Slamdance 2019: ‘Happy Face’ Directed by Alexandre Franchi, Montreal 1992. The film is in Quebecois French and English.The main character is a troubled boy trying to figure out / escape from his family problems.

Emotionally estranged from his seriously ill cancer-stricken mother, Stan, a strange quixotic 19-year-old, dons a face deforming disguise and joins a therapy workshop for physically disfigured patients in a misguided attempt to reconnect with her.

Desperate to become less shallow, the handsome teenage boy deforms his face with bandages and attends a support group for physically and facially disfigured people.

He is drawn into their plight as the withdrawn deformed ones who yearn for normal lives.

The drama of the film follows Stan’s attempts to get the half dozen deformed individuals to get past their withdrawal and confusion about their situation. When he’s exposed as a ‘fake’ deformed person he refuses to be kicked out of...