Thursday, March 14 / 6:30 pm / Ottawa Art Gallery

Program: Dead Cat, I Used to Be Funny, Q&A with James Weyman
Guest: James Weyman, producer of I Used to be Funny

Feature presentation \

recovery \ comedy \ responsibility

What’s funnier than a comedian with PTSD? Rachel Sennott (Shiva Baby, Bottoms) plays comedian and au pair Sam who is struggling to get back on the stand-up stage after an unseen trauma. Moving between comedic bites and intimate portrayals of PTSD as smoothly as it moves between present and past, Ally Pankiw’s debut feature is both darkly hilarious and heartbreaking. Sam’s former charge, teenage Brooke, has gone missing, which leaves Sam conflicted about whether she should stay out of it or help the search. Brooke has her own trauma to deal with, and Sam isn’t sure if she’s the right person to help her now; as an au pair or otherwise. The puzzle pieces of Sam’s recent past are revealed in a carefully crafted narrative that beautifully displays the balance that trauma sufferers attempt in their lives. There are joys of friendships, romantic relationships, and her comedy career that Sam doesn’t want to lose but doesn’t feel capable of maintaining in addition to the weight of her past and the symptoms of her PTSD. A refreshingly honest look at trauma and recovery, I Used to Be Funny will have audiences laughing and crying.

- Tish Black

Short film \

Dead Cat

Chat mort

2022 / 13 minutes / Quebec
Director: Annie-Claude Caron, Danick Audet
Language: French

Content notes: Animal death

After the sudden death of Nugget the cat, Catherine and Louis struggle to find a way to explain the concept of death to their young daughter. But what if they didn’t have to?

A touching and hilarious exploration of one of life’s tragic milestones, Dead Cat is a reminder that it's possible to find humour even in the saddest moments, and that children pick up on a lot more than we expect.