Crocodile Tears (Air Mata Buaya)
Wednesday, November 12, 2025 7:00 pm
Indonesia/France/Singapore/Germany 2024 Director: Tumpal Tampubolon
Twenty-year-old Johan (Yusuf Mahardika) and his mother (Marissa Anita) live a peculiarly isolated life caring for a derelict crocodile park in the lush terrain of rural West Java. On a rare evening out, Johan meets a young woman named Arumi (Zulfa Maharani) who recently started working at a karaoke bar in a nearby village. Soon the two become romantic, and the uncomfortably close relationship between mother and adult son begins to unravel. Overbearing qualities quickly turn into obsession as the mother’s spiral into madness leads to a bizarre series of events and a chilling conclusion. In his much anticipated feature-length debut, Tumpal Tampulolon expands the motherhood horror subgenre, situating an Indonesian coming-of-age story in a disquieted atmosphere with supernatural overtones. Post-screening discussion with Dr. Randall F. White. Co-sponsored by the Social and Cultural Psychiatry, and the Schizophrenia programs of the Adult Division of UBC Dept of Psychiatry
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
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