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Birthmarked

Director: Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais

Writer: Marc Tulin

Quebecois anglo helmer Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais won Best New Narrative Director at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival for his debut Whitewash starring Thomas Haden Church.

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Toni Collette and Matthew Goode are starring in Birthmarked, a comedy from director Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais and Brooklyn producer Item 7. Andreas Apergis, Michael Smiley, Fionnula Flanagan and Suzanne Clément co-star in the pic, penned by Marc Tulin. Shooting is underway outside Montreal. The story from Hoss-Desmarais and Tulin, who worked together on the helmer’s first feature film Whitewash, is set in 1977 and revolves around a pair of respected scientists who quit their…...

Bruce (Thomas Haden Church) is a small-town ice plow driver in rural Quebec who has a bit too much to drink one night, heads out for a plow and accidentally hits and kills a man in the middle of the road. Panicked, and still more than a little drunk, he hides the body off the side of a road and heads into the woods in an effort to elude the police and the consequences they bring with them. He awakes the next morning in a plow almost out of gas and nearly buried in snow. Staying out of jail soon takes second place on his list of priorities right behind staying alive. As Bruce scrounges empty cabins for food and checks local papers for news on the dead man we see flashbacks to the days leading up to the accident. Details about his personal life and state of mind are revealed, and...

It’s nowhere near as blackly funny as it wants to be, but Thomas Haden Church is strangely compelling as a man befuddled by the vagaries of fate. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Out one night in wintry Quebec on a drunken joyride in his snowplow — as you do — Thomas Haden Church (John Carter) accidentally hits and kills a guy walking in the middle of a blizzard. So he scoops the body up in the plow, hides it in a snowbank off the side of the road, and retreats into the woods to escape the cops and his guilty conscience by living in the cab of the plow. As you do. Eighty minutes later, the final line of the film suggests that everything that has come in the interim should have been a lot...

The recent craze of survivalist stories, movies with a small cast that focus on one character battling the dangers of the wilderness, is not going to stop anytime soon. Half a year after Gravity and All is Lost captivated moviegoers, telling tales of people grappling with tense life-or-death situations, we get the low-key but high-suspense Whitewash, a bare and thinly plotted thriller from Canada set in the icy Quebec wilderness.

Thomas Haden Church plays Bruce Landry, a snow plow driver who, while driving under the influence of alcohol and his own misery, hits a man with his vehicle. Whether or not this is an accident due to poor visibility from a dense fog of snow or a deliberate murder, given his lack of panic upon the collision, is unclear. Bruce buries the body in a pit of snow on the side of the road and then drives his plow recklessly...

The dramatic thriller Whitewash will debut through video-on-demand this May 2nd. The film was shot in Canada and the film takes place during a brutal snowstorm. Winner of the Best New Narrative Director (Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais) at Tribeca, this title stars Academy Award nominee Thomas Haden Church, in a treacherous tale. The story follows Bruce (Church) and his meandering snowplow. Bruce hits a pedestrian, after a night of drunkenness. The authorities give chase and Bruce retreats into the backwoods of Quebec. Now, Bruce must confront his past and the victim's identity to find some sort of redemption. Fans of mystery and thrillers can preview more release details below. The official trailer for Whitewash is below, along with more release details. The clip shows little snippets of Bruce's chaotic life and strange, suicidal friends. Release Date: May 2nd, 2014 (VOD). Director: Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais. Writers: Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais and Marc Tulin. Cast: Thomas Haden Church.

The Academy Of Canadian Cinema & Television has announced the Canadian Screen Awards nominees.

“We are exceedingly proud today to reveal the nominees for the 2014 Canadian Screen Awards,” said Academy chair Martin Katz.

“This was a year marked by a record-breaking number of submissions, reflecting a robust level of activity in the screen-based industries in Canada which we will celebrate during Canadian Screen Week, March 3-9. Congratulations to all.”

David Cronenberg will receive the lifetime achievement award. For the full list of winners invcluding television, digital and special awards click here.

The feature nominees in full:

Best Motion Picture

The Dismantlement (Le Démantèlement) – Bernadette Payeur, Marc Daigle

Empire Of Dirt – Jennifer Podemski

Enemy – Kim McCraw, Luc Déry, Miguel A Faura, Niv Fichman, Sari Friedland

The F-Word – Andre Rouleau, David Gross, Macdara Kelleher

Gabrielle – Kim McCraw, Luc Déry

The Grand Seduction – Barbara Doran, Roger Frappier

Maïna – Karine Martin, Michel Poulette, Yves Fortin

Tom At The Farm (Tom À La Ferme) – [link...

The Academy Of Canadian Cinema & Television has announced its nominees.

“We are exceedingly proud today to reveal the nominees for the 2014 Canadian Screen Awards,” said Academy chair Martin Katz. “This was a year marked by a record-breaking number of submissions, reflecting a robust level of activity in the screen-based industries in Canada which we will celebrate during Canadian Screen Week, March 3-9. Congratulations to all.”

David Cronenberg will receive the lifetime achievement award. For the full list of winners invcluding television, digital and special awards click here.

The fearure nominees in full:

Best Motion Picture

The Dismantlement (Le Démantèlement) – Bernadette Payeur, Marc Daigle

Empire Of Dirt (pictured) – Jennifer Podemski

Enemy – Kim McCraw, Luc Déry, Miguel A Faura, Niv Fichman, Sari Friedland

The F-Word – Andre Rouleau, David Gross, Macdara Kelleher

Gabrielle – Kim McCraw, Luc Déry

The Grand Seduction – Barbara Doran, Roger Frappier

Maïna – Karine Martin, Michel Poulette, Yves Fortin

Tom At The Farm (Tom À La Ferme) – [link...

Tribeca’s 12th annual festival, running from April 17-28, recently announced its feature film selections in the Spotlight and Midnight sections. According to Tribeca’s website, “The Spotlight section features 33 films — 21 narratives and 12 documentaries — that blur the lines of independent and mainstream filmmaking. Twenty-three films in the selection will have their world premieres at the Festival, a record number for the section.” See below for the official press release of this year’s lineup in all four categories.

2013 Tribeca Film Festival Announces Selections

For Spotlight, Midnight And New Storyscapes Sections, And Special Screenings

First-ever Storyscapes Section Showcases Innovative New Media Projects with Cross-platform Approaches to Storytelling

The Tribeca Film Festival (Tff) announced its feature film selections in the Spotlight and Midnight sections, projects in the new Storyscapes section and Special Screenings. The 12th edition of the Festival will take place from April 17 to April 28 in New York City.

The Spotlight...

Yesterday the Tribeca Film Festival announced their feature film selections for their Spotlight and Midnight sections which include 21 narrative and 12 documentary projects.

This year’s choices bring us films featuring a bevy of top Hollywood talent including Paul Rudd, Paul Giamatti, John Cusack,, Gemma Arterton and Zoe Kazan.

In a press release that accompanied the roster, Genna Terranova, Director of Programming for the festival said: “The documentary films in the Spotlight section this year highlight several famous individuals (including one very cute cat) who use their wit and bold personas to make us think and laugh. A mix of established filmmakers and rising talent top off the rest of the section with features exploring some fresh takes on unconventional relationships.”

The festival will feature the world premieres of several highly-anticipated film projects from indie mainstays like Neil Labute and Richard Linklater, as well as new projects from veteran directors like...

Tribeca Film Festival organizers announced on Wednesday 33 films ticketed for the Spotlight section of the April fest, including new movies starring John Cusack, Ethan Hawke, Zoe Kazan and Melissa Leo.

“A mix of established filmmakers and rising talent top off the rest of the section with features exploring some fresh takes on unconventional relationships,” said Tribeca director of programming Genna Terranova in a press release. The Tribeca Film Festival had previously announced "Mistaken For Strangers," a documentary about The National, as the opening night film, plus a full slate of documentary and feature films in competition.

Some highlights from the Spotlight roster include the world premieres of "Adult World" (with Emma Roberts and John Cusack), "Almost Christmas" (with Paul Rudd and Paul Giamatti), "A Case of You" (with Justin Long), "Some Velvet Morning" (with Stanley Tucci and Evan Rachel Wood), "Trust Me" (with Sam Rockwell, William H. Macy and more...

The Tribeca Film Festival announced the second half of its movie slate today with a lineup that includes Emma Roberts in Adult World, Zac Efron in racing-cum-farming drama At Any Price, and Richard Linklater’s Before Midnight. The releases are in the following categories, which make up the second half of the festival’s feature list: Spotlight, Midnight, Special Screenings, and Storyscapes, a new category this year to recognize work in transmedia — films the incorporate web-based and cross-platform elements.

The Spotlight selection — 33 films: 21 narratives and 12 documentaries — stands out for its range of titles, including premieres from indie darlings (Junebug director Phil Morrison,...