''Monkey Beach'' is a 2020 Canadian drama film, directed by

Loretta Todd Loretta Sarah Todd is a Canadian Indigenous documentary filmmaker. Her films have been screened at the Sundance Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the American Indian Film Festival (San Francisco), the Yamagata Intern ...

."Loretta Sarah Todd's 'Monkey Beach' to open Vancouver film festival"
''

Tri-City News The ''Tri-City News'' was a Canadian online community based in Port Coquitlam and published by Glacier Media, and serving the Tri-Cities region of British Columbia's Lower Mainland. It was established in 1985 as a weekly printed newspaper. In th ...

'', September 3, 2020. Her debut narrative feature, the film is an adaptation of

Eden Robinson Eden Victoria Lena Robinson (born 19 January 1968) is an Indigenous Canadian author. She is a member of the Haisla and Heiltsuk First Nations in British Columbia, Canada.Monkey Beach ''Monkey Beach'' is a supernatural mystery novel written by the Indigenous Canadian author Eden Robinson. It was published by Vintage Canada in 2000, being Eden's first novel. It was the recipient of the 2001 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, which ...

''. The film stars

Grace Dove Grace Dove (born July 25, 1991) is a Canadian actress and television host, early known for her role as Hugh Glass' wife in the 2015 film ''The Revenant (2015 film), The Revenant''; as well as Ricki, a talented mechanic in the 2018 film ''How It ...

as Lisamarie, a young Haisla woman in

Kitamaat Kitimat is a district municipality in the North Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It is a member municipality of the Regional District of Kitimat–Stikine regional government. The Kitimat Valley is part of the most populous urban distri ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

coming to terms with the mysterious disappearance of her brother Jimmy (

Joel Oulette Joel Oulette (born 2001/2002) is a Canadian actor, most noted for his lead role as Jared in the television drama series ''Trickster''. He was cast in the series as his first starring role after supporting performances in the television series ''T ...

). The film's cast also includes

Adam Beach Adam Beach (born November 11, 1972) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his roles as Victor Joseph in '' Smoke Signals''; Frank Fencepost in '' Dance Me Outside''; Tommy on ''Walker, Texas Ranger''; Kickin' Wing in '' Joe Dirt''; U.S. Marin ...

Nathaniel Arcand Nathaniel Arcand (born November 13, 1971) is a Canadian actor. He is known for his first major role in the Canadian drama series ''North of 60'', in which for three seasons he played William MacNeil, a smart-mouthed, cocky, troubled, and misunder ...

Glen Gould Glen Gould (born June 6, 1971) is an Indigenous Canadian actor, director and producer of Miꞌkmaq and Italian descent. Between 2016 and 2020, he played the role of detective Jerry Commanda on the television series ''Cardinal''. Career Gould ...

, Tina Lameman and

Ta'Kaiya Blaney Ta'Kaiya Blaney (born 2001) is a Canadian First Nations ( Tla A'min) actress, singer, speaker, and environmental activist. Blaney is an ambassador for the Native Children's Survival Indigenous Children Fund and Salish Sea Youth Foundation and i ...

. The film premiered at the

2020 Vancouver International Film Festival The 2020 Vancouver International Film Festival, the 39th event in the history of the Vancouver International Film Festival, was held from September 24 to October 7, 2020. On September 3, organizers announced a lineup of 180 films; due to the COVID- ...

Critical response

For ''

The Georgia Straight ''The Georgia Straight'' is a free Canadian weekly news and entertainment newspaper published in Vancouver, British Columbia, by Overstory Media Group. Often known simply as ''The Straight'', it is delivered to newsboxes, post-secondary schools ...

'', Craig Takeuchi wrote that "Although the overall effort may be uneven at times and takes some time to find its way, there’s enough to appreciate here to carry things along, including a scene-stealing Adam Beach as the mischievous Uncle Mick, Lisa’s struggle to reconcile traditional values with the current world, and—needless to say—the evocative setting that pervades the proceedings." For the Hollywood North Magazine, Shaun Lang wrote, "If my plot summary sounds vague, it’s merely in the service of not spoiling one of the shiniest jewels in the recent wave of Canadian Indigenous Cinema. If The Grizzlies was the Inuit answer to the sports drama, then Monkey Beach is the Haisla response to the Superhero genre. That’s about the closest I can come to categorizing what is truly a spiritually-healing experience whether you’re Haisla or otherwise."

Awards

The film swept the feature film awards at the 2020

American Indian Film Festival The American Indian Film Festival is an annual non-profit film festival in San Francisco, California, United States. It is the world's oldest venue dedicated solely to Native American/First Nations films and prepared the way for the 1979 formati ...

, winning for Best Picture, Best Director (Todd), Best Actor (Beach), Best Actress (Dove), Best Supporting Actor (Arcand) and Best Supporting Actress (Lameman). At the

Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards 2020 The 21st Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards honoured the films selected by the Vancouver Film Critics Circle as the best of 2020.Etan Vlessing"Vancouver Film Critics Circle: 'Mank' Leads With Five Nominations" ''The Hollywood Reporter'', February ...

, Beach was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Canadian Film and Lameman was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Canadian Film.Jorge Ignacio Castillo
"POSSESSOR AND CHAINED DOMINATE THE VFCC NOMINATIONS FOR BEST IN CANADIAN FILM"

Vancouver Film Critics Circle The Vancouver Film Critics Circle (VFCC) was founded in 2000 by David Spaner and Ian Caddell, in order to help promote Canadian films and the British Columbia film and television industry. Its membership includes print, radio, on-line, and telev ...

, February 3, 2021. Todd,

Johnny Darrell Johnny Darrell (July 23, 1940 – October 7, 1997) was an American country music artist. Darrell was born in Hopewell, Cleburne County, Alabama, Hopewell, Alabama but grew up in Marietta, Georgia. After a stint in the army, he moved to Nashville ...

and Andrew Duncan received a

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards () are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...

nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay at the

9th Canadian Screen Awards The 9th Canadian Screen Awards were presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television from 17–20 May 2021 to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2020. The presentations were held as a seri ...

in 2021.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 8967870 2020 films Bigfoot films Canadian drama films Canadian coming-of-age drama films First Nations films Films based on Canadian novels 2020s Canadian films