Skip to main content
There, There film image; two women sitting in a room with an electric fan

There, There

Northern Lights

This event has passed

World Premiere

“I don’t think I’m doing very well,” Ruth Mackie (Marlene Jewell) tells her doctor during a cognitive exam. An elderly Nova Scotian woman struggling with dementia, Ruth likes feeding pigeons and playing TV bingo. She believes that her home is infested with bugs and that they live inside her, too. Ruth’s pregnant young caretaker, Shannon (Katie Mattattal) is grappling with her abandonment by the baby’s father, a race-car driver. As Ruth’s cognition deteriorates, these two women overlooked by society leave an indelible impression on each other.

Winner of the Emerging Canadian Director Award for Murmur at VIFF 2019, writer/director Heather Young once again brings exceptional nuance to themes of loneliness and isolation. A realist drama with contemplative pacing, There, There deploys formal restraint through its static shots and naturalistic dialogue to deliver a bittersweet portrayal of the universal need for companionship. With a tender performance by Katie Mattattal, Young’s sophomore feature endears us to the unsung caregivers who bring an essential human touch to the lives of others.

 

Sept 29 & 30: Q&A with director Heather Young and producer Martha Cooley

 

Presented by

Media Partner

   

Director
Cast

Marlene Jewell, Katie Mattatall

Credits
Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2024

Language

English

Film Contact
18+
100 min
Drama Q&As at VIFF Women Directors
Brass Door Productions, Marjorie Films, Houseplant Films

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits & Director

Producer

Britt Kerr, Martha Cooley, Heather Young

Screenwriter

Heather Young

Cinematography

Catherine Lutes

Editor

Heather Young

Production Design

Michael Pierson

Heather Young headshot; There There director

Heather Young

Heather Young is a filmmaker based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She made the short films Howard and Jean (2014), Fish (2016), and Milk (2017). Her first feature, Murmur (2019), premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival where it won the FIPRESCI Prize for the Discovery Programme and went on to win the Grand Jury Prize at the Slamdance Film Festival. There, There is her second feature.

Filmography: Murmur (2019)

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Women Talking

104 min

Sarah Polley's adaptation of Miriam Toews' novel is the most compelling movie to come out of the #MeToo movement to date, with stellar performances from Jessie Buckley, Rooney Mara, and Claire Foy, as Mennonite women confronting a terrible truth.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Take Me In Your Arms

Dir. Julio Bracho
91 min

In this boldly stylized musical melodrama mixing reformist politics with outrageous musical numbers, the incomparable Ninón Sevilla is the poor fisherman's daughter navigating a success of dodgy men on her way to true love.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Tough Old Broads

Dir. Stacey Tenenbaum
90 min

Tough Old Broads is a feature documentary that follows three trailblazing women as they continue to make waves well into their 70s. Because you can't keep a good woman down.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Nika & Madison

Dir. Eva Thomas
87 min

Two young Indigenous women become fugitives following an act of self-defence and are forced to flee into the wilderness. Inspired by Thelma and Louise, this compelling story of unbreakable friendship sheds light on systemic injustices.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Montreal, ma belle

Dir. Xiaodan He
118 min

In this Valentine to discovering love later in life, the ever-elegant Joan Chen plays Feng Xia, a 53-year-old Chinese immigrant and mother in Montreal whose world is turned upside down when she meets and falls in love with a young Quebecoise.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
More info

Sold Out

A Magnificent Life

Dir. Sylvain Chomet
91 min

Animator Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville; The Illusionist) crafts a loving biopic of the revered French writer, playwright and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol (Jean de Florette; My Father's Glory)

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre