“Before The Streets” crime drama dominates Whistler Fest competition

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Canadian indie Before the Streets, by Chloe Leriche, on Sunday, December 4 won the Borsos competition for best feature at the Whistler Film Festival, The Hollywood Reporter reveals.

The West Coast festival on the weekend also gave the Shakespeare in Love director John Madden its Maverick Award as he was on hand to screen his latest film, the Jessica Chastain-starrer Miss Sloane. On the awards front, Chloe Leriche also earned the best director prize for her film about a young First Nations man who banishes himself into exile after committing a horrible crime during a routine break-in at one at a local summer home.

Before the Streets was also named the best female-directed feature at Whistler by the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, and Rykko Bellemare received an honorable mention in the best performance juried competition for his star-turn in the indie.

The best performance winner was Kawennahere Devery Jacobs, the star of The Sun at Midnight, by director Kirsten Carthew. Other winners in Whistler included Olivier Asselin's The Cyclotron winning for best screenplay and best cinematography.

La La Land, starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, opened this year's Whistler Film Festival on Nov. 30.