Mothers & Daughters (2008 film)

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Mothers and Daughters
Directed by Carl Bessai
Written byCarl Bessai
Produced byCarl Bessai
Rod Ruel
Starring Babz Chula
Gabrielle Rose
Tantoo Cardinal
Camille Sullivan
Tiffany Lyndall-Knight
Tinsel Korey
CinematographyCarl Bessai
Edited byMark Shearer
Music by Lullaby Baxter
Bertram Havisham
Production
company
Ravenwest Films
Distributed byKinosmith
Release date
  • September 8, 2008 (2008-09-08)(TIFF)
Running time
85 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Mothers and Daughters is a 2008 Canadian comedy-drama film, directed by Carl Bessai. [1]

The film, an exploration of mother-daughter relationships, centres on a group of women in Vancouver. Micki (Babz Chula) is a romance novelist who has tried to relate to her daughter Rebecca (Camille Sullivan) as a friend and peer rather than as a mother; Brenda (Gabrielle Rose) is a woman whose relationship with her daughter Kate (Tiffany Lyndall-Knight) is tested when her husband leaves her for another woman; Celine (Tantoo Cardinal) is a single house painter with no children, who has the opportunity to indulge her maternal instincts when her young client Cynthia (Tinsel Korey) needs assistance with her pregnancy. [2] The characters and dialogue were developed by the actresses through an improvisational process. [3]

At the 2008 Vancouver International Film Festival, the film won the audience award for Most Popular Canadian Film. [4] Rose received a Genie Award nomination for Best Actress at the 30th Genie Awards. [5]

Bessai went on to make two more films, Fathers & Sons (2010) and Sisters & Brothers (2011), that used a similar process and structure to explore family dynamics.

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References

  1. "Overwrought relationships, underwritten with love". The Globe and Mail , May 28, 2009.
  2. "Mothers & Daughters: Carl Bessai". Exclaim! , May 29, 2009.
  3. "Mothers&Daughters' Gabrielle Rose finds her reality". The Georgia Straight , May 6, 2009.
  4. "Fifty Dead Men Walking was dead-on according to VIFF jury; I've Loved You So Long voted most popular film". The Province , October 12, 2008.
  5. "Polytechnique tops Genie nominations". CBC News, March 1, 2010.