Whistler Film Festival’s Coveted Borsos Competition Celebrates 10th Anniversary

^[1]The Whistler Film Festival ^[1] is pleased to announce the six films that will compete in the 10th annual Borsos Competition for Best Canadian Feature Film ^[2] for a cash prize of $15,000, the second largest cash prize for a Canadian film in the country. Launched in 2004 in honor of legendary Canadian filmmaker Phillip Borsos, the Borsos Competition for Best Canadian Feature Film, celebrates independent vision, original directorial style and the diversity of talent found in Canadian film.

To compete in the Borsos Competition, films must be at least Western Canadian premieres. The following six films will compete for the esteemed award presented by the Directors Guild of Canada – British Columbia, and all directors will be in attendance.

• Cas & Dylan – 2013 | Canada | 90 mins
  • Western Canadian Premiere
  • Director: Jason Priestley
  • Producers: Mark Montefiore, Bill Marks, Emily Alden, Marina Cordoni, Ira Levy, Steven Denure, Peter Willamson
  • Screenwriter: Jesse Gabe
  • Cast: Richard Dryfuss, Tatiana Maslany, Eric Peterson, Jayne Eastwood, Aaron Poole
  • Production Company: Montefiore Films Inc.
  • Print Source: Pacific Northwest Pictures
  • Synopsis: A dying doctor’s plan to drive out west, to check out on his own terms, takes a reluctant detour when he inadvertently winds up on the lam with an “anything-but-normal” 22-year-old girl.

• Louis Cyr: The Strongest Man in the World – 2013 | Canada | 120 mins | French with English subtitles
  • Western Canadian Premiere
  • Director: Daniel Roby
  • Producers: Christian Larouche, Caroline Héroux, Stéphanie Héroux
  • Screenwriter: Sylvain Guy
  • Cast: Antoine Bertrand, Guillaume Cyr, Rose-Maïté Erkoreka, Gilber Sicotte, Marilyn Castonguay, Gill Bellows, Cliff Saunders
  • Production Company: Gaëa Films Inc.
  • Print Source: Les Films Christal, eOne Entertainment
  • Synopsis: Louis Cyr was an extraordinary individual, whose numerous exploits quickly turned him into a legend. This film traces the story not only of a mythical hero, but also of a very vulnerable man, whose most difficult battles were fought outside the arena.

• Patch Town –2013 | Canada | 85 mins
  • Canadian Premiere
  • Director: Craig Goodwill
  • Producers: David C. Sparkes, Craig Goodwill
  • Screenwriter: Christopher Bond, Trevor Martin, Craig Goodwill
  • Cast: Zoie Palmer, Julian Richings, Rob Ramsay, Suresh John, Stephanie Pitsiladis, Kayla Di Venere, Alan C. Peterson, Scott Thompson
  • Production Company: Popcorn Pictures, David C. Sparkes Film Company
  • Synopsis: After years in a loving home, Jon, a toy, is deserted and betrayed by his adoptive mother. He returns to a life of factory work in a place where hundreds of cabbage babies are born every day. When Jon learns that the evil child catcher, Yuri, has discovered Jon and his wife Mary have stolen a new born baby from the factory floor, he moves into action to escape the oppressive city and find a safe home. Yuri learns that Jon and his family have fled and sets out to kidnap the one person who will bring them back to him: Jon’s mother. Jon is torn between saving the mother he has always dreamed of or saving his own family.

• Siddharth – 2013 | Canada | 96 mins | Hindi with English Subtitles
  • Western Canadian Premiere
  • Director: Richie Mehta
  • Producers: Steven N. Bray, Richie Mehta, David Miller
  • Screenwriter: Richie Mehta
  • Cast: Rajesh Tailang, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Anurag Arora, Shobha Sharma Jassi
  • Production Company: A71 Productions, Poor Man’s Productions Ltd.
  • Synopsis: After sending away his 12 year-old son Siddharth for work, Mahendra (a chain-wallah who fixes broken zippers on the streets) is relieved – his financial burdens will be alleviated. But when Siddharth fails to return home, Mahendra learns child-traffickers may have taken him. With little resources and no connections, he travels across India in pursuit, with the hope that whatever force arbitrarily took his child away will return him unharmed.

• The Husband – 2013 | Canada | 80 mins
  • Western Canadian Premiere
  • Director: Bruce McDonald
  • Producers: Daniel Bekeman, Cher Hawrysh, Bruce McDonald
  • Screenwriter: Kelly Harms, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos
  • Cast: Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, August Diehl, Sarah Allen, Jodi Balfour, Stephen McHattie
  • Production Company: Scythia Films, Phenomenal Films, Shadow Shows
  • Synopsis: With his wife Alyssa behind bars for having sex with an underage student, thirty-something Henry is left raising their 16-month-old son alone. Feeling the world is laughing at him, Henry decides he’s going to take control and reclaim his manhood. After a chance encounter with Colin, the cuckolding teen, Henry begins to obsess over him. His visits to Alyssa swing from manic to angry, as he struggles with her crime. He stills loves her, but can he forgive her? With Alyssa’s release from prison looming, Henry must figure out how to save his family.

• Uvanga – 2013 | Canada | 88 mins | English and Inuktitut with English Subtitles
  • Western Canadian Premiere
  • Directors: Marie- Hélène Cousineau, Madeline Piujuq Ivalu
  • Producers: Stéphane Rituit, Marie- Hélène Cousineau
  • Screenwriter: Marie-Hélène Cousineau
  • Cast: Lukasi Forrest, Marianne Farley, Travis Kunnuk, Carol Kunnuk, Peter-Henry Arnatsiaq, Pakak Innusuk, Madeline Piujuq Ivalu
  • Production Company: Arnait Video Productions Inc., Kunuk Cohn Prouductions Inc.
  • Print Source: Mongrel Media
  • Synopsis: A Montreal woman and her 14-year-old son travel to the High Arctic so that he can meet for the first time his late father’s Inuit family. Under the constant summer sun, the joy of homecoming is tempered with disturbing memories.