Screening Dates
  • December 15, 2017 6:30
Free Admission

Patricia Rozema’s much-loved debut feature, winner of the Prix de la Jeunesse at Cannes, is a charmer. Sheila McCarthy gives an endearing performance as Polly, an awkward, ​“organizationally impaired” temp who develops a crush on boss Gabrielle (Paule Baillargeon), sophisticated owner of a chic art gallery. When Gabrielle’s old flame Mary (Canadian novelist Ann-Marie MacDonald) arrives on the scene, Polly finds herself in the midst of an apparent art fraud. Polly’s direct-address video confessions and whimsical fantasies structure Rozema’s told-in-flashback film. This low-budget wonder was a landmark in feminist and queer cinema in Canada; a breakthrough work of the Toronto New Wave; and one of the rare English-Canadian movies to actually make money! McCarthy and Baillargeon won Genies.

preceded by

The Sand Castle
(Le château de sable)
Canada 1977
Co Hoedeman
13 min. DCP

Dutch-born, Montreal-based animator Co Hoedeman’s stop-motion, sand-sculpted fable, the magical tale of a sandman who comes to life and builds himself companions and a home, won the Oscar for Best Animated Short.

Media