Sat, May 13 / 3 pm
Directed by William D. MacGillivray
2005, Canada, 88 min
Introduced by Bill MacGillivray.
Alistair MacLeod (1936 – 2014) was one of Canada’s most distinguished writers. This documentary links the author’s affection for Cape Breton and his themes of exile and return to that of the filmmaker. This moving film portrait is organized around other writers telling stories about MacLeod and reading from his work, beginning with Lisa Moore’s intense engagement with the “tenderness and brutality” of his prose. But the film is about more than literature: it’s about Maritime light; about the roads that edge the land next to the sea; about the homes along those roads and the people who inhabit them, including MacLeod’s family who make a significant appearance. Other writers in the film include Jake MacDonald, Russell Banks, Colm Toibin and David Adams Richards.
Co-presented by the Manitoba Writer’s Guild
