2024 Official Selection
PLAYS
Memorias del Corazon
by Alexis Marquez / Directed by Raul Rivera
When the heart and memory take you on different paths, your life can end up locked in the world of madness.
Cuando el corazón y la memoria te llevan por caminos diferentes tu vida puede acabar encerrada en el mundo de la locura.
Saturday, May 18th @ 7 PM, and Sunday, May 19th @ 7 PM
AQUI, FUEGO
by Yolanny Rodriguez Torrez
The play explores love, traditions, ways of communicating and power struggles in a marriage.
La obra explora el amor, las tradiciones, las formas de comunicarse y las luchas de poder en el matrimonio.
Saturday, May 18th @ 8pm, and Sunday, May 19th @ 3pm
MI NOMBRE ES
by Lucy Santiago
Two women who are in prison and share the same cell, exchange their stories about why they committed the crime.
Dos mujeres que se encuentran en la cárcel y al compartir la misma celda, intercambian las historias por las cuales cometieron el crimen.
Friday, May 24th @ 7pm, and Saturday, May 25th @ 8pm
SORROW
by Reina Ivis Canosa
A one-woman show that describes the life and work of Vincent Van Gogh and Sien, his wife. It prepresents the struggles that surrounded their lives, fatal destiny, hopes, lost illusions, and self-punishment.
Un espectáculo unipersonal que describe la vida y obra de Vincent Van Gogh y Sien, su esposa. Presenta las luchas que rodearon sus vidas, el destino fatal, las esperanzas, las ilusiones perdidas y el autocastigo.
Friday, May 24th @ 8pm, and Saturday, May 25th @ 7pm
SHORT FILMS
ATM CARD
(India)
Director Rajit Chandan (A struggling actor turns to a life of deceit, using his voice to exploit seniors until reach a downward into mental instability. A disillusioned man in a pivotal moment received a phone call from the actor-turned-scammer. He chooses to answer his last call, sparking a profound transformation that alter both their lives forever.
PEACHY
(USA)
Director Shane Coffey (A hopeless 36 year old living with Bipolar Type II Depression decides to write and rehearse his first stand up comedy routine).
INSTRUCTIONS FOR CRYING
(Brasil)
Director Matheus Parizi (This science fiction explores the depletion of family & friendship relations against the background of labor precarization, and speculates what the ironic future of mental health care might look like under neoliberalism).
Eight of Dead
(Finland)
Director Amirhossein Makouei (It explores the intricate dynamics of friendship, and betrayal. Set against the backdrop of an intense billiards game, delves into the lives of two long-time friends who have engaged in a spirited rivalry over the years. Showcases the fragility of trust, the power of forgiveness, and the resilience of the human spirit).
Bay for Blood
(USA)
Director Harry Waldman (James and Rob are hiding out in isolation to fix their mutual issues. As time progresses, the two reveal facts regarding their disturbing past relationship).
The short-Films will be runing online 24 hours a day from May 1 to May until May 24, 2024
Opening Night Film
THE FIVE SESSIONS
by Jaime Estades
OPENING Night (NOT IN COMPETITION)
The Five Sessions represent a dialogue between the client and the therapist, and where the client asks the therapist a question that no one so far answered: “Would the slaves in the South feel better about slavery if they had therapy three times a week?”
Anyone in the mental health field, psychologists or social workers, take a pose when confronted with this question. And then – there is no answer…
The reality is that the elimination of slavery is the only answer. Today we do not have legalized slavery per se, but we have oppression, racism, classism, and disenfranchisement. Should we include activism as a part of therapy, when necessary? Five Sessions struggles with this and other questions…
Five Sessions, originally a play, depicts a fictional social worker who is a white woman providing clinical services to a Latino man. With support from Columbia’s Provost Office, Estades collaborated with fellow adjuncts Dr. Ovita Williams and Ericka Echavarria, LMSW, JD, to create a film of the play, directed by Eddie Torres, for use in a new course for second-year MSW students called “Five Sessions.
The author says: “It is my belief that today we practice psychotherapy that is beneficial for those who have most of their material needs satisfied. By contrast, those with ongoing unsatisfied material needs do not respond to this one-size-fits-all approach. Although this “bourgeois” approach is designed to fit the needs of a specific class – it is applied to all! That is why we should search for a new “psychology of the whole,” which would embrace the poor and socially/ politically/ economically disadvantaged.
Adjunct Professor Jaime Estades invites the community to watch the film of the play that he authored, Five Sessions. The exclusive in-person show will be followed by a Q&A moderated by Professor Estades.
Jaime A. Estades, Esq. MSW is a Columbia University and New York University Adjunct Professor of Social Policy, Law and Social Work Advocacy and PhD professor of Social Policy and research at NYU. He is also a writer, labor and community activist who has committed his life to advocacy, education, health, and leadership training. In 202 Estades was selected as one of the most influential people in New York City by City and State magazine, the most influential political and policy magazine In New York have for the past 30 years, he has been working on issues relating to education, immigration, housing, voter registration and family entitlement issues. In 1996, Jaime co-founded the Latino Leadership Institute, Inc. where he still presides as President. The Latino Leadership Institute, a not-for-profit nonpartisan corporation affiliated with the City University of New York, has trained hundreds of individuals on the fundamentals of campaign management and public policy, has hosted numerous colloquia and civic engagement projects for high school students. In October 2015, the Latino Leadership Institute was selected by the White House as one of the Bright Spots of Excellence in Education in the Hispanic Community in the United States.
Jaime has also used his expertise to bolster the work of key nonprofits, including the Boriken Neighborhood Health Center which recently completed renovation of the first eco-friendly (Green) Health Center in East Harlem. Jaime organized 250 families against the Los Sures Development Company, one of the worst landlords in Brooklyn. As Director for Advocacy for the Alliance for Quality Education, Jaime built, managed and coordinated coalitions of sixty community based educational and labor organizations to improve the quality of public education in New York City. In 1996, during the presidential election, as Executive Director of the Hispanic Education and Legal Fund, Jaime spearheaded the nonpartisan registration of over 100,000 new voters in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Ohio, North Carolina and Florida.
Friday, May 17th @ 7pm – Opening Night
FULL 2024 CALENDAR
Dia por dia Peliculas y obras
(Each play is between 30 & 45 minutes)
Frenzy Fest 2024 has this year four participating four plays. Each one has two shows. The opening night we will be screening as a special presentation the film “The Five Sessions” by Jaime Estades with a conversation with Mr Estades and some students of Columbia University School of Social Work. All play and short-films must promote multicultural dialogue and the freedom of creative expression, and tolerance for community members experiencing mental disorders such as: agitation, delirium, furor, hysteria, and madness resulting from a psychotic condition, as a result of drug or alcohol abuse, or as a casual frenzy episode, which anyone in an extreme moment may experience.
Friday May 17
7:00 PM – The Five Sessions by Jaime Estades
(not in competition)
Saturday May 18
7:00 PM – “Memorias del Corazon” By Alexis Marquez / Directed Raul Rivera
8:00 PM “Aqui, Fuego” By Yolanny Rodriguez Torrez
Sunday May 19
3:00 PM “Aqui, Fuego” By Yolanny Rodriguez Torrez
4:00 7:00 PM “Memorias del Corazon” By Alexis Marquez / Directed Raul Rivera
Friday May 24
7:00 PM “Mi nombre es” by Lucy Santiago
8:00 PM “SORROW”: by Reina Ivis Canosa
Saturday May 25
7:00 PM “SORROW” : by Reina Ivis Canosa
8:00 PM “Mi nombre es” by Lucy Santiago
Sunday May 26 @ 4:00
Award Ceremony
(The audience will be able to watch the Winner Short Film)
FRENZY 2024 JUDGES
Luis Caballero, Veronica Caicedo, Zorina Costello, Paola Dei, Dr. Jaime Estades, Sidney Hankerdon, Chris-Shimojima.
VERONICA CAICEDO
Film/Theater Producer and Director. CEO, and founder of Caicedo Productions, The International Puerto Rican Heritage Film Festival and The One Festival.
PAOLA DEI
Audiovisual educator, Art Psychologist, Art Therapist and Psychotherapist. She is a SNCCI and Fipresci film critic, ANCT theater critic, and a professor of Psychology of Art and Neuroesthetics in post-graduate specialization schools and Artistic Director of the Bulli ed Eroi Val di Chiana Senese International Children’s Film FestivalCreator of the Psicomoda Abitarsi campaign
CHRIS SHIMOGINA
Filmmaker, Director, Writer, Producer, Editor. Graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in Dramatic Writing. His more recent feature film is Alberto the Concrete Jungle.
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