While some of the finest Canadian filmmakers head to the US in order to become leading Hollywood players, American director/screenwriter/editor/playwright and actor, Thom Fitzgerald took the opposite route from the US to Canada, ending up on the Atlantic coast, in the picturesque province of Nova Scotia.
There, in 1997 at the age of 29, he wrote and directed his debut film which remains one of the most influential LGBT films of the late 1990s, The Hanging Garden.
Since then, Fitzgerald has officially made Canada his home, winning local and international praise for his films. Fitzgerald’s work combines a brand of humour that is as subtle as it is sophisticated, while never shying away from tackling complex and difficult subjects such as AIDS, suicide, family violence, emotional alienation, Alzheimer’s, and so much more.
Fitzgerald has the gift of portraying and creating common though never conventional characters which he does without a hint of judgement or sentimentality.
Beyond The Hanging Garden, his films include Beefcake (1998) about the 1950s muscle magazines that were particularly popular amongst gay men; The Event, which took Fitzgerald back to his native New York City, and 3 Needles which tackled AIDS from various points of view in Africa, China, and Canada. The film Cloudburst which takes on old age from the point of view of a lesbian couple went on to win 33 awards worldwide.
In his television work, with Sex & Violence and Forgive Me, Fitzgerald has carried on with his cinematic vision, combining an impressive brand of creativity with his tackling of complicated social issues.
In association with The Embassy of Canada
The festival will feature four Thom Fitzgerald’s films:
– The Hanging Garden (1997)
– The Event (2003)
– Cloudburst (2011)
– Spilnters (2018)