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Kingsway – March 3rd: 9:30

March 3rd: 9:30: Kingsway 

Director: Bruce Sweeney 

CANADA, 2018 English. 88 minutes 

Principal Cast: Camille Sullivan, Jeff Gladstone, Gabrielle Rose, Colleen Rennison, Paul Skrudland, Jillian Fargey, Jennifer Mclean, Agam Darshi, Kevin McNulty 

A Cinema CNC favourite, and always a keen analyst of modern neuroses, BC-based director Bruce Sweeney (Last Wedding, Live Bait) reaches new heights with his latest comedy-drama-romance, Kingsway. Sweeney’s ostensible hero is Matt (Jeff Gladstone, Drawing Home), an academic prone to crippling bouts of self-doubt and ennui. Matt has just spotted his wife Lori’s car parked at an infamous Vancouver motel on the Kingsway, a strip well known for prostitution and extramarital assignations. 

Matt’s bossy sister, Jess (Camille Sullivan, Sisters & Brothers), who has always hated Lori’s treatment of Matt, demands he finally leave her. His mother, Mary (Gabrielle Rose, Maudie, The Sweet Hereafter), and omnipresent best friend Sean (Paul Skrudland, Excited) would rather maintain the status quo, but anxiety is contagious. An exasperated Lori leaves Matt, only to realize she’s pregnant — though she’s not exactly sure who the father is. As Matt descends into depression, those around him are forced to confront the lack of romance in their lives. 

A paean to family (who better to understand your hang-ups?) and the unpredictable vicissitudes of the heart, Kingsway adroitly walks the razor’s edge between painful distress and comic excess — no surprise if you’ve seen any of Sweeney’s other movies. The film, Sweeney’s most assured since the absurdly underrated Excited (2009), confirms Sweeney as one of Canada’s most unique indie artists. 

Content Advisory: This film contains crude language and explicit sexual content. 

“(An) engaging comedy about a dysfunctional family spiraling into romantic chaos.” —Norman Wilner, NOW Magazine 

THE TRAILER:

You Are Here: A come from away story – March 3rd: 7 pm

March 3rd: 7 pm: You Are Here: A Come From Away Story
Canada 2018 English 84 minutes.  Documentary
written and directed by Moze Mossanen

When U.S. airspace was completely shut down in the hours following the terrorist attacks on 9/11, and all civilian airliners within reach of the U.S. were ordered to land at the nearest airport, 38 planes landed at the Gander airport. With no warning and with no time to prepare, a city of only 9,000 residents played host to more than 6,500 frightened, exhausted, and hungry passengers who “came from away” around the world.

The remarkable story of how Gander supported the ‘Come From Aways’ was brought to life as the original Canadian musical Come From Away in 2013. The musical, which became one of the most talked-about openings on Broadway in 2017 and was nominated for seven Tony Awards, has generated discussion on the need for compassion and unity. Come From Away is currently on stage in Toronto at the Royal Alexandra Theatre.

YOU ARE HERE: A COME FROM AWAY STORY travels deep within this unique tale to shine a light on the actual Newfoundlanders and passengers whose lives have inspired the musical. This includes the mayors of Gander and Appleton, Newfoundland, community workers, police officers, TV reporters, and more – all real-life people who worked tirelessly alongside countless others to comfort and care for their unexpected guests.

The documentary also highlights the real-life passengers who were looked after during those five unforgettable days, including a couple who met, fell in love, and ultimately honeymooned in Gander, the pilot of an American Airlines jet whose life was turned upside down, and a U.S. businessman who was so touched by his hosts’ generosity that he went on to create Good Samaritan initiatives in cities such as Austin, Texas.

THE TRAILER:

The Fireflies Are Gone – March 3rd: 2 pm

March 3rd: 2 pm: The Fireflies Are Gone [La disparition des lucioles]

Director: Sébastien Pilote 

CANADA, 2018

French w/ English subtitles 95 minutes 

Principal Cast: Karelle Tremblay, Pierre-Luc Brillant, Luc Picard, Marie-France Marcotte, François Papineau 

Former TIFF Rising Star Karelle Tremblay (Les êtres chers) stars as an angst-ridden teenager, teetering between malaise and wanderlust in a small industrial town, in the latest from Québécois filmmaker Sébastien Pilote (The Auction). 

It is near the end of high school, and Léo (Tremblay) dreams of escape. She feels stuck in her small-town, industrial Québécois life. The easiest target for her frustrations is her stepdad, a local talk-radio celebrity on the wrong side of a political divide that forced her union-organizing father out of town. Léo misses her father and yearns to leave, but her rebellion du jour only seems to manifest itself as a feeling of uneasiness. Enter Steve (Pierre-Luc Brillant, C.R.A.Z.Y), a much older metalhead who still lives in his mother’s basement. 

Léo is fascinated by Steve, and sees in him much more than the archetypal loser he may appear to be. He is kind and genuinely content to teach guitar in his bachelor cave and take his mom’s Shih Tzu on daily walks. As their relationship grows over the summer, an ever-present longing lingers beneath the surface of their friendship — and Léo must decide how to express her deep desire for 

something more.
Like Sébastien Pilote’s previous films, The Fireflies Are Gone is rooted in the struggles of changing rural Quebec. However, the tenacious vigour of Léo’s teenage angst, brought to life by the magnetic Tremblay, sets this film apart from the director’s earlier work. 

Winner of the Canada Goose Award for Best Canadian Feature Film at TIFF 2018, The Fireflies Are Gone revels in exquisite close-ups and dreamy musical flourishes that harken back to classic melodramas; Pilote creates an evocative pop fantasy amidst the customary political tensions in a small Quebec town. 

“This is a satisfying, slightly mournful seriocomedy that’s equal parts cynical, hopeful, and ambivalent.... The film’s secret weapon is Brillant ... who brings a sly, centered heart to a figure too content with his humble lot to be the sad sack one initially expects.” —Dennis Harvey, Variety 

THE TRAILER:

Falls Around Her – March 2nd: 9:30

March 2nd: 9:30: Falls Around Her 

Director: Darlene Naponse 

CANADA, 2018 English. 98 minutes 

Principal Cast: Tantoo Cardinal, Tina Keeper, Gail Maurice, Johnny Issaluk, Rob Stewart, J.D. Nicholsen, Hope McGregor 

Mary is a renowned Anishinaabe musician who comes home to Atikameksheng Anishnawbek First Nation in northern Ontario, exhausted by many years on the road touring internationally with her band. She returns to the land to restore herself, but her past success makes her a commodity to some, and it can be tricky to hide from the demands of the outside world. 

Her sister Betty (Tina Keeper, Through Black Spruce, television’s North of 60) senses there may be more to Mary’s need for isolation and urges her to reconnect with family and old friends. As Mary gets out more and even starts dating, it seems as though new possibilities are on the horizon. However, the past has a way of catching up, and when Mary starts to hear disturbing noises around her cabin, she becomes paranoid that someone may be after her. 

Writer-director Darlene Naponse (Every Emotion Costs, Cradlesong) brings a unique perspective to the screen that beautifully captures the nuance and rhythms of northern life on a small Anishinaabe First Nation. Acclaimed Métis actor Tantoo Cardinal (The 

Grizzlies, Wind River) embodies both strength and vulnerability in the leading role as Mary, a self-sufficient woman who knows that gut instincts should be trusted. 

In spite of the trauma in Mary’s past, Naponse refuses a narrative of victimhood, and instead explores the multiple facets of resilience. Mary knows how to survive, but she also deserves to thrive. And that means gathering the ability to be open to the healing that comes from love, self-expression, family, community, and, especially, the land. 

“Falls Around Her is legendary Cree and Métis actor Tantoo Cardinal’s first lead role in a feature film — and she’s enthralling in it.” —Samantha Edwards, NOW Magazine 

There is no trailer, but here is a Q&A session from the Toronto International Film Festival:

Anthropocene – March 2nd: 7 pm

March 2nd: 7 pm: ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch 

Directors: Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier, Edward Burtynsky 

CANADA, 2018

English, Russian, Mandarin, Cantonese, Italian, German w/ English subtitles
87 minutes With: Alicia Vikander 

ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch is the third collaboration between award-winning photographer Edward Burtynsky and acclaimed filmmakers Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier following Manufactured Landscapes and Watermark. In breathtaking tableaus, their latest documentary continues their exploration of industrialization and extraction in astonishing scale and perspective. 

In recent years, some scientists have argued that the Holocene Epoch — the nearly 12,000-year period since the last Ice Age — has ended, and we have now entered into the Anthropocene Epoch. The new label reflects the dominance of humans on the planet, causing mass extinction and climate change and altering the Earth more than all natural processes combined. 

Spanning numerous countries, the film reveals in stunning images how our mania for conquest defines our relationship to the Earth — and how we have created a global epidemic. In Kenya, mounds of elephant tusks burn in a devastating display of the impact of 

poaching (chillingly reminiscent of the bison skulls that were piled high in the clearing of the Canadian plains for settlement). In Russia and Germany, mining operations transform terrains into otherworldly industrial waste- lands as hypnotic, colossal, lifelike machines endlessly extract on an unfathomable scale. 

ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch is a mesmerizing and disturbing rumination on what drives us as a species, and a call to wake up to the destruction caused by our domi- nance. These startling dystopian visions are not future projections; they reflect a reality that is already here, and if we are to change course, the first step will be a revolutionary shift in consciousness. 

“To say that there are no easy answers to planetary woes is to state the obvious. But the film seeks to reveal rather than lecture, in the hope that our eyes will convince our brains to act before it’s too late.” —Peter Howell, Toronto Star 

THE TRAILER:

Roads in February – March 2nd: 1pm

March 2nd: 1pm: Roads in February 

Director: Katherine Jerkovic 

CANADA/URUGUAY, 2018 Spanish w/ English subtitles 82 minutes 

Principal Cast: Arlen Aguayo Stewart, Gloria Demassi 

Winner of the 2018 City of Toronto Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film at the Toronto International Film Festival, Roads in February follows a young woman’s journey back to her roots. 

Mourning the recent death of her father, Sarah (Arlen Aguayo Stewart) leaves her adoptive home of Montreal to visit her paternal grandmother, Magda (Gloria Demassi), in a sleepy village in rural Uruguay. Sarah and her parents left Uruguay over a decade ago and never returned. Driven by childhood memories, she hopes to renew her relation- ship with Magda and with her birthplace. But as soon as Sarah arrives, a quiet unease forms. Magda doesn’t understand why her son never returned to see her and must now live with the fact that he never will. The tension comes as a surprise to Sarah, who must come to terms with both her grief over her father and the distance she feels between herself, her family, and her Uruguayan homeland. 

Director Katherine Jerkovic skilfully infuses each scene with an intimate yet powerful tone as Sarah struggles to reconcile the gulf between past and present, ideals and reality. The stifling heat and torpid pace of rural life in Uruguay heightens her growing sense 

of alienation. Aguayo Stewart and Demassi deliver beautifully subtle performances, where the gravity lies in what remains unsaid between them. An evocative slice of life with an assured visual style, Roads in February is an enthralling debut that firmly establishes Jerkovic as one of Canada’s bright new talents. 

“Jerkovic is a gifted, intuitive storyteller who doesn’t need to oversell her story’s emotional undercurrents; she trusts her audience to understand what’s going on simply by paying attention to her actors’ faces.”  —Norman Wilner, NOW Magazine 

THE TRAILER:

Giant Little Ones – March 1st: 9:30

March 1st: 9:30:   Giant Little Ones

Director:Keith Behrman 

CANADA, 2018 English  93 minutes 

Principal Cast: Josh Wiggins, Maria Bello, Darren Mann,Kyle MacLachlan, Taylor Hickson, Niamh Wilson, Peter Outerbridge 

Adolescents face enormous pressure to make life-defining decisions every day and they want to lock in their identities sooner than later. All of this pressure is exacerbated by physical and social changes. 

Franky (Josh Wiggins, Mean Dreams), the hero of Keith Behrman’s exquisite and gener- ous Giant Little Ones, is under more pressure than most. His life was altered when his father (Kyle MacLachlan, television’s Twin Peaks) left his mother (Maria Bello, A History of Violence, Prisoners) for a man. Franky is left confused, feeling like he has to figure out his sexuality right away to avoid the disruption he blames his father for. 

Determined to hide his uncertainty from his best friend and his girlfriend, Franky doesn’t realize he’s not the only one who doesn’t know where he stands. When a wild party ends up in a way none of them could have expected, Franky and his friends are forced to decide what kind of people they want to be. 

Giant Little Ones is a sensitive and touching look at that point in adolescence when free- dom is both intoxicating and terrifying — and feelings are both elegiac and erotic. It’s driven by extraordinary young talents, along with 

great work from veterans MacLachlan, Bello, and Peter Outerbridge (television’s Orphan Black) and the subtle, evocative directorial touch of Behrman, whose Flower & Garnet won the 2002 Canadian Screen Award for Best First Feature. 

“The film belongs to [Josh] Wiggins, who brings an openness and sincerity to Franky’s struggles that help suggest to what extent his character’s specific story has elements that everybody will be able to relate to.” 

—Boyd van Hoeji, The Hollywood Reporter 

THE TRAILER:

The Edge of the Knife – March 1st: 7 pm

March 1st: 7 pm:    Edge of the Knife – Sgaaway K'uuna 

Directors: Gwaai Edenshaw, Helen Haig-Brown 

CANADA, 2018           Content Advisory: This film contains explicit violent content. 

Haida w/ English subtitles 100 minutes 
Principal Cast: Tyler York, William Russ, Adeana Young 

The first feature film made entirely in the Haida language — a critically endangered language spoken fluently by fewer than 20 people — Edge of the Knife is a stunning cinematic achievement and a spellbinding tale of pride, tragedy, and remorse set in Haida Gwaii in the 1800s. 

Two extended families meet at their annual fishing camp one summer on the shores of Haida Gwaii, in Canada’s Pacific Northwest. Charming Adiits’ii is close to the family of his best friend Kwa and an ardent teacher to Kwa’s young son. The boy looks up to him, but Kwa’s wife, Hlaaya, is concerned that Adiits’ii’s appetite for challenges may lead to reckless choices. Tragedy strikes when a storm hits the small encampment and Adiits’ii becomes estranged from the group. Presuming him dead, they return to their winter home without him. Adiits’ii creeps deep into the forest and begins his ominous transforma- tion into a Gaagiid/ Gaagiixiid — the legendary Haida Wildman. 

In this spectacular rendering of a classic Haida story, life on the land is shaped by the power of the elements, where natural and supernatural forces co-exist. Co-directed by Haida filmmaker Gwaai Edenshaw and Tsilhqot’in filmmaker Helen Haig-Brown, this ambitious project was a collaboration with Isuma, the team behind the landmark film Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner. Made with a Haida cast and in collaboration with the Haida Council, Edge of the Knife proves that cinema can be at once a powerful vessel for riveting storytelling and a vital act of Indigenous lan- guage and culture revitalization. 

THE TRAILER:

23rd Annual Cinema CNC Film Festival – March 1st to 3rd!

It's almost upon us – the 23rd Annual Cinema CNC Film Festival will take place March 1st to 3rd at the Prince George Playhouse.

We will be screening 8 great Canadian feature films and a bunch of shorts, as well as serving up much fun and good spirits!

We will be selling passes at Books and Company, the CNC Bookstore, and the UNBC Bookstore.

Full Festival Passes: $48 [8 films]
Friday Passes: $14 [2 films]
Saturday Passes: $21 [3 films]
Sunday Passes: $21 [3 films]

Single tickets are $8 and will be available at the door.

Tell your friends! Passes make excellent gifts! The more the merrier!