News Release: Award-winning Indigenous Feature Film MONKEY BEACH to Launch on Crave, January 6th

VANCOUVER, BC — Loretta S. Todd’s MONKEY BEACH, starring Grace Dove (The Revenant) and Adam Beach (Windtalkers), will have its Canadian streaming premiere on Wednesday, Jan. 6th, 2021, as part of Crave’s exciting 2021 lineup.

Grace Dove(above)

Directed by Loretta S. Todd and based on the novel of the same name by Eden Robinson, MONKEY BEACH follows a young Indigenous woman who returns to her hometown to face the harrowing visions that have haunted her throughout her life and to claim her ancestral medicine. MONKEY BEACH is set in the magnificent forests and waterways of the Pacific Northwest and the Haisla village of Kitamaat and features an all-star cast of Indigenous talent including Grace Dove (The Revenant), Adam Beach (Windtalkers), Nathanial Arcand (FBI: Most Wanted), Joel Oulette (Trickster), Glen Gould (Cold Pursuit), Sera-Lys McArthur (Outlander), Stefany Mathias (Pathfinder), Tina Lameman (Mixed Blessings), Miika Bryce Whiskeyjack (Red Snow), Ta’Kaiya Blaney (Kayak to Klemtu) and Nick Dangeli.

Adam Beach(above)

MONKEY BEACH was the opening night film at the 2020 Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF), screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Industry Selects and was an official selection of the 2020 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival. MONKEY BEACH has garnered awards at international festivals including Red Nation in Los Angeles and the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco. The critically acclaimed homegrown feature film was also picked up by Cineplex and Landmark theatres across the country and was the #1 Canadian film at the box office for 4 weeks.

ABOUT MONKEY BEACH

Waking up in her Vancouver apartment, Lisa (Grace Dove) is served notice by her cousin’s ghost (Sera-Lys McArthur), "Your family needs you." Reunited with her Haisla kin in Kitimaat Village, she realizes that she’s meant to save her brother, Jimmy, (Joel Oulette) from a tragic fate she’s foreseen since childhood. Of course, there’s also the matter of contending with the mystical creatures lurking in the nearby woods. And so begins a captivating allegory about learning to coexist with both the ghosts that haunt us and spirits who might enlighten us.

In bringing Eden Robinson’s beloved novel to the screen, Director Loretta S. Todd offers us a modern epic underpinned by themes that have long defined heroic journeys. Todd’s first feature narrative unfolds through a thrilling array of temporal shifts and stylistic flourishes. A film about reconnection with the land, its denizens, and the secrets it holds, MONKEY BEACH is also a testament to Indigenous women’s ability to not just endure trials but emerge from them empowered.

MONKEY BEACH is directed by Loretta S. Todd (Forgotten Warriors, The People Go On And Hands Of History) and Produced By Loretta S. Todd (Coyote's Crazy Smart Science Show, Skye & Chang), Matthew O’Connor (Snowpiercer, Continuum), Lisa Richardson (The Butterfly Effect, Masters Of Horror), Patricia Poskitt (River Of Silence, Grand Unified Theory) and Jason James (That Burning Feeling, This Space For Rent). Executive Producers Include Fred Fuchs (Bram Stoker's Dracula, Godfather – Part III), Carla Robinson and Richard Van Camp (The Lesser Blessed, Three Feathers)

MONKEY BEACH was made possible with the support of Telefilm Canada, Bell Media’s Crave, CBC Films, APTN, CAVCO, Canada Media Fund, Creative BC and was Produced in Association with and Special Thanks to the HAISLA NATION and the NECHAKO-KITAMAAT DEVELOPMENT SOCIETY.