Brenda Fricker and Thom Fitzgerald will attend the screening.
It’s hard to believe that writer/director Thom Fitzgerald didn’t create the central role in Cloudburst for Olympia Dukakis. Stella, a foul-mouthed, seventy-something lesbian who has loved Dot (Brenda Fricker) for 31 years, is a part Dukakis was made for, but the film is an adaptation of Fitzgerald’s play of the same name, which was once a short story. When Dot’s granddaughter, Molly, schemes to separate the couple so she can get her hands on their house, Dot and Stella take to the road, heading from Maine to Canada so they can get married and hopefully put a stop to Molly’s plans. Along the way they pick up a hitchhiker (Ryan Doucette) who’s travelling from New York to see his dying mother. The success of Cloudburst relies on the chemistry between all three actors and while Doucette falters at times, the teaming of Dukakis and Fricker is pitch-perfect, with the latter bringing a touching realism to their aging relationship. It’s a film about how all love is the same, be it straight or gay, and it gets the message across with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments along the way, including a scene involving Fricker’s face and a pair of testicles. Now that’s a first! - Brian Finnegan, Editor of GCN
Winner, People’s Choice Award for Best Film, Atlantic Film Festival
