Reel Alternatives, Huntsville’s connection to the TIFF Film Circuit, will close out the year with its December 9th screening of Sweetland, a Canadian film set in Newfoundland and based on the acclaimed novel by Michael Crummy (The Innocents). It’s the haunting story of a remote, endangered community and the struggles of one man determined to resist its extinction. Presented in partnership with the Algonquin Theatre, Sweetland is generously sponsored by Algonquin Orthopaedics.
The scarcely populated town of Sweetland is in slow decline when the mainland government offers each islander a generous resettlement package. The sole stipulation is that everyone must leave. But enigmatic, retired fisherman Moses (Mark Lewis Jones) is one of the last hold-outs. Motivated by a sense of history, haunted by mistakes of his youth and concerned that his autistic nephew Jesse will wilt on the mainland, Moses holds his ground. His outright refusal to accept the resettlement package antagonizes him against some of the other residents of his community, further isolating him as a result.
As he manages a diminishing food supply and battles the ravages of the weather, the border between the natural world and the supernatural world blur and he finds himself moved to acts of increasing desperation, only to be stymied again and again by the ruins of memory and the fierce will of nature.
Directed by Christian Sparkes, this film is distinguished by its beautiful cinematography and formidable central performance from Mark Lewis Jones.
Tickets are available online at reelalternativeshuntsville.ca or algonquintheatre.ca, at the door or by calling the Algonquin Theatre box office at 705-789-4975. Reel Alternatives Huntsville gratefully acknowledges their partnership with Film Circuit, presented by the Toronto International Film Festival, and its sponsors and supporters.
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