''Café Daughter'' is a 2023 Canadian drama film, directed by Shelley Niro. Adapted from Kenneth T. Williams's stage play of the same name, which was itself a fictionalized account of the life of Canadian physician and senator

Lillian Dyck Lillian Eva Quan Dyck, (born August 24, 1945) is a retired Canadian senator from Saskatchewan. A member of the Cree Gordon First Nation in Saskatchewan, and a first generation Chinese Canadian, she is the first female First Nations senator and ...

, the film stars Violah Beauvais as Yvette Wong, a young girl of mixed

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

and

Chinese Canadian Chinese Canadians are Canadians of full or partial Chinese people, Chinese ancestry, which includes both naturalized Chinese immigrants and Canadian-born Chinese. They comprise a subgroup of East Asian Canadians which is a further subgroup of ...

ancestry growing up in

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

in the 1960s, who faces challenges after the death of her mother but remains focused on her goal of attending medical school to become a doctor.Eden Suh
"Film: Café Daughter shooting wraps up in Sudbury"
'' Sudbury.com'', May 22, 2022. The cast also includes Star Slade, Tom Lim,

Sera-Lys McArthur Sera-Lys McArthur is a Canadian actress whose roles include Hailey Martin in CBC's ''Arctic Air,'' Amanda in ''Hard Rock Medical,'' and Kodie Chartrand in season 3 of The CW's legal drama television series '' Burden of Truth.'' McArthur is prou ...

, Evan Lau,

Billy Merasty Billy Merasty (born 1960) is an Aboriginal peoples in Canada, Aboriginal Canadian actor and writer of Cree descent. Early life Merasty was born in Brochet, Manitoba, Canada. He is the ninth of fourteen siblings born to Viola and Pierre Merasty, ...

and Demaris Moon Walker. The film was shot in

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario ** Sudbury (federal electoral district) ** Sudbury (provincial electoral district) ** Sudbury Airport ** Sudbury Basin, a meteorite impact cra ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, in 2022.

Distribution

The film premiered on June 17, 2023, at a retrospective of Niro's work staged at the

National Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers. The museum has three ...

George Gustav Heye Center The National Museum of the American Indian–New York, the George Gustav Heye Center, is a branch of the National Museum of the American Indian at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in Manhattan, New York City. The museum is part of the Sm ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. It had its Canadian premiere in the Cinema Indigenized lineup at the 2023 Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival.

Awards

It won the Audience Choice Award at the 2023

imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is the world's largest Indigenous film and media arts festival, held annually in Toronto. The festival focuses on the film, video, radio, and new media work of Indigenous, Aboriginal and First Peoples ...

.Justin Anderson
"In Brief: Café Daughter wins imagineNATIVE audience award"
'' Playback'', November 3, 2023.

References

External links

www.cafedaughter.com
* 2023 films 2023 drama films English-language Canadian films Canadian biographical drama films First Nations films 2020s Canadian films Films shot in Greater Sudbury Films set in Saskatchewan Canadian films based on plays Canadian films based on actual events Films about Chinese Canadians Films about Canadian politicians English-language biographical drama films {{2020s-Canada-film-stub