part of Re:Building Resilience that's title alone makes it worth searching out: Queen Latifah Give Me Strength. Apocalypse in Your Bedroom is James Knott's theatrical '70s glam rock take on the "elusive and dichotomous nature of queer identity," with content warnings of "Strobe Light, Loud Sounds, Nudity, Sexual Content, Self-Harm." Mad Fairy Tales reimagines the classics through a queer lens in a manner that Disney can only hint at. And there are still a multitude of installations and over 40 more films to be explored.