Two hundred years after the first Civil War, the descendants of African American farmers who settled in rural Canada struggle to keep famine at bay. Hailey Freeman (Danielle Deadwyler) and her husband Galen (Michael Greyeyes) have raised their kids to live off the land and protect their home. Their safety and comfort are interrupted when a bloodthirsty band of cannibals discovers their sanctuary.
R.T. Thorne’s extensive resume in TV and music videos comes through in his exciting debut feature about a family in peril. The Black and Indigenous cast shines with Deadwyler and Greyeyes turning in powerful performances as parents desperate to protect their family, and Kataem O’Connor as Emanuel, the eldest son, who flirts with disaster when he discovers a young woman on the other side of the fence. Building to a sensational climax, 40 Acres is a welcome piece of representational genre filmmaking and a gripping thriller in its own right.
Sept 30 & Oct 2: Q&A with director R.T. Thorne
Supported by
Media Partner
Danielle Deadwyler, Kataem O’Connor, Michael Greyeyes, Milcania Diaz-Rojas, Leenah Robinson, Jaeda LeBlanc
Canada
2024
In English and Cree with English subtitles
At International Village
At Fifth Avenue
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Taj Critchlow, R.T. Thorne, Danielle Deadwyler, Sudz Sutherland, John Lang, Mark Gingras, Andrew Frank
Producer
Jennifer Holness
Screenwriter
R.T. Thorne, Glenn Taylor
Cinematography
Jeremy Benning
Editor
Dev Singh, Sandy Pereira
Production Design
Peter Cosco
Original Music
Todor Kobakov
R.T. Thorne
Toronto-based R.T. Thorne is a versatile triple threat: he is a director, producer, and screenwriter, focused on telling stories that break new ground representing the unrepresented. Known for his bold visual style, R.T. has directed for NBC, The CW, WBTV, Netflix, Disney, and Hulu. His episodic work has taken him to three continents, earning three Canadian Screen Award nominations, and a DGC nomination. R.T. is the Chair of the National BIPOC Members Committee for the Directors Guild of Canada.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The Ice Tower
In Lucile Hadžihalilović's spellbinding fantasy drama, an orphan (Clara Pacini) becomes enthralled by a movie star (Marion Cotillard) playing the Snow Queen in a fairy tale film adaptation. Winner of the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution.
Where to Land
Hal Hartley's first new film in a decade is a melancholy farce about mortality and what we'll call "late middle-age". Bill Sage is a semi-retired filmmaker who isn't dying faster than the rest of us but who behaves like he might be.
Innocence
Lucile Hadžihalilović's first feature is a suggestive, subversive fairy tale set in a private school for young girls, the kind of film David Lynch might have made, if he'd been born a French woman in the early 1960s.
