Game Theory Films has announced that Japanese Canadian writer/director Meredith Hama-Brown’s award-winning feature debut Seagrass will premiere in select theatres across Canada starting on February 23rd at TIFF Lightbox in Toronto, Cinéma du Parc in Montreal and at home in Vancouver at Cineplex Fifth Avenue Cinemas with more locations to be announced.
Seagrass, which premiered to a sold-out crowd as a part of TIFF’s 2023 Discovery Programme, stars Ally Maki (Shortcomings) as Judith; a Japanese Canadian woman who brings her family to a self-development retreat after the recent death of her mother. When Judith and Steve (Luke Roberts, Ransom) befriend another interracial couple (played by Chris Pang and Sarah Gadon) who seem to have the perfect marriage, Judith begins to recognize how irreparably fractured her relationship is. When their distressed relationship begins to affect the children’s emotional security, the family is forever changed.
Seagrass won the coveted International Film Critics Awards FIPRESCI Prize at TIFF, had sold-out screenings at both TIFF and VIFF, and was selected for Canada’s TIFF Top Ten showcase screening, which takes place on January 26, 2024. Seagrass also won the Prix de la diffusion Québécor for best first film in the national competition at Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, the Outstanding Canadian Feature Film Award at Cinéfest, and the Best Canadian Feature Film Award and the Best Cinematography for Canadian Feature Film Award at the Vancouver Asian Film Festival. The film’s US Premiere was just announced and will be at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in February.
Hama-Brown is a Japanese Canadian artist whose work has explored themes of uncertainty, grief, identity, and lineage. It was announced just before the world premiere of Seagrass that she was signed by Gersh. Her award-winning short film work has been featured in film festivals internationally and her music video for Alaskan Tapes’ song ‘And, We Disappear’ (2019) was nominated for a UK Music Video Award. In 2020, she was selected for the TIFF Filmmaker Lab and was awarded the Canada Goose Fellowship for Seagrass. She is in the early stages of writing her sophomore feature film.
Seagrass is written and directed by Hama-Brown, Cinematography by Norm Li, CSC (Something You Said Last Night), produced by Experimental Forest Films’ Tyler Hagan (The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open) and Ceroma Films’ Sara Blake (Until Branches Bend). The all-star cast includes Ally Maki (The Big Door Prize), Luke Roberts (The Rook), Chris Pang (Crazy Rich Asians), Sarah Gadon (Maps to the Stars), newcomer Nyha Breitkreuz and Remy Marthaller (The Island Between Tides).
Seagrass was made possible through the support of Telefilm Canada, Game Theory Films, Hamilton Moving Pictures, Creative BC, The Harold Greenberg Fund, Tony Yang, CFC (CFC/Netflix Accelerator Lab), and the TIFF Filmmaker Lab. World sales and distribution in Canada are being handled by Game Theory Films.
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