Be Still (film)

Last updated
Be Still
Directed by Elizabeth Lazebnik
Written byElizabeth Lazebnik
Sophie Jarvis
Keely O'Brien
Based onBe Still by Janet Munsil
Produced bySara Blake
Starring Piercey Dalton
Daniel Arnold
CinematographySuzanne Friesen
Edited byJoshua Hemming
Music byJoshua Hemming
Production
company
Ceroma Films
Release date
  • October 6, 2021 (2021-10-06)(VIFF)
Running time
83 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Be Still is a Canadian drama film, directed by Elizabeth Lazebnik and released in 2021. [1] An adaptation of Janet Munsil's theatrical play of the same name, the film is a biographical portrait of Hannah Maynard, a photographer from Victoria, British Columbia who was an unheralded innovator in the artistic genre of surrealism. [1]

The film stars Piercey Dalton as Maynard and Daniel Arnold as her husband Richard, [2] with its supporting cast including James McDougall, Amber Taylor, Meredith Hama-Brown, Sophie Merasty, Anja Savcic, Cameron Grierson, Brendan Taylor, Dakota Guppy and Ariel Ladret.

The film premiered at the 2021 Vancouver International Film Festival. [3]

The film received two Vancouver Film Critics Circle nominations at the Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards 2021, for Best British Columbia Film and Best Actress in a Canadian Film (Dalton). [4] Lazebnik was also nominated for the One to Watch award. [4]

Related Research Articles

Sean Horlor is a Canadian film director, film producer, poet, actor, television producer, columnist and blogger, who co-directs with Steve J. Adams under their production company, Nootka St.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hannah Maynard</span> Canadian photographer (1834–1918)

Hannah Hatherly Maynard was a Canadian photographer best known for her portrait work and experimental photography involving photomontage and multiple exposures. She also photographed people using techniques that made them appear as statuary: on columns or posing as if they were made of stone.

The nominations for the 18th Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards, honoring the best in filmmaking in 2017, were announced on December 15, 2017. Lady Bird led with five nominations, followed by Phantom Thread with four.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathleen Hepburn</span> Canadian screenwriter and film director

Kathleen Hepburn is a Canadian screenwriter and film director. She first attracted acclaim for her film Never Steady, Never Still, which premiered as a short film in 2015 before being expanded into her feature film debut in 2017. The film received eight Canadian Screen Award nominations at the 6th Canadian Screen Awards in 2018, including Best Picture and a Best Original Screenplay nomination for Hepburn.

When the Storm Fades is a Canadian docufiction film, directed by Seán Devlin and released in 2018. Described by Devlin as a "docudramedy" because it blends aspects of both docudrama and comedy-drama, the film is set in the Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan and depicts a family's attempts to recover from the disaster.

Protection is a Canadian drama film, directed by Bruce Spangler and released in 2000. The film stars Jillian Fargey as Betty, a drug addict from Surrey, British Columbia, whose fitness as a mother is being investigated by child protection officer Jane following suspicions that her boyfriend Joe may have been physically and sexually abusive to her children Cindy and Jimmy.

<i>Down River</i> (2013 film) 2013 Canadian film

Down River is a Canadian drama film, directed by Benjamin Ratner and released in 2013.

<i>Because We Are Girls</i> 2019 documentary film

Because We Are Girls is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Baljit Sangra and released in 2019. The film centres on Jeeti, Kira and Salakshana Pooni, three Punjabi Canadian sisters from Williams Lake, British Columbia who have gone public in adulthood about allegations of childhood sexual abuse by a cousin who frequently babysat them as children.

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

Raf is a 2019 Canadian dark comedy film, directed by Harry Cepka. The film stars Grace Glowicki as Raf, an aimless young woman in Vancouver, British Columbia whose life is changed when she befriends Tal, a richer and more motivated woman with questionable motives.

<i>This Mountain Life</i> 2018 Canadian film

This Mountain Life is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Grant Baldwin and released in 2018. The film centres on various residents of the Canadian province of British Columbia and their relationships with the province's mountain landscape, including a mother and daughter undertaking a 2,300 kilometre trek through the Coast Mountains, a married couple who have lived off the grid in the mountains for over 50 years, a pair of avalanche survivors and a group of Roman Catholic nuns living at an isolated nunnery in the Garibaldi Ranges.

<i>Monkey Beach</i> (film) 2020 drama film

Monkey Beach is a 2020 Canadian drama film, directed by Loretta Todd. Her debut narrative feature, the film is an adaptation of Eden Robinson's 2000 novel Monkey Beach.

Chained is a 2020 Canadian thriller drama film, written and directed by Titus Heckel. The film stars Marlon Kazadi as Taylor, a Black Canadian teenage boy subjected to abuse by his father Pete ; he meets and befriends Jim, a criminal who has been left chained up in an abandoned warehouse, only to begin turning into an abuser himself as he learns the power of using violence to get what he wants.

<i>Someone Like Me</i> (film) 2021 Canadian documentary film

Someone Like Me is a 2021 Canadian documentary film, directed by Steve J. Adams and Sean Horlor. The film centres on Drake, a gay man from Uganda who moves to Vancouver, British Columbia as a refugee, and the group of Canadians who have agreed to sponsor him through Rainbow Refugee; it documents his arrival in Vancouver and his adaptation to Canadian life, including friction among his sponsors when all he wants to do is celebrate his new freedom by partying, and the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic as a complicating factor.

<i>Portraits from a Fire</i> 2021 Canadian comedy-drama film

Portraits from a Fire is a Canadian comedy-drama film, directed by Trevor Mack and released in 2021. The first narrative feature film written and directed by a Tsilhqot'in filmmaker, the film stars William Magnus Lulua as Tyler, an amateur filmmaker living with his father Gord on a Tsilhqotʼin reserve in northern British Columbia, whose life is upended following the revelation of a long-hidden family secret.

<i>Drinkwater</i> (film) 2021 Canadian film

Drinkwater is a 2021 Canadian coming-of-age comedy film, directed by Stephen Campanelli. The film stars Daniel Doheny as Mike Drinkwater, a teenager living in Penticton, British Columbia, with his father Hank ; an outsider because his father does not hold down a steady job and instead lives solely off the proceeds of insurance fraud schemes, Mike finds his life transformed when he befriends Wallace, a young woman who moves into the house next door.

Piercey Dalton is a Canadian-American actress. She is most noted for her performance as Hannah Maynard in the 2021 film Be Still, for which she was a Vancouver Film Critics Circle nominee for Best Actress in a Canadian Film at the Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards 2021.

Janet Munsil is a Canadian playwright based in Victoria, British Columbia. She is most noted for her plays That Elusive Spark and Be Still. Munsil is also a theatre director and has served as artistic director of Intrepid Theatre and the Victoria Fringe Festival.

Elizabeth Lazebnik is a Latvian Canadian filmmaker from Toronto, Ontario, whose full-length feature debut Be Still was released in 2021. The film, which premiered at the 2021 Vancouver International Film Festival, was a Vancouver Film Critics Circle nominee for Best British Columbia Film, and Lazebnik was a nominee for the One to Watch award, at the Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards 2021. The film also won three Leo awards and received the Best Canadian Feature Film award at the 20th Female Eye Film Festival. Be Still is scheduled for release in 2023 by Game Theory Films.

Mount Pleasant is a 2006 Canadian drama film, directed by Ross Weber.

Steve J. Adams is a Canadian film director who co-directs with Sean Horlor under their production company, Nootka St.

References