''Happy Face'' is a Canadian drama film, directed by
Alexandre Franchi
Alexandre Franchi is a Canadian film director from Quebec. He is most noted for his 2009 film '' The Wild Hunt'', which won the award for Best Canadian First Feature Film at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival and was named to the annual ...
and released in 2018. The film stars Robin L'Houmeau as Stan, a young man from
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
who tries to cope with his mother's
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
treatment, which has disfigured her appearance, by disguising himself with bandages and joining a
support group
In a support group, members provide each other with various types of help, usually nonprofessional and nonmaterial, for a particular shared, usually burdensome, characteristic. Members with the same issues can come together for sharing coping str ...
for people with disfiguring facial conditions in the hopes of better understanding her situation.
Debbie Lynch-White
Debbie Lynch-White (born 1986) is a Canadian film and television actress from Quebec. Most noted for her performance in the 2018 film '' La Bolduc'' in the title role as folk singer Mary Rose-Anna "La Bolduc" Travers, she was previously known fo ...
plays Vanessa, the nurse who leads the support group, while the members of the support group are portrayed by real people with facial disabilities, including motivational speaker David Roche and actress and model
Alison Midstokke
Alison Midstokke is an American actress and activist.Samantha Barna"Different is Beautiful: an Interview with Alison Midstokke" ''Inspiring Lives'', May 31, 2018. She is most noted for her performance in the 2018 film '' Happy Face'', for which s ...
.
The film premiered in October 2018 at the
Festival du nouveau cinéma
The Festival du nouveau cinéma or FNC (English: ''Festival of New Cinema'') is an annual independent film festival held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, featuring independent films from around the world. Over 160,000 people attend each year. One of ...
, before going into limited theatrical release the following month. It had its American premiere at the
Slamdance Film Festival
The Slamdance Film Festival is an annual film festival focused on emerging artists. The annual week-long festival takes place in Park City, Utah, in late January and is the main event organized by the year-round Slamdance organization, which als ...
in 2019.
The film won the
Prix collégial du cinéma québécois The Prix collégial du cinéma québécois is an annual Canadian film award, presented to a film from Quebec judged as the best of the year by a jury of students in film studies programs at the province's CEGEPs.Léa Carrier"Je m’appelle humain re ...
in 2019. Midstokke received a
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 ...