levelFILM, Alcina Pictures & Billfilms are pleased to announce the World Premiere of Vanessa Matsui’s feature directorial debut Midnight At The Paradise at the Whistler Film Festival on December 3, 2022 at 7:30 pm. The actor-turned-director Matsui (The Handmaid’s Tale) will be in attendance at the festival alongside many of the film’s cast and crew.
Midnight At The Paradise tells the story of three couples who, over the course of one evening, are pulled into a collision course of sexual chemistry, delusion, forgiveness, and hope as they navigate what romance, marriage, and the movies mean to them. The film stars Liane Balaban (The People Garden), Allan Hawco (Moonshine), Ryan Allen (See), TIFF rising star Emma Ferreira (Learn to Swim), Kate Trotter (Tru Love), and Kenneth Welsh (Twin Peaks) in his final film role. The film is written and produced by Bill Robertson (The Events Leading Up to My Death) and executive produced by Paul Barkin (Night Raiders).
Iris (Liane Balaban) is a 40-year-old mom feeling stuck between caring for her young daughter and her dying father Max (Kenneth Welsh). She is in a steady marriage that looks “good on paper” to Geoff (Ryan Allen). While trying to save the local movie house, the Paradise, from shuttering its doors in honor of her film critic father, Iris reconnects with the soon-to-married ex-love of her life, Alex (Allan Hawco).
“I am thrilled that my first feature film, Midnight At The Paradise, will have its World Premiere at the 2022 Whistler Film Festival, live and in person,” says Matsui. “And I’m so grateful to have worked with such a talented cast, including my best friend, Liane Balaban, and Kenneth Welsh in his final film role shot just four months before his sudden passing. Kenneth was a joy to work with and be around. He was supportive and generous to me as a first-time feature director, not to mention kind, funny, and vulnerable both as a person and as an artist.”
Vanessa Matsui (Letterkenny) is a Japanese-Canadian writer-actor-director who received a Sundance New Voices Fellowship in 2019. Vanessa is well-known as an actor and as the creator, writer, director and star of the critically acclaimed award-winning web series Ghost BFF, which was nominated for six Canadian Screen Awards. Midnight At The Paradise is her feature film directorial debut.
Midnight At The Paradise is produced by Billfilms in association with Alcina Pictures and is funded with financial participation from Telefilm Canada and Ontario Creates. Distribution in Canada by levelFILM. Cinematography by Jason Tan (The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel), production design by Hanna Puley (Brother), costume design by Jess Sanchez (Ghost BFF), with music by Toronto indie rock band The Neighbourhood Watch.
For further details, visit the https://whistlerfilmfestival.com/
Source/Images provided by Nicola Pender
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