The US Premiere of Indigenous writer/director Jessie Anthony’s feature film Brother, I Cry in the US. The debut at the San Diego Film Festival marks the first time this award-winning film will be screened in the US after a successful Canadian festival run and numerous awards. The film is also an official selection and will screen in-theatres as a part of the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival in New Mexico. The film will not be geoblocked, which means it will be accessible to stream across the US.
Brother, I Cry was written and directed by Jessie Anthony and centres on a family’s struggle with addiction. The film is Jessie’s debut feature and was inspired by events in her own life. “Pain, insecurities, trauma, doubt…” Jon (Justin Rain – Fear the Walking Dead, Tribal), a young First Nations man, is struggling to overcome addiction and to avoid the multiple warrants out on him. But he has several strong women in his corner: his girlfriend, his sister, his mother, and his unborn daughter, they are all hoping he can master his demons and find peace. Brother, I Cry is a social realist drama edged with dark dreams and visions.
The film’s cast also includes Lauren Hill, Violet Cameron (Batwoman, Arrow), Jay Cardinal Villeneuve (Beans, The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open), Eric Schweig (The Last of the Mohicans), Odessa Shuquaya, Sarah Kelley, Lesley Mirza and Loren Anthony.
Writer/Director/Producer Jessie Anthony is a proud Haudenosaunee woman from the Onondaga Nation, Beaver clan, born and raised on the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory in Ontario, Canada. Jessie is a Telefilm Talent to Watch winner for her first feature film titled Brother, I Cry which won the 2020 BC Emerging Filmmakers Award at the Vancouver International Film Festival, won the Audience Choice Award at imagiNative Film Festival and won numerous awards at the Vancouver Film Critics Circle awards in 2021. Jessie has since produced El Color Negro a short, elegant and experimental exploration of the value and meaning of BLACK and Querencia an indigiqueer web series that launched on APTN in Canada and Revry in the US this summer.
Brother, I Cry Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VtuNlPdzgI
2021 San Diego International Film Festival
Virtual Screening – TICKETS
13th Annual Santa Fe Independent Film Festival – October 13th-17th, 2021
In-theatre Launch
More information: https://www.santafeindependentfilmfestival.com/
The film will be in competition for all applicable awards, including the Audience Choice Award.
