On the heels of a worldwide festival run that included Venice and Toronto, Graham Foy returns to VIFF with a feature debut that rolls in like a breath of fresh air in its understated, lyrical exploration of teenagers’ inner lives and captures with exquisite softness the emotional reverberations of a generation in mourning.
Reminiscent of early Linklater and Korine, the film opens with an evocative sequence of two boys on a casual suburban prowl. But the air of youthful abandon comes to an abrupt halt as a life is tragically claimed. As the initial shock wears off, another world opens, and we are gradually introduced to a web of delicate teenage bonds in a small suburban community.
Employing a fragmented structure that unfolds like a series of narrative echoes, Foy’s visually arresting and gentle touch reframes the fickle nature of this particularly vulnerable period in life to reveal an achingly tender side of adolescence.
BNL for Cinema of the Future Award, Venice 2022 (Giornate degli Autori)
Q&A Oct 1 & Oct 3
Presented by
Media Partner
Jackson Sluiter, Marcel T. Jiménez, Hayley Ness
Canada
2022
English
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The Blue Star
In crisis, a popular singer quits Spain to backpack in Argentina. There he comes under the spell of a veteran musician, who teaches him the art of chacareras, zambas and vidalas. It's a journey of musical kinship and spiritual reawakening.
The Mother and the Bear
Johnny Ma’s film stars Kim Ho-jung as a Korean woman who flies to Winnipeg when her immigrant daughter is hospitalized there. This crowd-pleaser plays up cultural differences to hilarious effect and offers a touching take on mother-daughter tension.
Forastera
In this mysterious and subtle coming of age drama, teenager Cata is soaking up the sun, smoking furtive cigarettes, and enjoying a summer break with her grandparents and her younger sis in Mallorca. That is, until Cata's beloved abuela collapses...
Credits
Producer
Daiva Žalnieriunas, Dan Montgomery
Screenwriter
Graham Foy
Cinematography
Kelly Jeffrey
Editor
Brendan Mills
Production Design
Erika Lobko
Director
Photo by Seth Fluker
Graham Foy
Graham Foy is a writer and director based in Toronto. His short film August 22, This Year (2020) was presented at Cannes’ Semaine de la Critique and the New York Film Festival. In 2022, his debut feature The Maiden won the TRT First Cut+ Award for works-in-progress at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival prior to its world premiere in the Venice Film Festival’s Giornate degli Autori.