North of Normal

This screening took place on Sunday, February 19, 2023 at 2:00 pmYukon Arts Centre

Based on Cea Sunrise Person’s book about growing up in communes and tipis in BC and the Yukon living between her grandparents and her free-spirited mother. This 1980s set drama starring Sarah Gadon, Amanda Fix and Robert Carlyle as Papa Dick Person, venerable Yukon outdoorsman who passed away in Teslin in 2006.

Having spent her early years in a wilderness commune founded in the 1970s by her anti-establishment grandfather, Cea is forced to shed her alternative upbringing and acclimatize to civilization when her mother, Michelle, tires of her grandfather's chauvinistic reign. Granted, this doesn’t keep Michelle from careening between bad romances as she and Cea carve out a nomadic existence on the margins of society.

Full disclosure: the scenes in this film that are set in the Yukon were shot in Eastern Ontario. Overlook this small detail and you have a fine and beautifully shot drama about counterculture parenting and mental health.

Content advisory:

child neglect, smoking and strong language.