Akilla's Escape

Last updated
Akilla's Escape
Akillas escape xlg.jpg
Film poster
Directed by Charles Officer
Written by
Produced byJake Yanowski
Starring
Cinematography Maya Bankovic
Edited byAndres Landau
Music by
Production
company
Canesugar Filmworks
Distributed by
  • Vertical Entertainment
  • Level Film
Release date
  • September 12, 2020 (2020-09-12)(TIFF) [1]
Running time
90 minutes
Countries
  • Canada
  • United States
LanguageEnglish

Akilla's Escape is a 2020 drama film, directed by Charles Officer, [2] his final feature prior to his death in 2023. The film stars Saul Williams as Akilla, a marijuana dealer retiring from the business following legalization, who tries to rescue a young boy (Thamela Mpumlwana) from being drawn into a life of crime. [2]

Contents

The film, which Officer began writing in 2010, was inspired by the police crackdown on the Toronto chapter of the Shower Posse crime gang. [2] Its cast also includes Vic Mensa, Oluniké Adeliyi, Ronnie Rowe, Theresa Tova, Brandon Oakes, Sagine Sémajuste and Colm Feore. The film's original score is produced by Saul Williams with Robert Del Naja of Massive Attack.

The film premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, [3] with further screenings at the Vancouver International Film Festival, the Atlanta International Film Festival, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, The Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival, and Hof International Film Festival. The film was nominated for 8 Canadian Screen Awards and won 5 Canadian Screen Awards in total. [4]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 79% of 48 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.8/10.The website's consensus reads: "Akilla's Escape occasionally loses sight of its strongest assets, but solid acting and a smart story make this a neo-noir worth watching." [5]

Writing for Now and The Georgia Straight , Norman Wilner wrote that "Officer does something else with Akilla’s Escape that I’m hesitant to discuss, but when you see it you’ll hopefully be as stunned and impressed as I was. It’s not a plot twist, but rather a creative decision that pays off absolutely brilliantly over the course of the movie, giving flesh to its central metaphor and making the story play on at least two different levels above and beyond what happens in the narrative." [6]

The Los Angeles Times wrote "The film remains firmly rooted in Williams' quietly powerful and laser focused performance." [7]

The Film Stage included it in their list of "The Best Films from Venice, TIFF, and NYFF 2020", [8] and the Toronto Star named it as one of the ten best films at the festival. [9]

Awards and nominations

AwardDate of CeremonyCategoryNomineesResultReference
Victoria Film Festival February 14, 2021Best Canadian FeatureAkilla's EscapeWon [10]
Directors Guild of Canada Awards Achievement in Production DesignAkilla's EscapeWon [11]
Canadian Screen Awards May 20, 2021 Best Actor Saul Williams Nominated [12] [13]
Best Supporting Actor Thamela Mpumlwana Nominated
Ronnie Rowe Jr. Nominated
Best Original Screenplay Charles Officer, Wendy Motion Brathwaite Won
Best Cinematography Maya Bankovic Won
Best Sound Editing Dave Rose, David McCallum, Krystin Hunter, William KellermanWon
Best Sound Mixing Brad Dawe, James Bastable, Graham Rogers, Daniel MoctezumaWon
Best Casting Nicole Hilliard-Forde Won

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Officer</span> Canadian writer, filmmaker, and ice hockey player (1975–2023)

Charles Officer was a Canadian film and television director, writer, actor, and professional hockey player.

<i>Anthropocene: The Human Epoch</i> 2018 Canadian film

Anthropocene: The Human Epoch is a 2018 Canadian documentary film made by Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier and Edward Burtynsky. It explores the emerging concept of a geological epoch called the Anthropocene, defined by the impact of humanity on natural development.

<i>Firecrackers</i> (film) 2018 Canadian film

Firecrackers is a 2018 Canadian drama film written and directed by Jasmin Mozaffari. An expansion of Mozaffari's 2013 short film of the same name, the film stars Michaela Kurimsky and Karena Evans as two teenage girls trying to escape their small town.

Roads in February is a 2018 Canadian drama film directed by Katherine Jerkovic. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the award for Best Canadian First Feature Film. The film centres on Sara, a young Hispanic Canadian woman visiting her grandmother in Uruguay.

Canada's Top Ten is an annual honour, compiled by the Toronto International Film Festival and announced in December each year to identify and promote the year's best Canadian films. The list was first introduced in 2001 as an initiative to help publicize Canadian films.

<i>Tammys Always Dying</i> 2019 film directed by Amy Jo Johnson

Tammy's Always Dying is a 2019 Canadian black comedy film directed by Amy Jo Johnson and written by Joanne Sarazen. It stars Felicity Huffman, Anastasia Phillips, Jessica Greco, Clark Johnson, Lauren Holly, Aaron Ashmore and Kristian Bruun.

<i>The Song of Names</i> 2019 drama film

The Song of Names is a 2019 drama film directed by François Girard. An adaptation of the novel of the same name by Norman Lebrecht, it stars Tim Roth and Clive Owen as childhood friends from London whose lives have been changed by World War II. The film was nominated for nine Canadian Screen Awards, winning five.

<i>Antigone</i> (2019 film) 2019 film

Antigone is a 2019 Canadian drama film directed by Sophie Deraspe. An adaptation of the ancient Greek play Antigone by Sophocles, the film transposes the story to a modern-day refugee family in Montreal. The cast includes Nahéma Ricci as Antigone, with Rawad El-Zein, Hakim Brahimi, Rachida Oussaada, and Nour Belkhiria. It was filmed in Greater Montreal in 2018.

<i>White Lie</i> (film) 2019 Canadian film

White Lie is a 2019 Canadian drama film written and directed by Yonah Lewis and Calvin Thomas. The film stars Kacey Rohl as Katie Arneson, a university student who fakes a cancer diagnosis for the attention and financial gain, but gets caught up in having to maintain her lie.

Ariane Louis-Seize is a Canadian film director and screenwriter from Quebec.

<i>The Twentieth Century</i> (film) 2019 Canadian drama film

The Twentieth Century is a 2019 Canadian surrealist black comedy written and directed by Matthew Rankin in his full-length directorial debut. The film presents a fictionalized portrait of the rise to power of former Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King as played by Dan Beirne. It won three Canadian Screen Awards.

<i>Anne at 13,000 Ft.</i> 2019 Canadian film

Anne at 13,000 Ft. is a 2019 Canadian drama film. Directed and written by Kazik Radwanski, the film stars Deragh Campbell as Anne, a shy, socially awkward daycare worker whose attitude to her life and work is radically transformed after she skydives for the first time. It premiered in the Platform Prize program at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, and received an honourable mention from the Platform Prize jury. In December 2019, the film was named to TIFF's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list. After premiering on the festival circuit in 2019, the film's 2020 theatrical release was postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

<i>Black Conflux</i> 2019 Canadian drama film

Black Conflux is a 2019 Canadian drama film written and directed by Nicole Dorsey in her feature directorial debut. Starring Ella Ballentine, Ryan McDonald, Luke Bilyk, Olivia Scriven, Sofia Banzhaf, and Lawrence Barry, the film follows a teenage girl from Newfoundland and Labrador whose quest for independence leads her into the orbit of a mentally unstable and potentially violent man in his twenties.

<i>Fauna</i> (film) 2020 Canadian film

Fauna is a 2020 Mexican-Canadian drama film, directed by Nicolás Pereda. An exploration of the impact of "narco" culture on Mexican society, the film stars Luisa Pardo and Francisco Barreiro as Luisa and Paco, a couple who are travelling to visit her parents when they are reunited with Luisa's estranged brother Gabino.

<i>Beans</i> (2020 film) 2020 film by Tracey Deer

Beans is a 2020 Canadian drama film directed by Mohawk-Canadian filmmaker Tracey Deer. It explores the 1990 Oka Crisis at Kanesatake, which Deer lived through as a child, through the eyes of Tekehentahkhwa, a young Mohawk girl whose perspective on life is radically changed by these events.

<i>The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel</i> 2020 Canadian documentary film

The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel is a 2020 Canadian documentary film directed by Joel Bakan and Jennifer Abbott. A sequel to the influential 2003 film The Corporation, the film profiles new developments in the political and social power of corporations in the seventeen years since the release of the original.

<i>Black Bodies</i> (film) 2020 Canadian short film

Black Bodies is a 2020 Canadian short film, directed by Kelly Fyffe-Marshall, and produced by Tamar Bird and Sasha Leigh Henry. Inspired by a real-life incident when Fyffe-Marshall, Komi Olaf and Donisha Prendergast were travelling in California, and a woman in the neighbourhood called the police on them because she wrongly believed they were burglarizing their Airbnb rental, the film features Olaf and Prendergast performing spoken word pieces about the trauma of being victimized by anti-Black racism.

<i>Violation</i> (film) 2020 horror film

Violation is a 2020 Canadian horror drama film directed and written by Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli. It is the feature film debut of the two directors, who have collaborated on several short films displayed at film festivals worldwide. The plot follows Miriam, who seeks revenge on her brother-in-law after a traumatic incident. The film stars Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Anna Maguire, Jesse LaVercombe, Obi Abili, Jasmin Geljo, and Cynthia Ashperger.

<i>Drunken Birds</i> 2021 Canadian drama film

Drunken Birds is a 2021 Canadian drama film directed by Ivan Grbovic who co-wrote with Sara Mishara. The film stars Jorge Antonio Guerrero as Willy, a Mexican drug runner in a crime cartel who travels to Canada in search of his girlfriend Marlena after she disappears, and takes a job as a migrant worker on a farm in the Montérégie region.

Together is a Canadian-South Korean short drama film, directed by Albert Shin and released in 2021. The film stars Kim Jae-rok and Ahn So-yo as a man and a woman in South Korea who are meeting in person for the first time after having known each other only as online acquaintances, in order to finalize and carry out a mutual suicide pact.

References

  1. "Akilla's Escape". TIFF. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 Radheyan Simonpillai, "Planet Africa returns for TIFF 2020" Now August 25, 2020.
  3. Rachel West, "TIFF Unveils More Films, Including David Oyelowo’s Directorial Debut, In Conversation With Halle Berry, Saoirse Ronan, More". ET Canada , August 25, 2020.
  4. "Akilla's Escape". Academy.ca. Retrieved 2021-09-23.
  5. "Akilla's Escape". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango . Retrieved December 3, 2023.
  6. Norman Wilner, "VIFF review: Akilla’s Escape puts a grounded spin on the gangland thriller". The Georgia Straight , September 14, 2020.
  7. "Review: 'Akilla's Escape' mines socio-political context of Toronto's Jamaican community". Los Angeles Times. 2021-06-10. Retrieved 2021-09-23.
  8. "The Best Films from Venice, TIFF, and NYFF 2020". The Film Stage. September 28, 2020.
  9. Peter Howell (September 17, 2020). "My top 10 films at TIFF has nomads, crusaders, lovers — and Indigenous and Black struggles". Toronto Star .
  10. Lauren Malyk, "In brief: Akilla’s Escape, Queen of the Andes earn prizes at VFF". Playback , February 18, 2021.
  11. "Winners Announced for 19th Annual DGC Awards". Canada NewsWire , October 28, 2020.
  12. Brent Furdyk (March 30, 2021). "Canadian Screen Awards Announces 2021 Film Nominations". ET Canada . Archived from the original on March 30, 2021.
  13. Naman Ramachandran, "‘Schitt’s Creek,’ ‘Blood Quantum’ Triumph at Canadian Screen Awards". Variety , May 21, 2021.