The coming-of-age story gets an imaginative makeover with Stephen Dunn’s debut feature, which mixes affecting drama with whimsical fantasy to tell the story of high school senior Oscar (Connor Jessup), a young man who is struggling with his identity and a turbulent volatile home life with his increasingly volatile father.
Oscar finds an escape from his troubled home life in a passion for special effects and fantasy makeup that he shares with his best friend Gemma (Sofia Banzhaf) and hopes to pursue in college. At home, he creates a different fantasy world, sharing a close bond with the pet hamster (voiced by Isabella Rosellini) who has talked to him since his childhood.
When Oscar meets the cool, handsome Wilder (Aliocha Schneider), he finally starts coming to terms with his own sexuality, which he has repressed since witnessing a terrible act of homophobic violence as a child.
Closet Monster premiered at the Toronto International FIlm Festival, winning the award for Best Canadian Feature Film and was named one of Canada’s Top Ten films of 2015.
Director
Stephen Dunn
Dunn established himself as a writer and filmmaker with short films such as Swallowed and Life Doesn’t Frighten Me, which starred Canadian screen legend Gordon Pinsent and won the CBC Short Film Face-Off in 2013. His first feature, Closet Monster, won the TIFF award for Best Canadian Feature Film. He has written and directed two Heritage Minutes for Historica Canada, and episodes of Little America, and the reboot of Queer as Folk.
Writer
Stephen Dunn
Cast
Joanne Kelly, Aliocha Schneider, Aaron Abrams, Isabella Rossellini, Connor Jessup
Producers
Edward J. Martin, Kevin Krikst, Fraser Ash
Genre
Drama
Interests
Arts and Culture, Discrimination, Family Relationships, LGBTQ2S+
Original Language
English