Comedy Archives - National Canadian Film Day

Named for a question that’s an essential conversation opener in a place where everyone’s got some kind of connection, Jeremy Larter’s comedy feels like a thoroughly authentic expression of Prince Edward Island’s very particular sensibility. It’s also wildly funny for its loopy spin on detective-movie tropes. The gumshoe in this case is Larry (Chris Locke), a private investigator of obviously limited means and abilities who nonetheless ends up smack dab in a juicy case involving compromising photos, blackmail and black-market lobster. All of this makes for a very good time thanks to Larter’s brand of lunacy and the comedic chops of players like Locke and Susan Kent as Rhonda, a convenience store clerk who becomes Larry’s eager sidekick as he bumbles his way through this Maritimer mystery. There’s a local connection too: formerly from Prince Edward Island, Larter is now a resident of Prince Edward County.

Director

Jeremy Larter

Writer

Jeremy Larter

Cast

Susan Kent, Chris Locke

Producers

Jenna MacMillan, Jeremy Larter, Jason Arsenault

Genres

Comedy, Drama

Original Language

English

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A 1940s housewife confronts the sisyphean task of a violent marriage.

Directors

Julie Bruns, Steven Kammerer

Writer

Julie Bruns

Cast

Julie Bruns, George Tsakiridis

Producers

Julie Bruns, Steven Kammerer, George Tsakiridis

Genres

Comedy, Horror

Interest

Female Filmmaker

Original Language

English

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In the distant future, within the city of Los Mutantes, Freda Davis and Lucille Nero, two spies from the National Union of National Spies (N.U.N.S.), ask Betty Powell to help bring down the Catholic Association of Quebec (C.A.Q.) and its oppressive leader, Jeanne Versacon.

Director

Lorenzo Gutiérrez

Writers

Vincenzo Nappi, Lorenzo Gutiérrez

Cast

Alejandra Jiménez, Natasha Perry-Fagant, Jasmine Winter

Producers

Lorenzo Gutiérrez, Vincenzo Nappi

Genres

Action/Adventure, Comedy

Interests

Cult & Offbeat Cinema, Strong Female Leads

Original Language

English

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Machotaildrop is a highly visual and fantastical journey about an amateur skateboarder, Walter Rhum, who realizes his dream of turning pro and riding for the world's greatest skateboard company... Machotaildrop. Set in an anachronistic time and place, Machotaildrop is the greatest skateboard company of its day and the regal and grand sport of skateboarding has been thriving for many generations. Walter's journey serves as a window through which we discover the dark underbelly of what appears at first to be a benign skateboard company.

Directors

Corey Adams, Alex Craig

Writers

Glen Bolland, Alex Craig, Corey Adams

Cast

Anthony Amedori

Producers

Alex Craig, Oliver Linsley, Jared Valentine

Genres

Action/Adventure, Comedy

Interest

Cult & Offbeat Cinema

Original Language

English

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A Winnipeg man named Ken has an idea to improve a park bench but gets lost in the maze of city bureaucracy when he tries to suggest it. He becomes increasingly frustrated until his only choice left for calming down is to sit on the very park bench he was trying to change.

Director

Matthew Rankin

Writer

Matthew Rankin

Cast

Maurice Krank, Trevor Anderson

Producers

Sacha Ratcliffe, Matthew Rankin

Genre

Comedy

Original Language

English

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For more than 25 years, Marc Côté, street chaplain and parish priest, has lived with the poor and the homeless. Today, Marc is a worn-out man. Exhausted from running his church, which serves as a shelter, and overwhelmed by the bills they can no longer pay, Marc must face the facts: he will have to shut down his church. Like a call from Providence, he inherits a property in the Bas-du-Fleuve region and decides to take a group of homeless people with him, who, like himself, need a vacation. Le Temps D'un Été immerses us in a bright story... A story woven with laughter, silences and tears... A feel-good movie where the sun and the clouds blend together leaving the audience with a delicious taste of hope.

Director

Louise Archambault

Montreal-based Archambault achieved success with her short film Atomic Saké. Her first feature, Familia, won her the Canadian Screen Award for Best Debut Feature, and Gabrielle was nominated for six Canadian Screen Awards. Archambault also directed the TV series Catastrophe and wrote and directed Il pleuvait des oiseaux, which premiered at TIFF 2019. She is currently completing her next two features, Irena’s Vow and Le temps d’un été. Next she will write and direct My Camino.

Genres

Comedy, Drama

Original Language

French

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Verna is searching for herself and Mr. Right, at the same time. Burdened with a 1990s sensibility in a 1950s/1960s conservative era, Verna tries to come to terms with a place in time that is not hip enough for her.

Director

Gail Singer

Writers

Gail Singer, Sondra Gotlieb

Cast

Leslie Hope

Producer

Roy Krost

Genres

Comedy, Drama

Interest

Female Filmmaker

Original Language

English

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An amateur detective Drag Queen finds herself heading off with gangsters, zombies, and other bad guys.

Director

Lee Demarbre

Writer

Mark Pollesel

Cast

Jade London

Producer

Lee Demarbre

Genres

Action/Adventure, Comedy

Interest

LGBTQ2S+

Original Language

English

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This newest comedy from director Monia Chokri follows a university professor who is bored with her comfortable marriage, and finds herself drawn to the handsome contractor who’s renovating her summer home. Their budding relationship opens up the question of what happens when romance and class divisions intertwine.

Director

Monia Chokri

Writer

Monia Chokri

Cast

Pierre-Yves Cardinal, Monia Chokri, Magalie Lépine Blondeau, Francis-William Rhéaume

Producers

Nathanaël Karmitz, Sylvain Corbeil, Nancy Grant, Elisha Karmitz

Genres

Comedy, Drama, Romance

Interests

Female Filmmaker, Strong Female Leads

Original Language

French

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A dark dramedy that follows Sam (Rachel Sennott), an aspiring stand-up comedian and au pair struggling with PTSD, as she decides whether or not to join the search for Brooke (Olga Petsa), a missing teenage girl she used to nanny.

Director

Ally Pankiw

Ally Pankiw is an accomplished writer and director who has worked on such television shows as Schitt’s Creek, The Great and Shrill. She directed the first season of the Netflix comedy series Feel Good, and recently wrote and directed her first feature film I Used to Be Funny which won the Audience Award for best narrative feature film at Inside Out. She is currently developing the TV show Standing By with Dan Levy.

Writer

Ally Pankiw

Cast

Rachel Sennott, Olga Petsa, Jason Jones

Producers

Breann Smordin, James Weyman, Jason Aita

Genres

Comedy, Drama

Interests

Female Filmmaker, Strong Female Leads

Original Language

English

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Genre: Comedy

Who’s Yer Father?

Ratings by Province

Blink

N.U.N.S. with Nunchucks

Machotaildrop

Municipal Relaxation Module

Le temps d’un été (One Summer)

True Confections

Enter the Drag Dragon

Simple comme Sylvain (The Nature of Love)

Ratings by Province

I Used to be Funny

Ratings by Province

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