UPCOMING SCREENINGS
Algonquin Theatre, Main Street Huntsville - 7pm for all films

Monday, October 3, 2022
SCARBOROUGH

Book Tickets Here

"If you have any doubt about the tremendous, inspiring, near-transcendent power that Canadian film can offer, then you must make a priority of watching Scarborough." - Barry Hertz, The Globe and Mail

Adapted from the critically acclaimed novel by Catherine Hernandez, Scarborough is an unflinching portrait of three low-income families struggling to endure within a system that’s set them up for failure. It shows the love and perseverance communities can foster, lifting up families to overcome the obstacles placed in their way.
 

Taking place over the span of a school year, Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson’s debut narrative feature follows three interwoven families fighting an uphill struggle against debt, addiction, and job insecurity. The directors’ exacting attention to detail frames the vibrant, rapidly changing neighbourhood with a universality and compassion that makes the film strikingly humanistic.
 

Scarborough offers a raw yet empathetic glimpse into a diverse community that finds its dignity in unexpected places — a collective refusal to be fractured by individual challenges and instead be brought together through kindness and solidarity. Nakhai and Williamson portray the specific truths of their characters’ daily lives with a big-hearted honesty and accuracy that makes the work so powerful. The film’s quiet sensitivity ultimately forms a major statement, remaining relevant and resonant long after viewing.

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The runner-up for the TIFF People’s Choice Award in 2021, Scarborough found major success at the 2022 Canadian Screen Awards, earning eight wins including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

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Directed by: Shasha Nakhai, Rich Williamson
Canada, 2021
English | 136 minutes
Principal Cast: Liam Diaz, Mekiya Fox, Anna Claire Beitel

Distributor: levelFILM

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Monday, October 17, 2022
OFFICIAL COMPETITION

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Book Tickets Here

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Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas star as two egomaniacs commissioned by a millionaire to make a movie together in this sharp comedy skewering wealth, art, and pride.

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Having surveyed his legacy and finding it lacking in prestige, an octogenarian millionaire pharmaceutical tycoon (José Luis Gómez) decides to finance a great work of cinema. He purchases the rights to a Nobel Prize–winning novel about sibling rivalry and entrusts the property to enigmatic auteur Lola Cuevas (Penélope Cruz).

A visionary conceptualist with a penchant for offscreen theatrics and micromanagement, Lola casts as her embattled co-leads a pair of veteran thespians who couldn’t be less alike: Iván Torres (Oscar Martínez) is a revered educator and legend of the stage much concerned with ethics and artistry, while Félix Rivero (Antonio Banderas) is a glamorous global star known mostly for brainless, bombastic entertainments.

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Awash in egomania and deliciously absurd behind-the-scenes hi-jinx, Argentine writer-directors Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat’s Official Competition is an ingenious, icy satire.  Martínez deftly reveals the childish wounds underlying Iván’s high ideals, while Banderas utilizes his star power to craft a portrait of a man consumed by his own celebrity. But it’s Cruz, sporting a magnificent cloud of ginger curls, who becomes the film’s anchor as a master manipulator looking on as her grand scheme spirals out of control.

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In Spanish with English subtitles. 

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Monday, November 7, 2022
PEACE BY CHOCOLATE

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“It’s a heartwarming story with a Come From Away vibe, and while it doesn’t shy awayfrom the racism immigrants experience in Canada, the predominant mood is one oftriumph over adversity.” - Chris Knight, National Post

Based on a true story, this sweet and savoury film follows the newly settled Hadhad family’s
efforts to establish an artisanal chocolate shop in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.

As business takes off and neighbours take notice, eldest son Tareq (Ayham Abou Ammar) struggles to reconcile his commitment to his family’s legacy with his own professional ambitions, much to the chagrin of eccentric patriarch Issam (Hatem Ali). Finding its emotional anchor in the tension between duty and desire, looking back and looking forward, Peace by Chocolate offers a delectable assortment of laughs and heartfelt lessons about the sacrifices we make for one another in our
families as well as our communities.

Directed by: Jonathan Keijser

Canada, 2021

English, Arabic (some subtitles)

Principal Subjects/Cast: Ayham Abou Ammar, Hatem Ali, Mark Camacho, Yara Sabri Distributor: Vortex Media

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