From our 2016 Festival:
Teenager Adam is spending his summer vacation with his parents on rugged Lake Superior. His dull routine is shattered when he befriends Riley and Nate, smart aleck cousins who pass their ample free time with debauchery and reckless cliff jumping. The revelation of a hurtful secret triggers Adam to set in motion a series of irreversible events that test the bonds of friendship and change the boys forever.
In this feature debut, director Andrew Cividino ushers us into a visually and emotionally rich universe, drawing complex, naturalistic performances from his young actors. The film deals extensively with themes of death, masculinity, as well as adolescent perceptions of love, friendship and sexuality. Sleeping Giant portrays a summer filled with euphoric moments as well as difficult times. The relationship between the boys is never predictable, yet always feels authentic. There will never again be a summer so intensely felt, so alive, so valuable to the forming of their characters.
Winner of Best Canadian First Feature Film at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.The Toronto Star’s Peter Howell calls it “…not just the best Canadian movie of 2015, but one of the year’s best films, period.”
A Q&A session with film score composer Chris Thornborrow followed the screening – plus a surprise appearance by the film’s star, Jackson Martin!
Toronto-based composer CHRIS THORNBORROW is the cofounder of the Toy Piano Composers, a collective that since 2008 has premiered over 120 new works including chamber music, art song, short opera, and orchestral music by an emerging generation of Canadian and International composers. He has scored over a dozen films which have shown at festivals across Canada and around the world, and is currently the musical director of the Canadian Opera Company’s after school opera program, writing and directing original operas with children in communities across Toronto.
