Moon Point

Another event you should check out this week is indie Canadian film Moon Point. I saw the film this past Sunday and it’s great – charming, funny, quirky, and romantic. The film opened last Friday, February 3rd at AMC Yonge Dundas and did well enough to extend its run an extra week. This also means the film will be running through the Valentine’s Day – and it’s a great Valentine’s Day movie, so be sure to check it out.

The story follows Darryl (Nick McKinlay), a 20-something who lives with his parents and gets harassed by his family for not having a job or girlfriend. When he gets pressured to bring a date to his cousin Lars’ wedding – he becomes fixated on his childhood crush Sarah Cherry – and becomes determined to track her down and be an extra on the movie she’s starring in just a few towns over. With the help of his friend Femur (Kyle Mac) and his motorized wheelchair (drivers’ license be damned) the pair set out along the empty northern Ontario roads on the quest to find Darryl’s dream girl. Along the way they meet and befriend Kristin, a girl who’s just gone through a bad breakup, and lots of other colourful characters. Directed by Sean Cistern and written by Robert Lazar, the cast and crew all did a fantastic job to bring this charming story to life.

Friend and producer Avi Federgreen decided he was fed up with low-budget Canadian films being made but not seen, and has started his own distribution company, IndieCan Entertainment – to help change that trend. Moon Point is the first film released under his new company. Their mandate is to get Canadian films with a budget of $1.25 million or less into the hands of audiences.
This certainly is a common problem in our industry – we have plenty of talent in our country and plenty of great Canadian films being made – but we still seem to favour big budget American movies over home-grown fare (or maybe there are other factors at play that I don’t know about). It breaks my heart when I see an amazing Canadian film not get the distribution or attention it deserves. Even when they do well and get a lot of attention at major festivals like TIFF – which also aim to support Canadian films and filmmakers – they can, as Avi says, hit a wall. But – I’m pretty excited for Avi and I know he’s a passionate guy who takes action and is determined to help see things change.

IndieCan is not only going to be targeting theatres, but also the growing market of online distribution – via things like Netflix and iTunes. THIS in particular makes me happy, because this is of course the direction things are going.

What’s your favorite Canadian Film?
Do you get frustrated when you see a great Canadian flick at a festival, but can’t find it otherwise?
What do you think can be done to help get more Canadian films seen?

I’d love to hear your thoughts, because this is an issue I’m passionate about and I think getting our films seen is going to take more than government mandates for Canadian Content. We need to see the films because we want to – because they’re our stories, our visions, and because they’re compelling, entertaining, and engaging.

To read more about IndieCan Entertainment, check out THIS ARTICLE

MOON POINT AUDIENCE REACTIONS