I Like Movies

I Like Movies
Theatrical release poster
Directed byChandler Levack
Written byChandler Levack
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyRico Moran
Edited bySimone Smith
Music byMurray A. Lightburn
Production
company
VHS Forever
Distributed byMongrel Media
Release dates
  • September 9, 2022 (2022-09-09) (TIFF)
  • March 10, 2023 (2023-03-10) (Canada)
Running time
99 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

I Like Movies is a 2022 Canadian comedy-drama film written and directed by Chandler Levack.[1] Set in the early 2000s, the film stars Isaiah Lehtinen as Lawrence, a socially inept 17-year-old cinephile who gets a job at a video store, where he forms a complicated friendship with his older female manager.[2]

The film is produced by Lindsay Blair Goeldner with original score by Murray Lightburn from the Dears. Its cast also includes Romina D'Ugo, Krista Bridges, Percy Hynes White, Dan Beirne, Andy McQueen, Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll, and Alex Ateah.

Levack has described the film as being based in part on her own teenage job in a video store, although she has stated that she chose to write the central character as male out of a desire to push back against the popular notion that women filmmakers can only tell female-oriented stories.[2] The project was first announced as receiving funding from Telefilm Canada's Talent to Watch program for emerging filmmakers in 2019, under the working title Rejects Night.[3]

I Like Movies had its world premiere in the Discovery section of the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2022.[4] It was released theatrically in Canada on March 10, 2023, by Mongrel Media,[5][6] and has been picked up for worldwide distribution by Visit Films.[7]

  1. ^ Ntim, Zac (August 10, 2022). "Visit Films Acquires Toronto Film Festival Title 'I Like Movies'". Deadline Hollywood.
  2. ^ a b Simonpillai, Radheyan (August 18, 2022). "TIFF 2022: I Like Movies has sympathy for the film bros". Now.
  3. ^ Radheyan Simonpillai, "A Canadian movie about Trinidadian doubles is in the works". Now, June 12, 2019.
  4. ^ Kay, Jeremy (August 4, 2022). "Daniel Radcliffe as "Weird Al" Yankovic leads TIFF Midnight Madness; Discovery, Wavelength sections also unveiled". Screen Daily.
  5. ^ Hertz, Barry (February 16, 2023). "Five new movies to get excited about as winter winds down". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  6. ^ "I Like Movies". Mongrel Media. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  7. ^ Willard, Sophie (August 11, 2022). "Films from Kamila Andini and Chandler Levack Picked Up for Distribution". Women and Hollywood.