Manic

Crossing distance and time, the prophesizing voice of the filmmaker's father, George, haunts the opening of the film: "Across the decades I will walk with you." Back in the present, we hear the desperate voice of his daughter Felicia: "I was just sitting down on the floor, writing on the walls of my hospital room. I don't get it, like why this keeps happening. I don't understand..." Could the mysterious legacy of the father be the answer to the desperate mental health issues plaguing his daughter? In a brave attempt to find an answer to her sibling's struggle with bipolar disorder, filmmaker Kalina Bertin turns the camera on her own household. Through home movies, interviews and personal observations, she searches her father's fragmented personal history to find a man who alternately took on the roles of prophet, scam artist, cult leader and father of 15 children worldwide. (Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival)