''Sweeping Forward'' is a Canadian drama film, directed by Patricia MacDowell and released in 2014. The film stars Anne-Marie Saheb as Bess, a former
curling
Curling is a sport in which players slide #Curling stone, stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take t ...
champion who has more recently struggled with her
mental health
Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...
due to childhood abuse by her father, who begins to rebuild her life by recruiting and coaching four troubled young women to learn and compete in the sport.Cheryl Cornacchia, "Curling up with a good movie; West Island director Patricia MacDowell is living out a dream nearly derailed by anxiety disorder, and using it to help". ''
Montreal Gazette
''The Gazette'', also known as the ''Montreal Gazette'', is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper which is owned by Postmedia Network. It is published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
It is the only English-language daily newspape ...
'', August 20, 2014.
The cast includes Lydia Bouchard, Bénédicte Gobert, Sharon James, Melanie Elliot, Marjolaine Lemieux, Jennifer Johnston, Trevor Botkin, Sienna Mazzone, Rafaela Mazzone, Marc Fournier, Elizabeth Locas, Geneviève Côté and Carmen Sylvestre.
The film was inspired in part by MacDowell's own battle with
anxiety disorder
Anxiety disorders are a group of mental disorders characterized by significant and uncontrollable feelings of anxiety and fear such that a person's social, occupational, and personal functions are significantly impaired. Anxiety may cause phys ...
, as well as her job at the
Baie-d'Urfé
Baie-D'Urfé (, ; previously spelled Baie d'Urfé or Baie d'Urfee) is an Greater Montreal, on-island suburb of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is part of the West Island area of the Island of Montreal.
As part of the 2002–2006 municipal reorganiz ...
curling club, where much of the film was shot.
The film premiered at the 2014