Mile Zero (film)

Mile Zero
Directed byAndrew Currie
Written byMichael Melski
Produced byTrent Carlson
Blake Corbet
StarringMichael Riley
Sabrina Grdevich
Connor Widdows
CinematographyRobert Aschmann
Edited byReginald Harkema
Music byDon MacDonald
Production
company
Anagram Pictures
Distributed byCinemavault
Release date
  • September 23, 2001 (2001-09-23) (Cinéfest)
Running time
92 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Mile Zero is a Canadian drama film, directed by Andrew Currie and released in 2001.[1] The film stars Michael Riley as Derek Ridley, a divorced father who abducts his son Will (Connor Widdows) after his ex-wife Allison (Sabrina Grdevich) tries to limit his contact.[2] Currie's intention for the film was to present a nuanced understanding of the emotional vulnerability that might lead a father to act in this manner, neither demonizing him as a mainstream Hollywood film would likely have done nor portraying him as a hero; it was inspired in part by Currie's own emotions about having to spend a year away from his son while studying at the Canadian Film Centre.[1]

The film premiered at the Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival in September 2001,[3] before screening at the 2001 Vancouver International Film Festival as the opening film in the Canadian Perspectives program.[4]

The film received three Vancouver Film Critics Circle award nominations at the Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards 2001, for Best Canadian Film, Best Actor in a Canadian Film (Riley) and Best Director of a Canadian Film (Currie).[5]

  1. ^ a b Marke Andrews, "Debut walks emotional tightrope: The main character of director Andrew Currie's first feature is neither clear-cut hero nor out-and- out villain". Vancouver Sun, November 26, 2001.
  2. ^ Glen Schaefer, "An emotional Mile". The Province, November 23, 2001.
  3. ^ Mike Whitehouse, "Gross, Polley among stars expected in Sudbury at festival". Sudbury Star, September 14, 2001.
  4. ^ Glen Schaefer, "Feast of films marks 20th fest: 16-day event opens with foreign treat -- France's wild Amelie". The Province, August 28, 2001.
  5. ^ Glen Schaefer, "Memento tops with local critics". The Province, January 31, 2002.