The Life Before This

The Life Before This
Directed byJerry Ciccoritti
Written bySemi Chellas
Produced byIlana Frank
StarringCatherine O'Hara
Joe Pantoliano
Sarah Polley
Stephen Rea
CinematographyNorayr Kasper
Edited byNick Rotundo
George Roulston
Music byRon Sures
Distributed byAlliance Atlantis
Release date
  • September 15, 1999 (1999-09-15) (TIFF)
Running time
92 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

The Life Before This is a 1999 Canadian drama film directed by Jerry Ciccoritti.[1] It begins with a massacre perpetrated in a coffee shop by two gunmen, and then uses flashbacks to show how each of the people present found themselves in the shop on that day.[2]

The film was inspired by the Just Desserts shooting of 1994.[3]

The film premiered at the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival.[4]

  1. ^ Gerald Pratley, A Century of Canadian Cinema. Lynx Images, 2003. ISBN 1-894073-21-5. p. 125.
  2. ^ "'The Life Before This' looks at chance and fate". Cambridge Times, April 25, 2000.
  3. ^ Brent Ledger, "Ready for his three weeks at the Carlton: Gerry Ciccoritti's film opened yesterday and will probably be seen by far fewer people than have watched his TV work". National Post, November 27, 1999.
  4. ^ Finnbar O'Reilly, "The Five Senses grabs a film festival top spot: The Toronto film festival's Canadian series explores themes ranging from a child's abduction to adolescence". National Post, July 28, 1999.