Mothers&Daughters

(Canada, 2008, 85 mins)

35mm

Selected Filmography:  

EXEC PROD: Laura Lightbown
PROD: Rod Ruel, Carl Bessai
COPROD: Erin Offer
COLLECTIVE CREATION: Tantoo Cardinal, Babz Chula, Gabrielle Rose, Camille Sullivan, Tiffany Lyndall-Knight, Tinsel Korey, Carl Bessai
CAM: Carl Bessai
ED: Mark Shearer
Cast: Tantoo Cardinal, Babz Chula, Gabrielle Rose, Camille Sullivan, Tiffany Lyndall-Knight, Tinsel Korey

Carl Bessai's latest is a comedic drama that blends elements of narrative and documentary film. Micki (Babs Chula), a popular romance novelist with a loyal fan base, is the single, widowed mother of Rebecca, a sullen twenty-something who resents her mother's constant need for validation. Micki surrounds herself with glamorous, pompous colleagues who alternately support her commercial success and criticize the cultural vapidity of her work. Things come to a head when Micki witnesses Rebecca perform what she interprets as a cruel satire of her own persona.

Brenda (Gabrielle Rose) is the archetypal invisible woman who is abruptly discarded following a life of sacrifice. When her husband fails to return for dinner one night, her emotionally estranged daughter Kate appears in his stead, armed with an email declaring his love for another (much younger) woman. Left to cope with her abandonment, Kate is hurt by his disappearance, while Brenda rediscovers her own voice, buried for decades beneath her suburban complacency.

Celine (Tantoo Cardinal) is an independently successful Métis woman who owns her own house-painting business. As a young woman, Celine lost her pregnant, teenaged daughter to the streets. She died homeless, her own newborn lost within the system. Celine has since searched for her missing granddaughter in vain. These three mother/ daughter pairs offer a diverse glimpse into the needs, the denials, and the inescapable love that women feel towards each other.

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