Cole (film)

Cole
Directed byCarl Bessai
Written byAdam Zang
Produced byCarl Bessai
Dylan Thomas Collingwood
Irene Nelson
Kimani Ray Smith
StarringRichard de Klerk
Kandyse McClure
Chad Willett
Rebecca Jenkins
Sonja Bennett
CinematographyCarl Bessai
Edited byMark Shearer
Music byClinton Shorter
Production
companies
Rampart Films
Titlecard Pictures
Release date
  • September 15, 2009 (2009-09-15) (TIFF)
Running time
minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Cole is a Canadian drama film, directed by Carl Bessai and released in 2009.[1]

The film stars Richard de Klerk as Cole Chambers, a young man from Lytton who longs to escape his smalltown existence with his dysfunctional family.[1] He is accepted into a university creative writing program in Vancouver, where he begins a romance with Serafina (Kandyse McClure), but faces a difficult choice when his friends and family back home struggle to survive without his presence.[2] The cast also includes Rebecca Jenkins as Cole's mentally ill mother, Sonja Bennett as his sister Maybelline, and Chad Willett as Maybelline's abusive husband Bobby.[3]

The film premiered at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival,[4] and screened at a number of other film festivals before going into commercial release in 2010.[2]

Chad Willett won the Leo Awards for Best Supporting Performance by a Male in a Feature Length Drama in 2010

Bennett received a Genie Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the 31st Genie Awards.[5]

  1. ^ a b "Plight of the outsider enthralls director; Carl Bessai's latest film about a young man who longs to get out of Lytton". Vancouver Sun, October 8, 2009.
  2. ^ a b "Portrait of a wannabe artist". The Province, September 17, 2010.
  3. ^ "Cole sets up shop in chilly hot spot; Indie feature". The Province, June 15, 2008.
  4. ^ "Canadian films at TIFF branching out with international stars and locales". Canadian Press, September 9, 2009.
  5. ^ "Letting the Genies out of their bottles". Regina Leader-Post, March 3, 2011.