Beans (2020 film)

Beans is a 2020 Canadian drama film directed by Mohawk filmmaker Tracey Deer. It tells the story of the Oka Crisis, which Deer experienced herself as a child, through the story of Tekehentahkhwa (nicknamed "Beans"), a young Mohawk girl whose perspective on life is radically changed by the events of the crisis.[4]

Beans
Directed byTracey Deer
Produced byAnne-Marie Gélinas[1]
Written by
  • Tracey Deer
  • Meredith Vuchnich[1]
Starring
  • Kiawenti:io Tarbell
  • Violah Beauvais
  • Paulina Jewel Alexis
Music byMario Sévigny
CinematographyMarie Davignon[1]
Edited bySophie Farkas Bolla
Production
company
EMA Films
Distributed byMongrel Media
Release date
  • September 13, 2020 (2020-09-13) (TIFF)[2]
Running time
92 minutes[3]
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

The film premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival,[5] where it was second runner up for the People's Choice Award.[6]

Cast

The cast includes:[1]

  • Kiawenti:io Tarbell as Beans
  • Paulina Jewel Alexis as April
  • Violah Beauvais as Ruby
  • Rainbow Dickerson as Lily
  • Joel Montgrand as Kania’Tariio
  • D’Pharaoh Woon-a-Tai as Hank
  • Jay Cardinal Villeneuve as Gary

Production

The story is based on true events that Deer experienced as a child, but she has said she wanted to be careful not to make the film itself a traumatic experience for the people who watch it.[7] Filming took place in Kahnawake and Montreal in 2019.[1] She began writing the script in 2012, which was a long seven-year process, partly because revising the Oka Crisis brought up difficult memories, and she sought out therapy to help her navigate that.[8]

Release

It had its world premiere at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival in September 2020.[5]

It was subsequently screened at the 2020 Vancouver International Film Festival, where it won both the juried award for Best Canadian Film[9] and the audience-voted award for Most Popular Canadian Narrative Film.

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 95% based on 19 reviews, with an average rating of 7.69/10.[10]

The film was named to TIFF's year-end Canada's Top Ten list for feature films.[11]

References

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