''Canvas'' is a 2006 drama film written and directed by

Joseph Greco Joseph Greco (born 1972) is a writer, director and producer living in Los Angeles. He wrote & directed the feature film '' Canvas''. Greco was interested in magic, entering the Society of American Magicians aged 14, but shifted his interest to ...

about a

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

family dealing with a mother who has

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social wit ...

. The film premiered October 2006 at the

Hamptons International Film Festival The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) is an international film festival founded in 1992, by Joyce Robinson. The festival has since taken place every year in East Hampton, New York. It is usually an annual five-day event in mid-October ...

in New York.

Cast

Joe Pantoliano Joseph Peter Pantoliano (born September 12, 1951) is an American character actor who has appeared in over 150 films, television and stage productions. After his early roles in the television series '' M*A*S*H'' and the 1983 comedy '' Risky Bu ...

as John Marino *

Marcia Gay Harden Marcia Gay Harden (born August 14, 1959) is an American actress. She is the recipient of accolades including an Academy Award and a Tony Award, in addition to nominations for a Critics' Choice Movie Award and three Primetime Emmy Awards. Born ...

as Mary Marino * Devon Gearhart as Chris Marino * Sophia Bairley as Dawn * Marcus Johns as Sam * Antony Del Rio as Gregg

Production

Director Joseph Greco wrote that during the third week of shooting, on October 24, 2005,

Hurricane Wilma Hurricane Wilma was an extremely intense and destructive Atlantic hurricane which was the most intense storm of its kind and the second-most intense tropical cyclone recorded in the Western Hemisphere, after Hurricane Patricia in 2015. Part o ...

"hammered us" and almost shut down the production of the film. In a statement on the official website, Greco also wrote he was one of James Cameron's three assistants during the production of the film ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unit ...

'' and when ''Canvas'' was finished, James Cameron signed Greco's application to join the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merge ...

Release

The film premiered at the

in October 2006 and was shown later that year at the

Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County, Florida, Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 Unit ...

on November 12, 2006. It premiered in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

on February 10, 2007, at the European Film Market and premiered in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

on May 21, 2007, at the

Cannes Film Market Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The ...

. ''Canvas'' has also been shown at the AFI Dallas International Film Festival, the

Sedona International Film Festival The Sedona International Film Festival (SIFF) is an annual, eight-day film festival in Sedona, Arizona. The festival was founded in 1994. The Sedona Film Festival screens feature films, documentary films, short films, animated films, and studen ...

, the Nantucket Film Festival, and the

Sarasota Film Festival The Sarasota Film Festival is a film festival located in Sarasota, Florida and is held in April. Its mission is "to celebrate the art of filmmaking and the contribution of filmmakers by hosting an international film festival and developing year-lo ...

. The film opened in limited release in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

on October 12, 2007.

Critical reception

As of October 13, 2007 on the review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, 80% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 15 reviews. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film had an average score of 69 out of 100, based on 9 reviews. Roger Ebert of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...

'' gave the film 3 stars and wrote "The portrayal of

in the film has been praised by mental health experts as unusually accurate and sympathetic" and also said "Writer-director Joseph Greco says the film, his first feature, was influenced by his own childhood with a schizophrenic mother."

Awards

At the

, the film won the Audience Award and

won the Best Dramatic Performance Award. At the

, the film won the Best Feature Film Award and

won the Outstanding Acting Award. The film also won Audience Awards at the Nantucket Film Festival and the Sarasota Film Festival.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Canvas 2006 films 2006 drama films American drama films Fictional portrayals of schizophrenia Films set in Florida 2000s English-language films 2000s American films