The 2006 Toronto International Film Festival has just announced that Sarah Polley’s feature film directorial debut, Away From Her, will have its world premiere at a Gala Presentation. In an Oscar-calibrated performance, Julie Christie (Secret Life of Words, No Such Thing, Finding Neverland) stars in Away From Her opposite Gordon Pinsent (Saint Ralph, The Shipping News), Olympia Dukakis (3 Needles, The Event, Moonstruck), Michael Murphy (X-Men: The Last Stand, Tanner on Tanner, Childstar), Kristen Thomson (I, Claudia, The Republic of Love), Wendy Crewson (Niagara Motel, “The Many Trials of One Jane Doe”), and Alberta Watson (Some Things That Stay, The Sweet Hereafter).
Written and directed by Sarah Polley (I Shout Love, “The Shield Stories: The Harp,” Don't Think Twice), based on the Alice Munro short story “The Bear Came Over the Mountain”, Away From Her is produced by Jennifer Weiss (In Between Days, Luck), Simone Urdl (Sabah, Luck, Ararat) and Daniel Iron (“Northern Town,” Pornographer's Poem, “It's Me, Gerald”, Saddest Music in the World, Childstar), with Victoria Hirst (Twist, Owning Mahowny, Century Hotel) serving as Co-Producer and Atom Egoyan (Where The Truth Lies, Ararat) and Doug Mankoff (Water, Tsotsi) as Executive Producers. Cinematography by Luc Montpellier (Sabah, Saddest Music in the World), production design by Kathleen Climie (“Slings & Arrows”), costume design by Debra Hanson (Beowulf & Grendel, Snow Cake), and editing by David Wharnsby (Saddest Music in the World, I, Claudia). Capri Releasing will release in Canada, William Morris Independent is representing the film in the United States and HanWay is handling worldwide sales.
Married for 50 years, Grant (Gordon Pinsent) and Fiona's (Julie Christie) life together is full of tenderness and humour, their serenity broken only by Fiona's restrained references to the past, complicated further by her increasingly evident memory loss. Moving Fiona into a nursing home specializing in Alzheimer's disease, Grant is not allowed to visit for the first month so she can “adjust”. When he sees her again, Fiona has forgotten him and turned her affection to Aubrey (Michael Murphy), another resident in the home. Heartbroken, Grant visits daily, bearing witness to the growing bond between her and Aubrey. When Aubrey's wife, Marian (Olympia Dukakis), takes Aubrey home, Fiona becomes deeply depressed, and Grant embarks of the greatest act of self-sacrifice of his life.
Sarah Polley has been writing and directing in Canada for the last six years. In 1999, Polley directed the short film The Best Day of My Life, and then wrote, directed and produced Don't Think Twice, starring Tom McCamus and Jennifer Podemski. In 2001, she wrote, directed and co-produced I Shout Love, starring Kristen Thomson, who won an Actra Award for her performance in the short. The film also won a 2003 Genie Award for Best Live Action Short Drama. In 2002, Sarah wrote and directed “The Harp,” one of the episodes of “The Shield Stories” for television.
Capri Releasing, the film distribution arm of Capri Films, is one of Canada's most respected independent film distributors. It was founded in response to a growing demand for an aggressive and experienced full-service distributor to oversee the release of Capri's own productions in Canada, and to acquire and to distribute the finest independent films from around the world. In addition to its own productions and acquisitions, Capri also distributes films from other independent producers and distributors through service agreements. Upcoming releases from Capri will include Conversations With God and Terry Gilliam's Tideland.
Away From Her is produced with the participation of Telefilm Canada, The Canadian Television Fund, Astral Media's The Harold Greenberg Fund and The Movie Network, The Ontario Media Development Corporation, and Movie Central.
MEDIA CONTACT: For additional information, please contact Cynthia Amsden 416-910-7740 or roundstone@gmail.com
Away From Her press materials/images available at:
www.caprifilms.com/capri-pressmaterial.html
Download this press release:
news_jul1806_awayfromher.pdf
(Acrobat [PDF] format, ~22K)
