D. Thom Fitzgerald
2011 / Canada / 93min
35mm / English

Cloudburst is a romantic comedy road movie written and directed by Thom Fitzgerald (The Hanging Garden)and starring Oscar-winning actresses Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker as Stella and Dot. After years of sharing a life and home together in Maine, Stella discovers she has been tricked into signing an ailing, now blind Dot into a long-term care facility but feisty, foul-mouthed Stella isn’t about to let Dot’s relatives get the last word. Armed only with her wits and ingenuity, Stella plans a daring rescue and escape to Nova Scotia where she and Dot can secure legal protection by getting married. While on the lam, they pick up a young hitchhiker, Prentice, played by newcomer Ryan Doucette, a sexy go-go boy also making his way to Nova Scotia to visit his dying mother. This unlikely trio find they have more in common that they ever imagined and a familiar bond is cemented as they travel along the eastern seaboard into Canada and towards their unknown future. The road is long and rough, and stubborn Stella begins to wonder if she can really take care of frail Dotty in their old age. After 31 years, can they keep their family together? With equal parts humour and grace, Cloudburst explores the important themes of life, death and love through the eyes of this oddball trio.