Billy is a film buff who films himself non-stop. During a film shoot, he meets Lawrence Côté-Collins and the two become friends. One night, he assaults her. Years later, in prison for the deaths of two people, Billy is diagnosed with schizophrenia. With the help of the filmmaker, his only remaining relationship apart from his family, his personal archives become an invaluable resource for understanding his illness. A formal deconstruction of schizophrenia through a remarkably open-minded gaze.
Related Movies
Charley Pride: I'm Just Me (2019)
This film traces the improbable journey of Charley Pride, from his humble beginnings as a sharecropper’s son on a cotton farm in segregated Sledge, Mississippi to his career as a Negro American League baseball player and his meteoric rise as a trailblazing country music superstar. The new documentary reveals how Pride’s love for music led him from the Delta to a larger, grander world.
Safe Place (2024)
A Southern Indiana man endures a fatal night of torture after being arrested for a routine traffic stop.
Hasil Adkins: The Wild World of Hasil Adkins (1993)
Short subject documentary by Julien Nitzberg about the legendary "psychobilly" musician and infamous wild man Hasil Adkins. Filming takes place in Adkins' own yard, his shack, and at various concerts. Adkins is notable for helping create an entirely new form of rock/rockabilly/country fusion, which he plays entirely by himself (with a guitar and drums simultaneously).
Ted - till minne av en popartist (1998)
A program about Ted Gärdestad and his music with archival images from his entire musical career and newly made interviews with people who have influenced and were influenced by Ted's music.
Tarnation (2003)
Filmmaker Jonathan Caouette's documentary on growing up with his schizophrenic mother -- a mixture of snapshots, Super-8, answering machine messages, video diaries, early short films, and more -- culled from 19 years of his life.
The End of the Road (2015)
In Peru, Sergio García Locatelli visits both those places where human life is fragile and personal fate is uncertain and those where death reigns, places where everything is already lost, where appeal is not possible. A walk in search of the meaning of death that is actually a celebration of life and the living.
Into Madness (1989)
Initially airing on HBO's "America Undercover" series, this riveting documentary focuses on three families shattered by the psychiatric disorder of schizophrenia. Subjects "Bob," "Missy" and "Steven" have lived for over a decade with schizophrenia. The film documents the difficult day-to-day existence of both those afflicted with this order and the families searching for answers to their loved ones' suffering. This film also shows the varied and variably successful treatment methods for each of the subjects—one is placed in a group home, one is placed in an institution, and one is cared for at home. The documentary was critically acclaimed for its compassionate treatment of mental illness.
Häxan (1922)
Grave robbing, torture, possessed nuns, and a satanic Sabbath: Benjamin Christensen's legendary film uses a series of dramatic vignettes to explore the scientific hypothesis that the witches of the Middle Ages suffered the same hysteria as turn-of-the-century psychiatric patients. But the film itself is far from serious-- instead it's a witches' brew of the scary, gross, and darkly humorous.
Monkeys Like Becky (1999)
The first part of this documentary deals with the Portuguese neurologist António Egas Moniz, Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1949, one of the first surgeons to apply the technique called lobotomy for the treatment of schizophrenia. The second part deals with the everyday life of people with schizophrenia today: behavior and relationships, and treatment for the disease.
Crownsville Hospital: From Lunacy to Legacy (2018)
Crownsville Hospital: From Lunacy to Legacy is a feature-length documentary film highlighting the history of the Crownsville State Mental Hospital in Crownsville, MD.
The Blood Is at the Doorstep (2017)
After Dontre Hamilton, a black, unarmed man diagnosed with schizophrenia, was shot 14 times and killed by police in Milwaukee, his family embarks on a quest for answers, justice and reform as the investigation unfolds.
Out of Mind, Out of Sight (2014)
Four-time Emmy winner John Kastner was granted unprecedented access to the Brockville facility for 18 months, allowing 46 patients and 75 staff to share their experiences with stunning frankness. The result is two remarkable documentaries: the first, NCR: Not Criminally Responsible, premiered at Hot Docs in the spring of 2013 and follows the story of a violent patient released into the community. The second film, Out of Mind, Out of Sight, returns to the Brockville Mental Health Centre to profile four patients, two men and two women, as they struggle to gain control over their lives so they can return to a society that often fears and demonizes them.
A Drop of Sunshine (2011)
Schizophrenia. It may be one word, but it immediately conjures up multiple connotations. Mad. Incurable. Violent. Suicidal. Chemical imbalances. Crazy. A lifelong condition. Inevitable dependency on Medicines. Dark. Terrible. 'A Drop of Sunshine' challenges these notions. It questions the mainstream view of the condition and seeks alternate ways of recovering from it. Through the powerful story of its young and gutsy protagonist, Reshma Valiappan, it seeks to give viewers a new vocabulary to address the stigmatized mental illness. The film proposes that the only treatment method that can work in Schizophrenia is one where the so-called 'patient' is encouraged and empowered to become an equal partner in the process of healing.
Born Schizophrenic: Jani & Bodhi's Journey (2014)
Jani, now 11, is showing improvement in keeping her hallucinations at bay. But the same cannot be said for Bodhi, now 6. His dangerous outbursts have landed him in the hospital; leaving the doctors and family with a puzzling diagnosis.
Beyond Hoarding (2019)
"Beyond Hoarding" takes a fresh look at hoarding through the experiences of people afflicted with this compulsion. Mental health experts shed light on this psychiatric disorder which is treatable.
Making a Killing: The Untold Story of Psychotropic Drugging (2008)
Psychotropic drugs. It’s the story of big money-drugs that fuel a $330 billion psychiatric industry, without a single cure. The cost in human terms is even greater-these drugs now kill an estimated 42,000 people every year. And the death count keeps rising. Containing more than 175 interviews with lawyers, mental health experts, the families of victims and the survivors themselves, this riveting documentary rips the mask off psychotropic drugging and exposes a brutal but well-entrenched money-making machine. Before these drugs were introduced in the market, people who had these conditions would not have been given any drugs at all. So it is the branding of a disease and it is the branding of a drug for a treatment of a disease that did not exist before the industry made the disease.
This Beggar's Description (2006)
It's a sensitive, moving doc chronicling the life of Tétrault's brother Philip , a Montreal poet, musician and diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic. A promising athlete as a child, Philip began experiencing mood swings in his early 20s. His extended family, including his daughter, share their conflicted feelings love, guilt, shame, anger with the camera. They want to make sure he's safe, but how much can they take?
Crazywise (2017)
Western culture treats mental disorders primarily through biomedical psychiatry, but filmmakers Phil Borges and Kevin Tomlinson reveal a growing movement of professionals and survivors who are forging alternative treatments that focus on recovery and turning mental “illness” into a positive transformative experience.