96 minutes – Drama, LGBTG2+, Religion
Language: English, French wth English subtitles
Festival release date: June 11, 2022 – Tribeca Film Festival (World Premiere)
Release date: March 24, 2023
Production company: Prospector Films
Canadian distributors, Mongrel Media, Métropole Films
It is 1992 and Jaime (Anwen O’Driscoll), now 17 years old and growing up in Thunder Bay, Ontario, loves sci-fi, The Cure, and getting high. Unknown to anyone around her, she’s gay. When her father dies and her mother suffers a breakdown, she’s sent to the Saguenay region to live with her aunt (Liane Balaban) and uncle (Antoine Yared), both members of the town’s tight-knit, devoutly faithful Jehovah’s Witness community. Jaime feels like an outcast, but at a religious service she meets Marike (June Laporte), an exemplary Witness girl and daughter of a prominent community elder. The two instantly strike up a deep friendship, and Jaime finds herself falling hard for Marike. As the two grow closer, Jaime is drawn deeper into the Witness theology, which promises an eternal life in God’s promised kingdom – what they call “the new system of things”– after the world ends. The two disappear into their own little world, and for a moment, are happy. But when the community notices how close they’ve become, it moves swiftly to keep them apart, forcing them each to make a terrible choice between faith and love.
Rob Vroom
Sarah Watts
Mark Slutsky
Sarah Watts
Mark Slutsky
Gayle Ye
Amélie Labrèche
André Chamberlan
Kayleigh Choiniere
Anwen O’Driscoll
June Laporte
Liane Balaban
Antoine Yared
Hasani Freeman
Tim Campbell
Deragh Campbell
Xavier Roberge
Lenni-Kim Lalande
Catherine-Amélie Côté
Marc-Antoine Auger
Jude Ferris
Hojo Rose
Jordan Sawyer
Bentley Hughes
Juliette Gariepy
Nicole Leroux
Valentin Côté
Eve Lemieux
Chanel Mings
Serge Boulianne
Jaime
Marike
Beth
Jean-François
Nathan
Frank
Amanda
Marc-Olivier
Simon
Sister Camille
Stoner Dude
Josue
Mr. Haber
Gary
Evan
Angella
Karen
Luca
Mathilde
Melissa
Middle-Aged Man
Northernstars.ca is published by the Canadian Independent Visual
and Digital Media Association – A nonprofit corporation.
Toronto, Ontario, M4X 1X7
First published as Northernstars.net February 1, 1998
ISSN 2563 4895