from vk & associates

Winner – FIPRESCI critics prize for Best Film – 2010 Torino Film Festival

Winner – Best Actress Award, Martha Plimpton – 2010 Whistler Film Festival

Ed Gass-Donnelly named as one of Variety’s “10 Directors to Watch”

On the heels of sold-out screenings in small towns across Southwestern Ontario, Small Town Murder Songs, a film by Ed Gass-Donnelly, will officially release to larger markets across Canada, starting on February 18th at the Royal Theatre in Toronto and the Metro in Edmonton.

“We’re excited on the initial response to Small Town Murder Songs and are thrilled to be launching the film to a larger audience in Canada”, says the film’s distributor Robin Smith of KinoSmith.

Variety just honored filmmaker Ed Gass-Donnelly as one of “10 Directors to Watch” at a star-studded event at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, hosted by Mark Wahlberg on January 9, 2011. The 16th annual award honored 10 directors from across the world for their outstanding creative achievements. Past recipients include Christopher Nolan, Fernando Meirelles, George Clooney, Peter Hedges and Canadians Sarah Polley and Jeremy Podeswa.

A modern gothic tale of crime and redemption, Small Town Murder Songs stars Swedish actor Peter Stormare (Fargo, Armageddon, Prison Break) as Walter, an aging police officer from a small Ontario Mennonite town who hides a violent past until a local murder upsets the calm of his newly reformed life.

The film co-stars Aaron Poole (This Beautiful City) as Stormare’s partner Jim and Jill Hennessey (Crossing Jordan, Law and Order) as Walter’s ex-girlfriend Rita. Acclaimed performances from Martha Plimpton (The Goonies, Running On Empty, I Shot Andy Warhol) as Walter’s girlfriend Sam and the final performance of Canadian icon, Jackie Burroughs as Olive are also featured.

The look of Small Town Murder Songs is naturalist, expansive, and derived from its mythic, rural environment. The film was shot in the Mennonite towns surrounding Listowel, Ontario where one can regularly see families travelling by horse and buggy along the highway. The original music by Bruce Peninsula furthers the religious undertones and the unique tonal balance of the modern and the gothic.

Small Town Murder Songs premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and recently won the FIPRSCI critics’ prize for Best Film at the Torino Film Festival and Best Actress (Martha Plimpton) at the Whistler Film Festival.