Fremont
Wednesday, October 22, 2025 7:00pm
USA 2023 Director: Babak Jalali
Fremont, California, known for having the largest Afghan diaspora in the US, is home to Donya (Anaita Wali Zada), a young woman and former translator for the U.S. Army. Every morning she commutes to San Francisco’s Chinatown where she works at a fortune cookie factory. Despite friendly coworkers and an unusually supportive boss, her discontent is palpable. While seeing an earnest psychiatrist (Gregg Turkington) for insomnia, whose “bibliotherapy” approach wavers in helping Donya make sense of her trauma, she sets off on a road trip that results in an awkward yet sweet encounter with a mechanic (Jeremy Allen White). The film’s saturnine atmosphere, intensified by stoic black-and-white cinematography, is softened by deadpan humour, earning comparisons to Jim Jarmusch, Aki Kaurismäki, and Paweł Pawlikowski. Challenging American dream platitudes, Fremont presents an unsensational depiction of PTSD and survivor’s guilt that is complicated by longing for companionship and a less monotonous life. Welcoming remarks by Dr. Lakshmi N. Yatham and Dr. Catherine Hickey. Post-screening discussion with Dr. Martina Scholtens. Co-sponsored by the Canadian Psychiatric Association
Seven climate scientists sign up for a group therapy session facilitated by therapist Richard Beck…In order to cope with increased existential anxiety and fear, Beck’s therapy session makes clear that human connection is necessary—for climatologists and everyday citizens alike. Post-screening discussion with Dr. Rashmi Chadha and Dr. Kai Irani.. Co-sponsored by
While straining to emotionally connect with those around her, a young woman named Cora experiences debilitating and painful allergic reactions to food. Looking for answers to her medical mystery, Cora discovers Sun Haven, an isolated community practicing breatharianism—the pseudoscientific belief that humans can survive solely on light and air.
Recently nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, Adam Elliot’s tragicomedy recounts the misfortunes of a misfit named Grace who becomes obsessed with snails. After she is separated from her twin brother Gilbert, traumatic events and failed relationships compound and lead to a myriad of mental health conditions including hoarding, kleptomania, and depression. To cope, a melancholic Grace becomes an ardent collector of romance novels and guinea pigs.
Just two years after his magnum opus Titicut Follies and decades before hospitals became a popular site of procedural and reality television, Wiseman turned his panoramic lens onto one of society’s greatest collective institutions. Set in the bustling Metropolitan Hospital in East Harlem, Hospital documents numerous emergency encounters of patients suffering from a range of medical and psychological ailments, including states of extreme intoxication.
Wednesday February 19, 2025, 7:00pm
Yohji, a retired professor with a mysterious past, is diagnosed with dementia, his son Takashi is forced to reconcile not only with his father’s newly intensified illness, but also with the
Inspired by the concept of an “autistic camera,” The Stimming Pool is a brilliant exercise in collaborative filmmaking in which the lived experiences of several neurodiverse artists reign supreme. A film curator of a B‑movie film club shares his fascination with underground horror with an engaged audience; a woman takes an eye-tracking biomarker test; a worker tries to settle into a busy office full of overwhelming background noises; Post-screening discussion with Javier Herrera and Kenzie Curby, both neurodiverse individuals and advocates.