Down River (2013 film)

Down River is a Canadian drama film, directed by Benjamin Ratner and released in 2013.[1]

Down River
Film poster
Directed byBenjamin Ratner
Written byBenjamin Ratner
Produced byJames Brown
Andrew Halliwell
Benjamin Ratner
StarringHelen Shaver
Gabrielle Miller
Jennifer Spence
Colleen Rennison
CinematographyLarry Lynn
Edited byRobert Wenzek
Music byChris Ainscough
Production
companies
Gossamer Creative
Haven Films
Distributed byIndiecan Entertainment
Release date
  • September 22, 2013 (2013-09-22) (Cinéfest)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Created as a tribute to actress Babz Chula following her death in 2010, the film stars Helen Shaver as Pearl, an older woman who is a friend and mentor to actress Fawn (Gabrielle Miller), visual artist Aki (Jennifer Spence) and bisexual musician Harper (Colleen Rennison).[2] The cast also includes Jay Brazeau, Tahmoh Penikett, Ali Liebert, Brian Markinson, Tom McBeath, Nancy Sivak and Hiro Kanagawa.

The film premiered at the 2013 Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival.[3] It was subsequently screened at the Vancouver International Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Most Popular Canadian Film[4] and received an honorable mention from the jury for the Best British Columbia Film award.[5]

Awards

The film won the Vancouver Film Critics Circle's award for Best British Columbia Film,[6] and Rennison received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Original Song at the 2nd Canadian Screen Awards, for the song "Molly".[7]

The film led the nominations at the 2014 Leo Awards with 13 nods, including Best Motion Picture, Best Actress (Shaver), Best Supporting Actress (2: Rennison, Spence), Best Director (Ratner), Best Screenplay (Ratner), Best Musical Score (Chris Ainscough, Kevin House), Best Editing (Robert Wenzek), Best Cinematography (Larry Lynn), Best Production Design (Josh Plaw), Best Costume Design (Gloria Tsui) and Best Overall Sound (Brian Lyster, Randy Kiss and Michael Macdonald).[8] It won the awards for Best Picture, Supporting Actress (Spence), Screenplay, Costume Design and Overall Sound.[9]

References
  1. "Down River an uplifting take on women, friendship". Toronto Star, March 21, 2014.
  2. "An unsentimental journey; In Down River, director loads the emotional food processor and lets the cameras roll". Vancouver Sun, March 14, 2014.
  3. "Four Canuck films anchor fest". Sudbury Star, July 31, 2013.
  4. "VIFF wraps up successful year; Winners include Jason James, Jeff Barnaby and festival's new venues". Vancouver Sun, October 12, 2013.
  5. "B.C. spotlight shines on Dick Knost; Made-in-B.C. films get the glory at festival gala". Vancouver Sun, October 7, 2013.
  6. "The Dirties cleans up in Vancouver; Film critics give top prizes to Matt Johnson, 12 Years a Slave". Edmonton Journal, January 9, 2014.
  7. "Colleen Rennison scores Canadian Screen Awards nomination". The Georgia Straight, January 16, 2014.
  8. "Vancouver-filmed Down River leads Leo Awards list". The Province, April 28, 2014.
  9. "B.C.'s best Shine; Leo awards had plenty of glitz and glamour". Vancouver Sun, June 2, 2014.


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