Announcing a special, one-night-only screening of Lessons in Temperament, programmed by Hot Docs. Don’t miss your opportunity to see James Smith’s beautiful, urgent reflection on balance, imperfection and the power of storytelling. Now distributed by LevelFILM.

10% of ticket proceeds are being donated to Stella’s Place, a Toronto charity providing mental health support for young adults in Toronto. They offer peer support, clinical services, employment support, wellness, art and recovery programs.

After the screening we invite you to join creator & performer James Smith and director Mitchell Cushman for a Q & A.

Sunday March 19th @ 4PM

Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema

For tickets visit hotdocs.ca

About the Film:

Lessons in Temperament is the story of four neurodiverse brothers told through a cinematic escape into the art and science of piano tuning. An instrument goes out of tune whether or not anyone plays it—something that musician James Smith knows all too well. So after months of being unemployed during the pandemic, he decides that he will spend his lockdown visiting shuttered theatres, and doing what he can to keep their pianos in tune. This ritual soon unlocks James’ own search for balance, growing up as one of four brothers living with obsessive-compulsive disorder, autism, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.

Adapted from the award winning solo stage performance, the film features cinematography by Gabriela Osio Vanden, whose most recent project Nuisance Bear was selected to premiere at TIFF and featured by The New Yorker.