Defy Gravity | |
---|---|
Directed by | Michael Gibson |
Written by | Michael Gibson |
Produced by | Don Haig Doug Dales Michael Gibson Loudon Owen |
Starring | R. H. Thomson Chapelle Jaffe Simon Reynolds Tracey Moore |
Cinematography | Douglas Koch |
Edited by | Darryl Cornford |
Music by | Mark Gane |
Production company | Shifting Weight Productions |
Release date |
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Running time | 90 minutes |
Country | Canada |
Language | English |
Defy Gravity is a Canadian drama film, directed by Michael Gibson and released in 1990. [1]
The film stars R. H. Thomson as Bill Fiddich, an inventor with bipolar disorder who is physically abusive to his wife Mary (Chapelle Jaffe) and daughter Debbie (Karen Saunders); Simon Reynolds as Patrick, his teenage son who is spared the physical abuse but is struggling to understand how to stand up to his father to protect the rest of the family; and Tracey Moore as Miss McInnis, Patrick's high school history teacher who tries to provide the emotional guidance Patrick isn't getting at home. [2] The film's cast also includes Louis Ferreira, London Juno, Damir Andrei and Earl Pastko.
The film's working title was Resistance. [3]
The film premiered at the 1990 Festival of Festivals. [4]
Moore received a Genie Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the 13th Genie Awards in 1992. [5]
Tracey Moore is a Canadian voice actress and director. She is most noted as the voice of Princess Toadstool in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, and the singing voice of Strawberry Shortcake in Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures.
The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television presents an annual award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role to the best performance by a lead actor in a Canadian film. The award was first presented in 1968 by the Canadian Film Awards, and was presented annually until 1978 with the exception of 1969, when no eligible feature films were submitted for award consideration, and 1974 due to the cancellation of the awards that year.
Bordertown Café is a 1991 Canadian drama film produced and directed by Norma Bailey and written by Kelly Rebar, based on her 1987 play of the same name. The film stars Janet Wright and Susan Hogan. Set in Alberta, Bordertown Café was filmed outside of Warren, Manitoba.
The Canadian Screen Award for Best Costume Design is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best Canadian costume designer. It was formerly called the Genie Award for Best Achievement in Costume Design before the Genies were merged into the Canadian Screen Awards.
The Canadian Screen Award for Best Live Action Short Drama is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best Canadian live action short film. Formerly part of the Genie Awards, since 2012 it has been presented as part of the Canadian Screen Awards.
Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis are a Canadian animation duo. On January 24, 2012, they received their second Oscar nomination, for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) animated short film, Wild Life (2011). With their latest film, The Flying Sailor, they received several nominations and awards, including for the Best Canadian Film at the Ottawa International Animation Festival, and on January 24, 2023, they received a nomination for the 95th Academy Awards under the category Best Animated Short Film.
Nancy Beatty is a Canadian actress. Best known as a stage actress, she has also appeared in film and television roles.
The Savage Woman is a Canadian drama film from Quebec, released in 1991. Directed by Léa Pool, the film stars Patricia Tulasne as Marianne, a young Canadian expatriate in Switzerland who escapes into the mountains after being assaulted by her boyfriend, and meets Élysée, an engineer camped out for the summer to monitor a hydroelectric dam, with whom she begins a new romance before eventually revealing that she killed her attacker.
Mark Sawers is a Canadian film director and writer. Best known for his feature films Camera Shy and No Men Beyond This Point, he is also a four-time Genie Award nominee for Best Live Action Short Drama for his films Stroke at the 13th Genie Awards, Hate Mail at the 14th Genie Awards, Shoes Off! at the 19th Genie Awards and Lonesome Joe at the 24th Genie Awards.
Kelly Rebar is a Canadian playwright and screenwriter, best known for the play and film Bordertown Café.
In the Gutter and Other Good Places is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Cristine Richey and released in 1993. The film profiles three homeless men in Calgary, Alberta who support themselves dumpster diving and bottle picking for recyclable items.
Marine Life is a Canadian drama film, directed by Anne Wheeler and released in 2000. Based on the short story collection of the same name by Linda Svendsen, the film stars Cybill Shepherd as June, a jazz singer coping with feelings of failure in her career and her complicated relationships with her teenage daughter Adele and her boyfriend Robert.
Heart of the Sun is a Canadian drama film, directed by Francis Damberger and released in 1998. Based on the play Jennie's Story by Betty Lambert, the film explores the controversial Sexual Sterilization Act of Alberta through the story of Jennie, a woman trying to have a baby with her husband Harry who learns that she was forcibly sterilized as a teenager.
Francis Damberger is a Canadian film and television director, producer and screenwriter. He is most noted for his 1991 film Solitaire, for which he was a Genie Award nominee for Best Original Screenplay at the 13th Genie Awards, and as a producer of Passchendaele, which won the Genie for Best Picture at the 29th Genie Awards.
Office Party, also known as Hostile Takeover in some releases, is a Canadian thriller film directed by George Mihalka and released in 1988. An adaptation of Michael A. Gilbert's 1981 crime novel Office Party, the film stars David Warner as Eugene Brackin, a repressed accountant who suddenly takes three of his coworkers hostage with no apparent motive or demands.
I Need a Man Like You to Make My Dreams Come True is a Canadian short film, directed by Kalli Paakspuu and Daria Stermac and released in 1986. Mixing performance art segments by Sheila Costick and Helen Porter with musical comedy interludes performed by The Clichettes, the film presents a satirical look at gender roles.
In Search of the Last Good Man is a Canadian comedy-drama short film, directed by Peg Campbell and released in 1989. Cowritten with Peggy Thompson as a follow-up to their 1986 short film It's a Party!, the film blends live action and animation to depict a group of women in a coffee shop talking about their relationships with men.
Esther Valiquette was a Canadian documentary film director. She is most noted for her 1992 documentary film The Measure of Your Passage , which won the award for Best Short Film at the 1993 Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma, and the Genie Award for Best Short Documentary at the 14th Genie Awards in 1993.
Patricia Collins is a British-Canadian actress, prominently associated with the Stratford Festival.
Hate Mail is a Canadian short comedy-drama film, directed by Mark Sawers and released in 1993. The film stars Peter Outerbridge as Randall, a writer who works from home. Distracted by the constant noise from their neighbours while his wife Maggie is at work, Randall decides to forge eviction notices directed at all of them.