Homegrown movie featured at Canadian Film Week

NORTH VANCOUVER B.C. – A feature film written, produced and directed by a Capilano University School of Motion Picture Arts instructor has been selected to screen in VIFF/Vancity Theatre’s celebration of Canadian Film Week, which runs April 14 to 20, 2017.

David Ray’s film Grand Unified Theory will screen alongside classic Atom Egoyan flicks, Exotica and The Sweet Hereafter. 

Grand Unified Theory premiered at the Beijing International Film Festival, where it was nominated for Best Picture, followed by its Canadian premiere at the Whistler Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Most Popular Canadian Film. Since then, the feature has screened at festivals that include San Francisco IndieFest, and has seen sold out audiences and two more audience awards.

A comedy/drama in the spirit of Little Miss Sunshine, Grand Unified Theory focuses on a family going off the rails in the familiar terrain of the North Shore. 

In fact, the entire feature was shot on the North Shore with 100 per cent local cast and crew, including three current and former Capilano University faculty members. Cast members include Scott Bellis, Andrew McNee, Gabrielle Rose and Kendall Cross, who won Best Actress at the Chicago Comedy Film Festival.

“This film couldn’t have been made without our abundance of homegrown talent,” says Ray. “That includes the production assistants and extras who hail from Capilano University, as well.”

Grand Unified Theory screens April 16 and April 20 at Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour St. in Vancouver, followed by a Q&A with David Ray and members of the cast and crew. See viff.org for more information.
 
About Capilano University’s School of Motion Picture Arts
Capilano University’s School of Motion Picture Arts (MOPA) includes programs in animation, visual effects, motion picture arts, documentary and indigenous filmmaking, along with film crafts that include costuming and lighting. The MOPA program immerses students in hands-on learning, ranging from fashioning costumes to film production and animation, pitching a movie, secure financing and distribution. MOPA was established by industry veterans to ensure graduates are equipped with sought-after skills that make them job ready. The program operates from the state-of-the-art Bosa Centre for Film and Animation, which opened at Capilano University in 2012.

About Capilano University
Capilano University is a teaching-focused university based in North Vancouver, with programming serving the Sunshine Coast and the Sea-to-Sky corridor. The University offers 99 programs, including bachelor’s degrees in areas as diverse as film, jazz, early childhood education and tourism management. Capilano University enrols approximately 11,600 students each year, 8,300 in for-credit programs and 3,300 in non-credit courses. Capilano University is named after Chief Joe Capilano, an important leader of the Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh) Nation of the Coast Salish people. Our campuses are located on the territories of the Lil’wat, Musqueam, Sechelt (shíshálh), Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

For more information, or to schedule interviews, please contact: 

Cheryl Rossi
Senior Communications Advisor
Capilano University
t: 604 983 7596
c: 778 879 7119
e: cherylrossi@capilanou.ca 
www.capilanou.ca