Away From Her
Sarah Polley Makes her Feature Film Directorial Debut with Away From Her, Starring Julie Christie, Gordon Pinsent, Olympia Dukakis and Michael MurphyFebruary 27, 2006. Toronto. Sarah Polley makes her feature film directorial debut with Away From Her, starring Julie Christie (Secret Life of Words, No Such Thing, Finding Neverland), Gordon Pinsent (Saint Ralph, The Shipping News), Olympia Dukakis (3 Needles, The Event, Moonstruck), Michael Murphy (X-Men: The Last Stand, Tanner on Tanner, Childstar), Kristen Thomson (I,Claudia, The Republic of Love), Wendy Crewson (Niagara Motel, The Many Trials of One Jane Doe), and Alberta Watson (Some Things That Stay, The Sweet Hereafter). Principal photography begins February 27 and runs through until April 7, 2006 in rural Ontario.
Written and directed by Sarah Polley (I Shout Love, The Shield Stories: The Harp, Don’t Think Twice), based on the Alice Munro short story “The Bear Came Over the Mountain”, Away From Her is produced by Jennifer Weiss (In Between Days, Luck), Simone Urdl (Sabah, Luck, Ararat) and Daniel Iron (Pornographer’s Poem, It’s Me, Gerald, Saddest Music in the World, Childstar), with Victoria Hirst (Twist, Owning Mahowny, Century Hotel) serving as Co-Producer and Atom Egoyan (Where The Truth Lies, Ararat) as Executive Producer. Cinematography by Luc Montpellier (Sabah, Saddest Music in the World), production design by Kathleen Climie (Slings & Arrows), costume design by Debra Hanson (Beowulf & Grendel, Snow Cake), and editing by David Wharnsby (Saddest Music in the World, I, Claudia). Capri Releasing will release in Canada, William Morris Independent is representing the film in the United States and HanWay is handling worldwide sales.
Married for 50 years, Grant (Gordon Pinsent) and Fiona’s (Julie Christie) life together is full of tenderness and humour, their serenity broken only by Fiona’s restrained references to the past, complicated further by her increasingly evident memory loss. Moving Fiona into a nursing home specializing in Alzheimer’s disease, Grant is not allowed to visit for the first month so she can “adjust”. When he sees her again, Fiona has forgotten him and turned her affection to Aubrey (Michael Murphy), another resident in the home. Heartbroken, Grant visits daily, bearing witness to the growing bond between her and Aubrey. When Aubrey’s wife, Marian (Olympia Dukakis), takes Aubrey home, Fiona becomes deeply depressed, and Grant embarks of the greatest act of self-sacrifice of his life.
“This film is based on my favourite short story. And these actors were the faces I imagined when I first read the story. To say that I feel lucky to be working on this material, with this group of people, on my first feature, is quite the understatement,” says Polley. She has been writing and directing in Canada for the last six years. In 1999, Polley directed the short film The Best Day of My Life, and then wrote, directed and produced Don’t Think Twice, starring Tom McCamus and Jennifer Podemski. In 2001, she wrote, directed and co-produced I Shout Love, starring Kristen Thomson, who won an Actra Award for her performance in the short. The film also won a 2003 Genie Award for Best Live Action Short Drama. In 2002, Sarah wrote and directed The Harp, one of the episodes of The Shield Stories for television.
Producers Jennifer Weiss and Simone Urdl, principals in the production company, The Film Farm, worked with Polley to bring Away From Her to camera. “Sarah’s beautiful screenplay is the perfect vehicle to bring Alice Murno's lyrical sense of story to the big screen. Sarah's artistic talents will continue to flourish as the director of this film,” says Weiss.
“It is time for Sarah to move from the short to long format in her storytelling. It is a testament to her vision and sensitivity as a filmmaker that she has been able to cast Away From Her with the likes of Julie Christie, Gorden Pinsent and Olympia Dukakis,” says Simone Urdl.
“I am truly excited about the prospect of making this film since helping Sarah option the story over two years ago. Her screenplay is so mature, moving and beautifully written. It really is an honour to be involved in producing her debut feature,” says Daniel Iron of Foundry Films.
Away From Her is produced with the participation of Telefilm Canada, The Canadian Television Fund, Astral Media’s The Harold Greenberg Fund and The Movie Network, The Ontario Media Development Corporation, and Movie Central.
Thanks to Cynthia Amsden
Unit Publicist for Away From Her
