Fortescue Release Day

 I was trying to think of why I like Fortescue so much: it’s the story of two young women in Ontario cottage country trying to get a play off the ground, when one of their boyfriend’s show up and shake things up. That’s just the plot, which should be enticing enough, because it’s really well done. But there’s more to it than that.

For anyone who has been following the films of Rebeccah Love there’s such an intense satisfaction of finally seeing her first feature-length film after almost a decade of shorts. 

I think it was Brecht that spoke of the fragment, the self-contained miniature, different then say a draft or unsatisfactory short. Love’s work is full of these fragments, small artworks in themselves that shine much brighter than their size.

I think Fortescue is best described as a kaleidoscope: a small optical device that when you turn you see all of these beautiful shifting colours and shapes. It’s almost like a diamond: shiny and reflective, but there’s also something about it that’s imperfect, almost as if this diamond was cracked, not idealistic. Fortescue takes on such dark energy, trouble, and conflict.

Even in this remote Haliburton setting, in the middle of summer, with all of these beautiful people, the violence of the world still has a way to infiltrate it.

There’s this dichotomy of such beautiful images and such pain that makes Love work so raw, meaningful, and vital.

And it’s on full display here as equally it was on everything done prior.

There are hundreds of thousands of films out there, but there’s only one Rebeccah Love feature, Fortescue. And that’s why we need to love it.

I’ll be moderating the q&a with Love and her actors tonight after the 6:30PM screening at the Carlton.

Fortescue at the Carlton (July 24-25-26)

 I’m happy to announce that I’ll me moderating a panel discussion with Rebeccah Love and part of the cast of Fortescue at its Thursday, July 24^th screening at its Carlton Cinema screening (6:30PM). 

After its premiere at the Forest City Film Festival in the Fall and then a tour of Canada before finally having its Toronto premiere in June at Future of Film, these three screenings are a perfect opportunity for local audiences to come check out the film.

It’s a perfect summer film: Set in Haliburton, two best-friends, Lea (Kelsey Falconer) and Gabby (Chelsea Preston), one an actress and the other a playwright, idle in the sun, hang out by the water, meet neighbours and friends, rehearse, and one of their boyfriends, Kevin (Tyson Coady), even drops by.

Under the omnipresent heat, tensions of a crowded cottage, and stress over whether her new play will be a success things start to go awry for the three, and Lea’s past mental health problems slowly resurface.

By one of my favourite Canadian directors, it’s so great to finally discover her first feature-length film in her own city. I can’t recommend Fortescue enough!