SNAKE RIVER
DIR. JOE NOVAK | 2009 | CANADA | 94 MIN.
Starring Milton Bruchanski, Kimberly Rampersad

Winnipeg director Joe Novak’s debut feature film, Snake River, is a late 1800’s western that follows a Civil War veteran (Milton Bruchanski) in his search for meaning after the atrocities he has experienced. Violence follows him and the only home he knows is destroyed by the ambitions of a childhood friend, but his life is changed when he meets Mya (Kimberly Rampersad), a widow and freed slave, and her son. Together, they seem to find a level of peace, but Jacob’s past eventually catches up with him and it will forever affect their future. Snake River was shot in Birds Hill Park, the Manitoba Museum, Fort Gibraltar and in the RM’s around Winnipeg.

"A labour of love for Winnipeg writer-director Joe Novak. A surprisingly solid film that uses the minamilist trappings of the western genre to its advantage...Novak has to be commended for cannily casting local actors in parts large and small, dovetailing their talents to suit stock western characters, particularly Harry Nelken as a snake oil salesman, Ernesto Griffith as a supportive homesteader and Jon Ted Wynne as a psychopathic killer." - Randall King / Winnipeg Free Press