Screening times:
Friday, Nov 15, 6:30 PM - Q&A with Harley Chamandy after screening
Saturday, Nov 16, 6:30 PM - Q&A with Harley Chamandy after screening
Harley Chamandy | Canada | 2024 | 81m
with Vincent Leclerc, Miles Phoenix Foley, and Liam Quiring-Nkindi
These screenings will be attended via video-link by director Harley Chamandy for a post-film Q&A!
Allen Sunshine tells the story of a former music mogul who retreats to an isolated lake-side home to grieve his famous wife’s suicide. He copes by composing ambient-electronic music and by nurturing an unexpected friendship with two young boys whom he meets on the lake, fishing. The places where they can connect emotionally are limited, but together they construct an uncomplicated bond, which is something clearly absent in Allen's life. Throughout his stages of grief, Allen is visited by people in his life that remind him of what he’s lost and forgotten, and what he hopes to gain and reconcile.
In his debut film, Chamandy exhibits a storytelling maturity beyond his years. His gift with actors, whatever their age and experience, suggests he's going to have a remarkable career — he also manages to capture a fantastic dog performance. With Allen Sunshine, Chamandy stakes his claim as a serious talent in Canadian cinema.
"I wanted to make a film about love, and what it means to live without it and finding it again in new forms," says Chamandy in his Director's Statement. "To choose optimism is to choose happiness and that’s what I hoped to push with my film. In our current landscape, it seems that so much art made for and by young people is cynical and nihilistic and I hoped to bring a different kind of sensibility to my generation."
This screening will be followed by an audience Q&A with Harley Chamandy via video-link!
"Allen Sunshine is a film focused on exploring the beautiful poetry of everyday life, a quietly human depiction of grief and how it is not a linear process."-Matthew Joseph Jenner, International Cinephile Society
"Allen Sunshine, the splendid debut film by the young director Harley Chamandy, invites viewers into a world where every rustle of leaves and raindrop isn’t just background noise but a key to the protagonist’s inner world." -Polina Grechanikova, Film Fest Report
"It's a small, angular film with a very personal fingerprint, a good eye, and some really nice touches." -Thomas Schultze, Spot MediaFilm.com
TRT Award, First Cut + - Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
Werner Herzog Film Prize - Werner Herzog Foundation/Film Archive Munich
Tickets $8.75 ($8 cash at the door if available).
