Event

We are very pleased to welcome director Jelena Ilić to the Wolf for a film discussion to mark the theatrical release of*An Illness Like a Poem*.

“Drug induced, chronic schizoaffective psychosis of the manic type, polytox type, not morphine type”—that is the diagnosis given to the director’s father. In plain terms, this means he goes through the same cycle over and over again. Psychotic episodes tear him away from reality; hospital stays bring him back, followed by depressive shame. During these psychotic episodes, he is unpredictable and openly acts out his violence, even against those around him. For Jelena, however, he is not just a perpetrator whose actions she deeply condemns, but also a person she loves and an artist she admires. He has captured the world of his psychoses in photographs, paintings, and sculptures. The relationship between daughter and father also finds expression in art: in a collaborative comic book whose pages they take turns filling with drawings. He struggles against himself, against his illness, and against the system.

The multiple Audience Award winner (Max Ophüls Prize & International Women’s Film Festival Dortmund|Cologne),*An Illness Like a Poem* tells with warmth, humor, and great visual power the story of reversed parent-child roles, the poetry in chaos, and the pervasive nature of illness.