A privileged housewife in 1968 Chicago finds herself at odds with the patriarchal medical establishment when she requires a life-saving termination of pregnancy. Joy (Elizabeth Banks, in a charming and nuanced performance) encounters an underground organization called Jane Collective that provides safe abortions to women, and eventually becomes an integral part in this necessary fight.
Directed by Phyllis Nagy, Call Jane deftly balances light and dark in exploring the stories of desperate women who require abortions and the women who risk their lives for them. A timely and relevant film about reproductive justice in the year that Roe v. Wade was overturned, the film is accessible, passionate, and hugely entertaining.
We know the achievements and victories of the era Nagy depicts, and yet, because she and her fine cast bring the story to such vivid, immediate life, the final moments of Call Jane are powerful with unanticipated joy. They sting too, because we know where we are now, and the trajectory of the intervening years.”—Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter
Elizabeth Banks, Sigourney Weaver, Kate Mara, Chris Messina, Wunmi Mosaku, Cory Michael Smith, Grace Edwards
USA
2022
English
At Vancouver Playhouse
At The Rio
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Agatha's Almanac
Shot over six years on vibrant 16mm film, Agatha’s Almanac is an artful documentary portrait of filmmaker Amalie Atkin’s octogenarian aunt, who has fashioned herself an endearingly simple and self-sustaining lifestyle on her Manitoba farm.
Erupcja
Charli xcx headlines this indie gem about a young English couple coming unmoored over a few days in Warsaw. Will means to propose. Beth has cold feet -- and an escape hatch she has barely admitted to herself... Think Before Sunrise 2025.
The Doll
In our new Film Studies series on Thursdays, Devan Scott guides us through the evolution of lighting techniques from the silent era to the present day. Each presentation will include a classic film screening; this week, The Doll (1919).
The Art of Adventure
The unbelievable adventure story of how painter Robert Bateman and ecologist Bristol Foster drove a Land Rover from Africa to Australia in 1957, developing a love of nature to last a lifetime. An inspirational love letter to the adventure of life itself.
Credits
Producer
Robbie Brenner, David Wulf, Kevin McKeon
Screenwriter
Hayley Schore, Roshan Sethi
Cinematography
Greta Zozula
Editor
Peter McNulty
Production Design
Jona Tochet
Original Music
Isabella Summers
Director
Photo by K.L. Harrison
Phyllis Nagy
Phyllis Nagy earned Oscar and BAFTA nominations and won the NY Film Critics Circle award for her adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s classic novel, The Price of Salt, which was released as the feature film Carol (2015), starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. Nagy garnered Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Directing and Outstanding Writing for her work on the HBO film Mrs. Harris (2005), starring Annette Bening and Ben Kingsley, which also received SAG and Golden Globes nominations.
Filmography: Mrs. Harris (2005)