DIRECTORS

Kalina Bertin is an award winning filmmaker based in Montreal. After completing her degree in film production at UQÀM, she quickly realized that if she didn’t set out to understand the mental illness in her family it would destroy her. This process gave birth to her award winning documentary film Manic , which explores the legacy of bipolar disorder in her family. Manic had it’s world premiere at Hot Docs in 2017 , where Kalina received the Don Haig Pay it forward award . The film went on to win the documentary Spirit Award at the Brooklyn film festival and has been received with much enthusiasm at over 8 film festivals including the Montreal International Documentary film Festival and Rendez-vous with Madness . Manic has been nominated for two Canadian screen awards (2018) by the Canadian Academy of Cinema and Television. It continues to screen in film festivals across the world and will have it’s Montreal Theatrical release on February 2, 2018. Aiming to build empathy and awareness toward such a complex condition, Kalina is currently directing a virtual reality experience which will enable the viewer to explore the world of manic depression from within. She presented this project in development at the MIT Open Documentary lab and at MUTEK’s Atelier Grand Nord VR . ManicVR is both produced by EyeSteelFilm , a two-time Emmy award winning production company based in Montreal and DPT creative digital studio.