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The Raven Banner specialty label has acquired Canadian rights to Kevan Funk’s film ahead of its world premiere in Toronto’s Discovery section next month.

Hello Destroyer stars Tiff Rising Star Jared Abrahamson as a shy enforcer on a hockey team whose life is shattered by an act of violence during a game.

As he struggles with the repercussions he learns more about the brutal world of his locker room compadres.

Toronto-based Northern Banner plans an early 2017 theatrical release.

Kurt Max Runte, Paul McGillion, Ian Tracey, Sara Canning, Ben Cotton, Maxwell Haynes and newcomer talent Joe Dion Buffalo round out the key cast.

Haydn Wazelle of Tabula Dada and Daniel Domachowski of Type One produced Hello Destroyer and Christine Haebler and Trish Dolman served as executive producers. Telefilm Canada participated in the development and financing.

“Like the vast majority of my short film work that I have made leading up to this, the film is...

One of the highlights of last years Viff was Sean Garrity's hybrid road trip/family dramedy Borealis. Jonas Chernick wrote the script and stars as Jonah, a gambling addicted father whose daughter Aurora (Joey King) is suffering from a condition which has led to her vision deteriorating.

With only a short window of before his daughter goes completely blind, Jonah decides the time has come to take Aurora on a road trip to see the Northern Lights but his gambling problem? It's come to bite him in the ass. He owes $50K and Tubby (Kevin Pollak) and his sidekick Brick (Clé Bennett) are determined to collect. Whatever it takes.

Garrity is a talented filmmaker and Chernick's script is a wonderful blend of comedy and drama peppered with great father/daughter moments that don [Continued ...]...

I first discovered director Sean Garrity ten years ago after seeing Lucid (trailer), a dark dramedy about an insomnia-plagued psychotherapist whose life is falling apart. I was so taken by the fine balance of drama and comedy of Garrity's work and the striking look of the movie, that I became an instant fan.

In the decade since the release of Lucid, Garrity and frequent collaborator Jonas Chernick have doled out a wide variety of projects and their latest is another winner.

Borealis stars Chernick as Jonah, a gambler who is on the verge of losing everything. His girlfriend (Emily Hampshire) is nearing the end of her rope and his daughter Aurora (Joey King) is only living at home because she doesn't have another choice.

[Continued ...]...

Exclusive: While she’s got TV projects 12 Monkeys and Schitt’s Creek on deck, Canadian actress Emily Hampshire has added a new feature to her résumé. She’ll reteam with her My Awkward Sexual Adventure director Sean Garrity for Borealis. The drama follows an unemployed gambler who takes his estranged pot-smoking teenage daughter on a dangerous road trip to Churchill, Manitoba to show her the magnificent Northern Lights — before her vision disorder renders her completely blind. Kevin Pollak and Joey King also star in the Buffalo Gal Pictures production.

Hampshire, whose credits also include Rookie Blue and Cosmopolis, is starring in Syfy’s 12 Monkeys which premieres January 15. She’s playing the female version of Brad’s Pitt’s character in the original Terry Gilliam film. The CBC’s Schitt’s Creek also premieres in January with Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara.

Hampshire’s agent Dani De Lio of Creative Drive Artists...

• Boardwalk Empire actor Jack Huston will take the chariot reins as the title role in the upcoming remake of Ben-Hur. Previously, Tom Hiddleston had been in talks for the role of slave Judah Ben-Hur in the Paramount and MGM picture. Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) is directing the film adapted by John Ridley (12 Years a Slave) and Keith Clarke (The Way Back) that is said to be based more on Lew Wallace’s 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ than the 1959 film that starred Charlton Heston. Morgan Freeman has already been cast as Ildarin, the teacher who helps make the slave Ben-Hur into chariot racer champion.

Raven Banner announced in Toronto it has launched Northern Banner, a new distribution label that to focus on films from the vanguard of worldwide cinema for the Canadian market.

Like its parent company, Northern Banner will acquire international and Canadian titles for distribution within Canada for the English and French markets.

The focus will be on quality independent fare with an eye on multi-platform VOD and theatrical distribution.

The first title acquired under the new label is Sean Garrity’s Borealis, written by and starring Jonas Chernick, which is currently in pre-production with Buffalo Gal Pictures and Chernick’s Banana-Moon Sky Films.

The Northern Banner includes Iceland’s Life In A Fishbowl (pictured), which played in Toronto.

“Raven Banner has become a reputable and distinguishable brand,” said managing partner Michael Paszt, “and it’s vital that we maintain our focus on its core product.

“Northern Banner will allow us to bring our knowledge and passion for film...