Paint Cans

Paint Cans
Directed byPaul Donovan
Written byPaul Donovan
Based onPaint Cans
by Paul Donovan
Produced byPaul Donovan
Mike Mahoney
Starring
CinematographyLes Krizsan
Edited byDavid Ostry
Music byMarty Simon
Production
company
Distributed byLibra Films
Release date
  • September 13, 1994 (1994-09-13) (TIFF)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Paint Cans is a 1994 Canadian comedy film written, produced and directed by Paul Donovan and based on his book of the same name.[1] A satire of Canadian film and television production, the film stars Chas Lawther as Wick Burns, a bureaucrat in the Film Finance Office of Canada (a parody of Telefilm Canada) who is trying to help secure funding for Paint Cans, the directorial debut of his film school classmate Vittorio Russo (Bruce Greenwood), while simultaneously trying to navigate a new romantic relationship with Arundel Merton (Robyn Stevan), a journalist he met at the Cannes Film Festival.[2]

Production on the film began in 1993, although some filming had to be postponed to early 1994 after Stevan broke her collarbone in a fall from a scooter.[3]

The film premiered in the Perspective Canada program at the 1994 Toronto International Film Festival.[4] It was subsequently screened at the 1994 Atlantic Film Festival, where it won the awards for Best Direction and Best Writing in an Atlantic Canadian Film.[5]

  1. ^ Klady, Leonard (26 September 1994). "Paint Cans". Variety. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  2. ^ Gerald Pratley, A Century of Canadian Cinema. Lynx Images, 2003. ISBN 1-894073-21-5. p. 164.
  3. ^ Nancy Hughes, "Paint Cans". Playback, September 12, 1994.
  4. ^ "A critical sampling of festival fare". The Globe and Mail, September 9, 1994.
  5. ^ Ian Johnston, "Paint Cans satire sweeps top Atlantic film awards". Halifax Daily News, September 22, 1994.