The Communist's Daughter

The Communist's Daughter is a Canadian comedy digital series, which premiered on CBC Gem in 2021 and is loosely based on creator, head writer and director Leah Cameron's own life.[1] The series was nominated for 6 Canadian Screen Awards [2] and won the Web Series World Cup in 2021, making it the most awarded series in the world digital festival circuit that year, the first Canadian series to win the cup and Cameron the first female creator to win it.[3] Set in 1989, just before the Berlin Wall is about to fall, the series stars Sofia Banzhaf as Dunyasha McDougald, the teenage daughter of Marxist activist parents Ian (Aaron Poole) and Carol (Jessica Holmes) McDougald; after the family moves to a new—and conservative—Toronto neighbourhood, she falls for wealthy introvert Marc L'Ouverture (Kolton Stewart) despite being an outsider in her new school's social hierarchy, only for her father to mount a municipal council campaign against incumbent councillor Rod Bigmann (Chris Locke), Marc's step-father.[4]

The cast also includes Ryan Taerk, Nadine Bhabha, Zoe Cleland, Vieslav Krystyan, George Stroumboulopoulos, Sandra Battaglini, Neema Nazeri, Manuel Rodriguez-Saenz, Nadine Whiteman Roden and Jacob Soley.[5]

Production

Cameron wrote a half-hour pilot for the show a few years after her father died in 2012.[1] The pilot, and the digital series she subsequently developed, is based on the intense Marxist phase her father went through in the 1980s and his numerous election runs.[3] The digital series was first developed through Women In the Directors Chair’s Story and Leadership Program [6] with Cameron and producer Natalie Novak Remplakowski winning CBC Comedy’s Pitch Program at Just for Laughs in Montreal shortly after.[7] It was funded in part by a Kickstarter campaign in early 2019,[8] and went into production that fall.[5] It was released on CBC Gem in March 2021.[9]

Episodes
No.
overall		No. in
season		TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date
11"Opium for the Masses"Leah CameronLeah CameronTBA
22"The Apple Orchard"Leah CameronLeah CameronTBA
33"New Kid from the Soviet Block"Leah CameronWaneta StormsTBA
44"Mall Bangs"Leah CameronClara AltimasTBA
55"This Means War"Leah CameronKaveh MohebbiTBA
66"99 Pink Balloons"Leah CameronLeah Cameron and Kaveh MohebbiTBA
77"The Great Ward Five Debate"Leah CameronSpencer ThompsonTBA
88"Dream the Impossible Dream"Leah CameronPeter MurphyTBA

Critical response

John Doyle of The Globe and Mail named the series as "One of the 21 Best TV Series to Stream so Far in 2021",[4] praising the series by saying it was "clearly a labour of love" inspired by the memory of Cameron's late father and that "it showed." He went on to praise the show's cast saying the series was a reminder of the talent there is in Canada and how wonderful it was to see all cast members throw themselves into their roles. "[4]

Etan Vlessing of The Hollywood Reporter noted that the "sophisticated satire" in the series comes from the "fact that Ian McDougald, a modern-day Don Quixote, denies the collapse of communism just as the Berlin Wall falls and chooses to keep his family in an ersatz reality." He writes that the family's "madcap adventures are less about pushing political radicalism than just having outsized dreams of society sharing the wealth in a workers' paradise."[3]

Freelance television critic Bill Brioux gave the series "mixed Marx", writing that the series reminded him of his own experience making low-budget community channel comedy programs for Maclean-Hunter in his youth and praising the fact that Cameron got the opportunity to make it, but stating that he wished it was funnier. He further wrote that "it is so apples and oranges, but I also can't help but compare this series to Never Have I Ever, an exceptional Netflix sitcom that premiered last year featuring Mississauga teen Maitreyi Ramakrishnan. It is also a fish out of water story set in high school, a clash of Indian culture and Americana. To be fair, The Communist’s Daughter was probably made for the craft services budget on Never Have I Ever."[10]

Awards
Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref(s)
Canadian Screen Awards2022 |- Direction, Web Program or SeriesLeah CameronNominated[11]
Web Program or Series, FictionLauren Corber, Leah Cameron, Natalie Novak RemplakowskiNominated[11]
Lead Performance, Web Program or SeriesJessica HolmesNominated
Supporting Performance, Web Program or SeriesNadine BhabhaNominated
Zoe ClelandNominated
George StroumboulopoulosWon[12]
Canadian Screen Music Awards2022Best Original Main Title Theme MusicPeter ChapmanPending[13]

The series also won 20 awards from web series festivals throughout 2021, and was named the winner of the 2021 Web Series World Cup as the most awarded web series of the year.[14]

References
  1. , “WIDC Featured Voices: Leah Cameron, The Communist’s Daughter”. WIDC, May 1, 2021 by Carol Whiteman
  2. Canadian Academy,"Winners-2022-printable-list” Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, March 7, 2022.
  3. Etan Vlessing, "‘Communist Daughter’ Director on Uber-Left Comedy, Socialism and Marxism: 'They’re Worth Fighting For'". The Hollywood Reporter, December 9, 2021.
  4. John Doyle, "Great farce material: Having fun with communism". The Globe and Mail, March 17, 2021.
  5. Lauren Malyk, "LoCo expands digi slate with The Communist’s Daughter". Playback, November 8, 2019.
  6. Regan Reid, “WIDC reveals eight Story and Leadership participants”. Playback, November 7, 2017
  7. Lauren Malyk, “The Communist’s Daughter wins JFL’s CBC Comedy Pitch Program”.] Playback, July 31, 2018
  8. Greg David, "The Communist’s Daughter seeks glorious support to reach its Kickstarter goal". TV, eh?, February 19, 2019.
  9. Greg David, "CBC Gem’s The Communist’s Daughter a funny peek at the 80s in all its excess". TV, eh?, March 19, 2021.
  10. Bill Brioux, "The Communist's Daughter gets mixed Marx". Brioux TV, March 19, 2021.
  11. Brent Furdyk, "2022 Canadian Screen Award Nominees Announced, ‘Sort Of’ & ‘Scarborough’ Lead The Pack". ET Canada, February 15, 2022.
  12. Brent Furdyk, "Canadian Screen Awards: Winners Announced In Sports Programming, Digital & Immersive Categories". ET Canada, April 5, 2022.
  13. Angelica Babiera, "First-ever Canadian Screen Music Awards announces nominees". Playback, August 16, 2022.
  14. Kelly Townsend, "LoCo Motion takes the podium for The Communist’s Daughter". Playback, December 13, 2021.
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