Madeleine Sims-Fewer is a British-Canadian independent filmmaker and actress.

Personal life

Sims-Fewer was born in Kawartha Lakes, Ontario, Canada. Her family moved to Bath, England when she was two years old. Sims-Fewer studied filmmaking at York University in Toronto.[1] She returned to England to study acting at the Drama Centre London.[2]

Career

Acting roles

After several shorts, Sims-Fewer made her feature film debut in Operation Avalanche in 2016.

Mancinelli and Sims-Fewer collaborations

In 2015, Sims-Fewer met Dusty Mancinelli at the 2015 TIFF Talent Lab. Since 2017, the pair has co-directed several short films in their DM Films joint venture. Their films have been shown at TIFF, BFI London Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, the Moscow International Film Festival and the Slamdance Film Festival, among others. Their first collaboration, Slap Happy, about a tempestuous relationship, was an official selection at the BFI London Film Festival, Vancouver and Slamdance.[3] Reviewer Ben Robins named it one of the best short films at the BFI Festival, describing it as "like a little less touched-up Blue Valentine, with a much more twisted sense of humour."[4] Their second collaboration was Woman in Stall, a "claustrophobic thriller" about an encounter in a public restroom between a man and a woman trapped in a cubicle.[5] It won the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at the Slamdance festival.[6] Chubby, their third collaboration, was shown at the 2019 Telluride festival. A study of a 10-year-old's experience with sexual abuse, it was described as "harrowing" and would "stay with you long after its credits roll".[7]

Violation

A teaser of their debut feature Violation was shown at the Cannes Marché du Film Online in June 2020.[8] Violation, which is described as "decidedly dark, potentially dangerous and probably deranged" and "flips the revenge genre on its head", was selected for the "Fantastic 7" genre festival initiative to highlight genre films at seven international film festivals.[9] Violation premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival in the "Midnight Madness" program.[10][11] Critic Mike Crisolago has named it one of 30 films he is already "excited to see."[12] Now Toronto critic Norman Wilner called it "a major levelling up of their signature combination of rage and intensity".[13] The Guardian called it "a brutal and brilliant debut."[14] According to Variety reviewer Tomris Laffley, "Despite some heavy-handed choices, Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli pack a profound gut-punch with their debut feature."[15] Violation was a NY Times Critic's Pick, with critic Lena Wilson writing, 'Sims-Fewer is the standout, a quadruple threat whose fearlessness renders a protagonist devolving from a doe-eyed wisecrack to a woman on the verge. She is at her best opposite Maguire, their sisterly dynamic constantly wavering between devotion and competition.' [16]

Sims-Fewer won two Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Actress and Best Film. She also received two Canadian Screen Award nominations at the 9th Canadian Screen Awards in 2021, for Best Actress and the John Dunning Best First Feature Award.[17]

Filmography

Film/SeriesYearActorDirectorWriterNotes
The Adventures of Ratman2007Ellenshort
Souvenirs from Asia2007Art Studentshort
A Stir in the Forest2008Miss Simmons✓✓short
Fix Me2011Claire✓short
Blood In2012Nikki✓short
Jess & Maria2012Maria✓short
Rip-Off2012Madeleine✓short; co-writer
Inked2013✓short; story
Red Reflections2014Ameliashort
The Storm at Yellow Creek Farm2014Ada✓short
The Substitute2015Miss Byrd✓short
Foxes2016Receptionistshort
Operation Avalanche2016Madeleinefeature
Emma2016Dermatologistshort
Off-piste2017Bernadettefeature
The Expanse2017Refugee womanepisode of TV series
Cut2017✓short; co-writer
Slap Happy2017Joanna✓short
Rape Card2018Frances✓✓short
Woman In Stall2018(unnamed)✓short
The Roots of Men2018Deeshort
Chubby2019✓✓short
Violation2020Miriam✓✓feature
Shadows in the GrassTBA(unnamed)✓short; in post-production

References

  1. ↑ Bains, Pahull (September 25, 2020). "TIFF 2020: These Are the Up-and-Coming Canadian Actors to Know". Fashion Magazine. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  2. ↑ Berger, Laura (September 9, 2020). "TIFF 2020: Women Directors: Meet Madeleine Sims-Fewer - "Violation"". Women and Hollywood. Retrieved April 8, 2021.
  3. ↑ "Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli". Independent Talent. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  4. ↑ Robins, Ben (October 21, 2017). "The Best Short Films from the 61st BFI London Film Festival". FlickeringMyth. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  5. ↑ Serapova, Serafima (May 1, 2020). "Woman in Stall". shortoftheweek.com.
  6. ↑ "DUSTY MANCINELLI". moscowfilmfestival.ru/. Moscow International Film Festival. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  7. ↑ Saveliev, Alex (January 30, 2020). "Chubby". Film Threat.
  8. ↑ "Canadian Presence at Cannes 2020". RDV Canada.
  9. ↑ Dale, Martin (June 25, 2020). "Fantastic 7 Film Festivals Endorse Potential Upcoming Genre Standouts at Cannes Session". Variety.
  10. ↑ "Violation". tiff.net. Toronto International Film Festival. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  11. ↑ Miska, Brad (July 30, 2020). "TIFF's Midnight Madness is Still Going to Get Crazy!". bloodydisgusting.com. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  12. ↑ Crisolago, Mike (July 30, 2020). "30 Films We're Already Excited to See".
  13. ↑ Wilner, Norman (September 14, 2020). "TIFF review: Violation shows us the horrible cost of revenge". Now Toronto. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  14. ↑ Ide, Wendy (March 27, 2021). "'Violation' review". Guardian.
  15. ↑ Laffley, Tomris (September 13, 2020). "'Violation' Review: Disturbing Rape-Revenge Thriller Subverts Genre Trappings". Variety. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  16. ↑ Wilson, Lena (March 25, 2021). "'Violation" Review". New York Times.
  17. ↑ Brent Furdyk, "Canadian Screen Awards Announces 2021 Film Nominations". ET Canada, March 30, 2021.
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