BILLY

Filmmaker Lawrence Côté-Collins finds her attacker in jail. She wants to understand, forgive and support a suffering man. Billy is schizophrenic, and his worst attack left two people dead. Their epistolary prison friendship reveals the full truth about this undiagnosed and untreated mental illness. Together, they tell their stories and reconstruct themselves through intimate correspondence and unseen video archives.

LAWRENCE CÔTÉ-СOLLINS

Lawrence is an all-round video warrior. Pro of DIY - Do It Yourself, at 41, her need to create remains at the heart of her personal quest for meaning in her life. She’s a non-conformist filmmaker: punk, queer, tdah, audacious, unfiltered, uninhibited. This sparkling woman's work explores excess, discomfort, confinement, anguish and social issues. Humor and transparency are her basic tools, which disarm and add sweetness to all her recipes. She combines a career in cinema and television, as a director and screenwriter of many television shows: documentary series and reality TV.
Lawrence is an adept of spontaneous creation, of the encounter between writing and improvisation, and of freedom of expression. Authenticity, empathy and curiosity are at the heart of all her work. Lawrence uses her art to heal her wounds and attack her battles.
Lawrence has experimented with various film genres: fiction, documentary, mockumentary, essay and experimental films - in Quebec, Europe, Africa and Asia. To date, through Kino, she has directed over forty short films, many of which have been selected and
awarded at festivals around the world, including SCORE and FUCK THAT.
In 2016, she directed her very first feature ÉCARTÉE, a mockumentary that won "Prix du public Bronze" at Fantasia, as well as two nominations at the Québec Cinema Gala. The film tells the story of an ex-convict who has served 25 years in prison and is trying to reintegrate into society.
Hes second feature, BUNGALOW, a black renovation comedy that deconstructs the American Dream was in official competition at the
prestigious Festival du Film Francophone d'Angoulême, won the Grand Prix du Jury at the Canadian Film Festival in Dieppe, the Prix du Public at the Festival Vues du Québec in Florac and the Prix Télé-Québec at the Festival de films d'auteur de Val-Morin. It also received two nominations at the Québec Cinema Gala.

• Visions du Réel, Switzerland
• Front Doc in Turin, Italy
• RIDM International Documentary Film Festival in Montreal, Canada
• DocPoint in Helsinki, Finland
• Ann Arbor Film Festival, USA
• Seattle International Film Festival, USA

Dok Therapy 2025