BEST CANADIAN FIRST FEATURE FILM AT TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2012

After living in the big city with his mother, Sean (Connor Jessup) moves to his father’s in Bridgewater, nova scotia. With his poet’s sensibilities and his goth look, he’s an easy target for the school jocks. To let off some steam, he writes a revenge story, complete with a list of his schoolyard tormentors’ names. When a police search of the family home turns up his father’s hunting rifles, Sean is charged with planning a Columbine-style mass murder. His only comfort while awaiting trial at a Waterville youth correctional facility, where the other inmates harass him, is the love of Deanna (Alexia Fast), a popular student who’s convinced of his innocence. But will that really be enough to get him out of this mess? The first feature-length film written and directed by Jason Buxton, Blackbird explores the themes of intimidation, the broken home, fear of the other, the sluggishness of the justice system and the ubiquity—for better or worse—of social media. A sensitive and nuanced look at adolescence, a troubled time that’s as misunderstood today as it ever was.