The Whistler Film Festival is pleased to announce the six films that will compete in the 10th annual Borsos Competition for Best Canadian Feature Film for a cash prize of $15,000, the second largest cash prize for a Canadian film in the country. Launched in 2004 in honor of legendary Canadian filmmaker Phillip Borsos, the Borsos Competition for Best Canadian Feature Film, celebrates independent vision, original directorial style and the diversity of talent found in Canadian film.
To compete in the Borsos Competition, films must be at least Western Canadian premieres. The following six films will compete for the esteemed award presented by the Directors Guild of Canada – British Columbia, and all directors will be in attendance.
Cas & Dylan - 2013 | Canada | 90 mins
Western Canadian Premiere
Director: Jason Priestley
Producers: Mark Montefiore, Bill Marks, Emily Alden, Marina Cordoni, Ira Levy, Steven Denure, Peter Willamson
Screenwriter: Jesse Gabe
Cast: Richard Dryfuss, Tatiana Maslany, Eric Peterson, Jayne Eastwood, Aaron Poole
Production Company: Montefiore Films Inc.
Print Source: Pacific Northwest Pictures
Synopsis: A dying doctor’s plan to drive out west, to check out on his own terms, takes a reluctant detour when he inadvertently winds up on the lam with an “anything-but-normal” 22-year-old girl.
Louis Cyr: The Strongest Man in the World – 2013 | Canada | 120 mins | French with English subtitles
Western Canadian Premiere
Director: Daniel Roby
Producers: Christian Larouche, Caroline Héroux, Stéphanie Héroux
Screenwriter: Sylvain Guy
Cast: Antoine Bertrand, Guillaume Cyr, Rose-Maïté Erkoreka, Gilber Sicotte, Marilyn Castonguay, Gill Bellows, Cliff Saunders
Production Company: Gaëa Films Inc.
Print Source: Les Films Christal, eOne Entertainment
Synopsis: Louis Cyr was an extraordinary individual, whose numerous exploits quickly turned him into a legend. This film traces the story not only of a mythical hero, but also of a very vulnerable man, whose most difficult battles were fought outside the arena.
Patch Town -2013 | Canada | 85 mins
Canadian Premiere
Director: Craig Goodwill
Producers: David C. Sparkes, Craig Goodwill
Screenwriter: Christopher Bond, Trevor Martin, Craig Goodwill
Cast: Zoie Palmer, Julian Richings, Rob Ramsay, Suresh John, Stephanie Pitsiladis, Kayla Di Venere, Alan C. Peterson, Scott Thompson
Production Company: Popcorn Pictures, David C. Sparkes Film Company
Synopsis: After years in a loving home, Jon, a toy, is deserted and betrayed by his adoptive mother. He returns to a life of factory work in a place where hundreds of cabbage babies are born every day. When Jon learns that the evil child catcher, Yuri, has discovered Jon and his wife Mary have stolen a new born baby from the factory floor, he moves into action to escape the oppressive city and find a safe home. Yuri learns that Jon and his family have fled and sets out to kidnap the one person who will bring them back to him: Jon’s mother. Jon is torn between saving the mother he has always dreamed of or saving his own family.
Siddharth - 2013 | Canada | 96 mins | Hindi with English Subtitles
Western Canadian Premiere
Director: Richie Mehta
Producers: Steven N. Bray, Richie Mehta, David Miller
Screenwriter: Richie Mehta
Cast: Rajesh Tailang, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Anurag Arora, Shobha Sharma Jassi
Production Company: A71 Productions, Poor Man’s Productions Ltd.
Synopsis: After sending away his 12 year-old son Siddharth for work, Mahendra (a chain-wallah who fixes broken zippers on the streets) is relieved – his financial burdens will be alleviated. But when Siddharth fails to return home, Mahendra learns child-traffickers may have taken him. With little resources and no connections, he travels across India in pursuit, with the hope that whatever force arbitrarily took his child away will return him unharmed.
The Husband - 2013 | Canada | 80 mins
Western Canadian Premiere
Director: Bruce McDonald
Producers: Daniel Bekeman, Cher Hawrysh, Bruce McDonald
Screenwriter: Kelly Harms, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos
Cast: Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, August Diehl, Sarah Allen, Jodi Balfour, Stephen McHattie
Production Company: Scythia Films, Phenomenal Films, Shadow Shows
Synopsis: With his wife Alyssa behind bars for having sex with an underage student, thirty-something Henry is left raising their 16-month-old son alone. Feeling the world is laughing at him, Henry decides he’s going to take control and reclaim his manhood. After a chance encounter with Colin, the cuckolding teen, Henry begins to obsess over him. His visits to Alyssa swing from manic to angry, as he struggles with her crime. He stills loves her, but can he forgive her? With Alyssa’s release from prison looming, Henry must figure out how to save his family.
Uvanga - 2013 | Canada | 88 mins | English and Inuktitut with English Subtitles
Western Canadian Premiere
Directors: Marie- Hélène Cousineau, Madeline Piujuq Ivalu
Producers: Stéphane Rituit, Marie- Hélène Cousineau
Screenwriter: Marie-Hélène Cousineau
Cast: Lukasi Forrest, Marianne Farley, Travis Kunnuk, Carol Kunnuk, Peter-Henry Arnatsiaq, Pakak Innusuk, Madeline Piujuq Ivalu
Production Company: Arnait Video Productions Inc., Kunuk Cohn Prouductions Inc.
Print Source: Mongrel Media
Synopsis: A Montreal woman and her 14-year-old son travel to the High Arctic so that he can meet for the first time his late father’s Inuit family. Under the constant summer sun, the joy of homecoming is tempered with disturbing memories.