Updated: Mon Oct. 19 2009 1:48:39 PM

The Canadian Press

TORONTO — The Rendezvous With Madness Film Festival has a serious focus - mental illness and addiction as depicted on the big screen - but there is still room for levity.

Canadian comic Big Daddy Tazz, who has used humour to explore his struggles with bipolar disorder, will perform at the festival's Nov. 7 comedy night.

Tazz will also participate in a discussion with a University of Toronto psychiatry professor on the topic "Joking about mental illness - who can, who can't, how far can you go?"

More than 30 feature and short films will be shown at the 10-day festival. Screenings are followed by panel discussions that include filmmakers, health care professionals and people living with issues dealt with in the films.

"The films are the art, the discussion gives them perspective," say organizers.

The opening night feature is the Canadian premiere of "Clara," a 2008 biopic of pianist Clara Schumann - wife of the alcoholic, paranoid composer Robert Schumann - from German filmmaker Helma Sanders-Brahms.

The 17th annual festival, which runs Nov. 5-14, is presented by Workman Arts, a non-profit organization that supports artists who receive mental health and addiction services.