Archive of films This Beautiful City / This Beautiful City

Canada
2007, 87 min

Section: Forum of Independents - Competition
Year: 2008

Carol falls from the balcony of the flat she shares with Harry and is found by a prostitute named Pretty, her boyfriend Johnny and a cop named Peter. How will the fall transform the lives of the five protagonists from modern Toronto? This impressive Canadian debut offers an original depiction of the chaos and loneliness of modern life, both in and outside the big city.

Synopsis

Husband and wife Harry and Carol are having a dinner party with some friends. Afterwards, Carol goes to have a smoke on the sly on the balcony and teeters over the railing. A moment later she is found injured below by a policeman named Peter, a drug-addicted prostitute named Pretty and her boyfriend Johnny. Carol’s fall opens the film and the rest plays out three months later with the event having intersected the fates of the five protagonists from modern Toronto and caused them to intertwine. This impressive Canadian film offers a plainly shot, grim tale, told with Canadian sobriety. It speaks of disturbed relationships, the neuroticism of the modern world, the loneliness and desperation of the people in it, and the day-to-day madness of human existence. Structured with sophistication, the film contains a number of suggestive scenes so impressive as to burn them into one’s memory. It is composed of high-strung segments often charged with action, sudden jump cuts, quick flashes, and imaginative use of sound and music.

About the director

Ed Gass-Donnelly (b. 1977, Toronto) is an acclaimed theatre director and short-film maker. This Beautiful City is his feature film debut which he himself moreover produced, wrote, directed and edited. The story comes from one of Gass-Donnelly’s own plays. In his own words, Gass-Donnelly likes to take inspiration from the stories of ordinary people forced into extreme circumstances. His short films have included Pink (2003), Pony (2002), Polished (2002) and Dying Like Ophelia (2002). He has directed a number of music videos for independent Toronto bands such as the FemBots, who also composed the score for This Beautiful City. The film was screened at the festival in Toronto, among others, and won the Best Actor and Best Actress awards for the performances of Aaron Poole and Caroline Cave at the Canadian ACTRA awards.

Contacts

3 Legged Dog Films
164 Strachan Avenue, M6J 2S9, Toronto
Canada
Tel: +1 416 361 1236
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.3ldfilms.com

Séville Pictures Inc.
, H2Y 1Z5, Montreal, Quebec
Canada
Tel: +1 514 841 1910
Fax: +1 514 841 8030
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.sevillepictures.com

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About the film

Color, 35 mm
European premiere

Section:	Forum of Independents - Competition

Director:	Ed Gass-Donnelly
Screenplay:	Ed Gass-Donnelly
Dir. of Photography:	Micha Dahan
Music:	FemBots
Editor:	Ed Gass-Donnelly
Producer:	Ed Gass-Donnelly, Lee Kim, Aaron Poole
Production:	3 Legged Dog Films
Cast:	Aaron Poole, Kristin Booth, Caroline Cave, Noam Jenkins, Stuart Hughes
Contact:	3 Legged Dog Films, Séville Pictures Inc.

www:	www.thisbeautifulcity.ca

Guests

Ed Gass-Donnelly

Film Director / Producer

Aaron Poole

Actor

Jessica Shannon

Producer

Kat Germain

Actress