Set in the fringes of 1980s Montréal, Rosie is an open-hearted love letter to misfits and an ode to found families. Orphaned and alone, Rosie (Keris Hope Hill), a precocious English-speaking Indigenous girl, is unceremoniously deposited at the doorstep of her Francophone Aunty Fred (Mélanie Bray) by child services. A foul-mouthed, underemployed outsider artist, Fred is facing eviction and not exactly in the market for added responsibility. However, she’s powerless to resist Rosie’s practically paranormal positivity as the girl sees the upside of sleeping in a scrapyard and warmly embraces Fred’s street-working non-binary best friends (Constant Bernard and Alex Trahan). Much like Fred creates art from other’s trash, this band of sequined outsiders finds beauty and magic amidst their trying circumstances.
Drawing from her lived experience as a queer Cree/Métis woman, Gail Maurice brings a singular sensibility to her first feature. Her film’s buoyant charm and humour only make its passionate appeal for acceptance all the more persuasive. We’d all do well to take a page from Rosie.
Q&A Oct 2 & Oct 4
Presented by
Media Partner
Community Partner
Mélanie Bray, Keris Hope Hill, Constant Bernard, Alex Trahan, Josée Young, Jocelyne Zucco, Arlen Aguayo Stewart
Canada
2022
In English, French, and Cree with English subtitles
Coarse language
Open to youth!
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World
Sasha Waters' documentary takes us through the life of America's best-selling late twentieth century poet, a private woman who shared her innermost thoughts and made them indispensable.
Late Fame
Based on a novella by Arthur Schnitzler (Eyes Wide Shut) this is a sly, poignant comedy about vanity and art from director Kent Jones, starring Willem Dafoe as a mailman belatedly acclaimed for a book of poetry he wrote in his youth.
American Doctor
One of the most powerful documentaries of the year, this puts us smack in the open wound that is Gaza, filtered through the eyes of three American surgeons (of Palestinian, Jewish and Zoroastrian backgrounds) compelled to do their utmost to alleviate harm.
Memory of Princess Mumbi
In 2093, a filmmaker arrives in the African village of Umata, where he meets Princess Mumbi, a woman torn between love, legacy, and the future of storytelling. It's a fabulous genre-blending fable about memory, invention and cinematic resistance.
Joan Crawford in... Letty Lynton
This would be your first chance to see one of Joan Crawford's prime pre-Code films since 1936, a salacious melodrama about a socialite (Joan Crawford) accused of poisoning her ex lover.
Jack Johnson: Surfilmusic
This new documentary chronicles Jack Johnson's evolution from surfer to filmmaker to world-renowned musician. The film traces how Jack's early years making surf films with close friends became a foundation for a much broader creative life.
Credits
Executive Producer
Mark Slone
Producer
Gail Maurice, Jamie Manning
Screenwriter
Gail Maurice
Cinematography
Celiana Cárdenas
Editor
Shaun Rykiss
Production Design
Joshua Turpin
Art Director
Somerville Black
Director
Gail Maurice
Gail Maurice is a Cree/Michif-speaking actor and an award-winning independent filmmaker. She is a recipient of the Hnatyshyn Foundation Indigenous Award for Excellence in the Arts, the Chalmers Arts Fellowship, and was selected for the 2020 Netflix-Banff Diversity of Voices Initiative. Her films have screened at Sundance, the Smithsonian Institute, ImagineNATIVE, and have also aired on CBC, APTN, and Air Canada’s Enroute. Rosie, her feature debut, was supported by ImagineNATIVE’s inaugural screenwriting lab.