Billy

Apr 17, 2024

1h 47m

★ 7.5

Dedicated to victims

Overview

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.

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

9174-5018 Québec inc.

LC2 Productions

Billy Trailers

Cast

Self

Lawrence Côté-Collins

Self

Billy-Denis Poulin

Lecture des lettres de Billy (voice)

Alexandre L'Heureux

The incredible story of Bruno Lüdke (1908-44), the alleged worst mass murderer in German criminal history; or actually, a story of forged files and fake news that takes place during the darkest years of the Third Reich, when the principles of criminal justice, subjected to the yoke of a totalitarian system that is beginning to collapse, mean absolutely nothing.

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0.0

Psychodráma

Jan 1, 1967

No overview available.

6.8

Tarnation

Oct 19, 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.

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6.5

Hasil Adkins: The Wild World of Hasil Adkins

Jun 6, 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).

0.0

Manhattan, Kansas

Mar 10, 2006

Filmmaker Evie Wray travels to rural Kansas in an attempt to reconnect with her mentally unstable mother, Evie, for the first time since Evie’s psychotic breakdown five years earlier. She finds a parent still chasing her demons, both real and imagined, struggling to make a career for herself as an abstract artist and searching for the Geodetic Center of the United States, the finding of which, Evie says, will bring about world peace.

6.0

Crazywise

Jun 6, 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.

0.0

Shipbuilder

Jan 1, 1985

This film recreates the true story of Tom Sukanen, an eccentric Finnish immigrant who homesteaded in Saskatchewan in the 1920s and 1930s. Sukanen spent ten years building and moving overland a huge iron ship that was to carry him back to his native Finland. The ship never reached water.

No Image Available

0.0

When

Jan 1, 2018

'When' discusses the filmmaker's experience with mental illness and how it has impacted her perception of the world around her. It mainly focuses on Anorexia Nervosa, Anxiety, and Depression. It aims to represent these ideas in an abstract but honest way - using CGI as a medium to create an impactful experience that will make the audience think about mental illness in a way they might not have before.

5.7

Out of Mind, Out of Sight

Apr 27, 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.

0.0

Beyond Silence

Feb 22, 2017

The lives of Jeff, Lauren and Lloyd—three very different people who share one common experience—have been transformed by speaking up for mental health. These inspiring stories depict what mental health in America really looks like and highlights just how important it is to speak up and seek help.

6.5

Monkeys Like Becky

Jan 1, 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.

5.0

Beyond Hoarding

May 28, 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.

2.0

Petrichor

Jul 26, 2022

Marked by childhood trauma, three women from different generations living with an eating disorder try to get back to life.

8.0

What Should We Have Done?

Oct 8, 2023

In 1983, the director’s 24-year-old sister developed symptoms of schizophrenia. Her parents couldn’t accept it—refusing to seek treatment for their sick child, they confined her to their house, to the point of even fixing a padlock on the front door to lock her in. Her younger brother, suspicious of his parents’ actions, began filming the family in an effort to openly question them. A family conflict that lasted over twenty years.

6.2

Gary Gulman: The Great Depresh

Oct 5, 2019

In his first HBO comedy special, Gary Gulman offers candid reflections on his struggles with depression through stand-up and short documentary interludes. While speaking to issues of mental health, Gulman also offers his observations on a number of topics, including his admiration for Millennial attitudes toward bullying, the intersection of masculinity and sports, and how his mother's voice is always in his head.

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0.0

They Heard Voices

Dec 14, 2016

THEY HEARD VOICES is a documentary film exploring the Hearing Voices Movement, chronic psychosis, and the schizophrenia label. The film is a series of wide-ranging interviews with voice hearers, medical historians, anthropologists and psychiatrists from Britain and America, presenting different people’s views. Is schizophrenia hard science or an arbitrary, catch-all term with no real meaning? What does it mean for those experiencing psychosis?

0.0

Friskt och sjukt i konsten

Oct 21, 1986

Documentary about the two of the greatest Swedish artists of the 19th century, Ernst Josefson and Carl Fredrik Hill, and how their lives were changed by mental illness.

Billy

Overview

Genres

Production Companies

Billy Trailers