Kim Thúy’s Governor-General Award-winning novel was inspired by her own experience as Vietnamese child who fled the country in 1975 and came to Canada as a ten-year-old with her family, the so-called “Boat People”. The book is lyrical, reflective, weaving between countries and time-zones with a delicate touch, and the movie follows suit, evoking Tinh’s wonderment, trauma and relief as she encounters her first Canadian winter, a new cuisine and lifestyle, and gradually ventures out of her self-protective shell. Warmly nostalgic, it’s also a story about attitudes towards immigration and cultural curiosity, with plenty we can surmise about how things have changed over the past 50 years.
An incredibly beautiful film about resilience and survival and a truly uplifting watch.
James Mackin, Toronto City News
Canadian director Charles-Olivier Michaud finds the warmth and humour in everything from a stepdance welcome in a community gym to the healing magic of maple taffy made on fresh snow […] Michaud chooses not to tell this story through a lot of dialogue, but rather through imagery and often achingly beautiful visual details.
Janet Smith, Stir
Tender, lovely… a love letter to Canadians.
Liza Braun, Original Cin
Charles-Olivier Michaud
Chloé Djandji, Chantal Thuy, Jean Bui, Olivier Dinh, Xavier Nguyen, Patrice Robitaille
Canada
2023
In Vietnamese and French with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Credits
Screenwriter
Jacques Davidts
Cinematography
Jean-François Lord
Editor
Claude Palardy
Original Music
Michel Corriveau
Production Design
Marie-Hélène Lavoie
Also Playing
No Other Land
Deemed by many critics one of the essential films of 2024, a multiple festival award winner and Academy Award winner for Best Documentary, No Other Land is a reminder that mass expulsion is by no means a new reality for Palestinians.
Misericordia
Edgy, eccentric, and unapologetically queer, this film goes from drama to comedy without putting a foot wrong. Sex and murder are the subjects, and writer-director Alain Guiraudie (Stranger by the Lake) mines them for suspense and outrageous laughs.
The Way, My Way
All manner of pilgrims flock to France and Spain to walk the 800 km Camino de Santiago. One such is Bill, a stroppy sexagenarian Australian filmmaker who's determined to do the Camino with minimal prep, a dickey leg, and no firm idea why.
