''Down River'' is a Canadian drama film, directed by Benjamin Ratner and released in 2013.
Created as a tribute to actress
Babz Chula
Babz Chula (born Barbara Ellen Zuckerman; circa 1946 – May 7, 2010) was an American-born Canadian actress.
Chula spent her early childhood in the working-class neighbourhood of Jamaica, N.Y., but her widowed mother, Abby Zuckerman, a bookin ...
following her death in 2010, the film stars
Helen Shaver
Helen Shaver (born February 24, 1951) is a Canadian actress and film and television director. She has received Emmy and Saturn Award nominations, among other honours.
Early life
Shaver was born and raised, with five sisters, in St. Thomas, O ...
as Pearl, an older woman who is a friend and mentor to actress Fawn (
Gabrielle Miller
Gabrielle Sunshine Miller (born November 9, 1973) is a Canadian actress who, since the start of her career in 1993, has appeared in many television films and series episodes, including leading roles in two of Canada's most popular concurrently-r ...
), visual artist Aki (
Jennifer Spence
Jennifer Spence (born January 22, 1977) is a Canadian actress. Her acting credits include playing Dr. Lisa Park on the ''Stargate Universe'' television series and Betty Robertson on the series ''Continuum''.
Career
Spence has had principal roles ...
) and bisexual musician Harper (
Colleen Rennison
Colleen Rennison (born December 2, 1987) is a Canadian singer/songwriter and actress.
Early life and education
Colleen Rennison is of Irish, Scottish and French descent. She was born to Pat, a mortgage underwriter, and Cecilia Rennison, a telev ...
Ali Liebert
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...
Nancy Sivak Nancy Sivak is a Canadian actress.David Spaner, "One craft, two worlds: Ken Olin and Nancy Sivak are both actors but they operate at different ends of the spectrum". ''The Province'', September 28, 1999. She is most noted for her performance in the ...
and
Hiro Kanagawa
is a Japanese-Canadian actor and playwright based in Vancouver, British Columbia. He has appeared in numerous high-profile films and television series shot in the Vancouver area, including '' Smallville'', '' Caprica'', ''Godzilla'', ''The Man i ...
.
The film premiered at the 2013
Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival
Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival, also known as Cinéfest and Cinéfest Sudbury is an annual film festival in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada,"Cinefest provides cultural landmark". ''Sudbury Star'', September 16, 1999. held over nine ...
. It was subsequently screened at the Vancouver International Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Most Popular Canadian Film and received an honorable mention from the jury for the Best British Columbia Film award.
Canadian Screen Award
The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) 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) p ...
nomination for
Best Original Song
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
at the
2nd Canadian Screen Awards
The 2nd Canadian Screen Awards were held on March 9, 2014, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2013.Leo Awards with 13 nods, including Best Motion Picture, Best Actress (Shaver), Best Supporting Actress (2: Rennison, Spence), Best Director (Ratner), Best Screenplay (Ratner), Best Musical Score (Chris Ainscough, Kevin House), Best Editing (Robert Wenzek), Best Cinematography (Larry Lynn), Best Production Design (Josh Plaw), Best Costume Design (Gloria Tsui) and Best Overall Sound (Brian Lyster, Randy Kiss and Michael Macdonald). It won the awards for Best Picture, Supporting Actress (Spence), Screenplay, Costume Design and Overall Sound."B.C.'s best Shine; Leo awards had plenty of glitz and glamour". ''
Vancouver Sun
The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published s ...