Janis Pugh’s musical comedy Chuck Chuck Baby is set to make its North American debut at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) this week.
As our Edinburgh Film Festival review of Chuck Chuck Baby puts it, the film is a life-affirming work that ‘makes you feel that sometimes – just sometimes – good things really do happen to good people.’
Writer/Director Janis Pugh said: “I am thrilled to be bringing Chuck Chuck Babyto North American audiences at TIFF. Chuck Chuck Baby is a musical comedy drama which celebrates female working class friendship and love. The film was shot in my home town in North Wales and set in a world of magical realism. The film evokes themes of love, loss and grief and centres on the two leads, Helen and Joanne.
“It was very important for me to write a film about two women who had suffered physical and emotional brutality in their past who come together to overcome that to find beauty in their present lives.The use of music in the film is a significant part of my work, it is used to convey the wants and desires of characters. It’s much more than mood and atmosphere, it is very much part of their emotional journey.
“Although the film is a story of love, it is also a story of barriers and fences and what happens when we shut people out. I think from the moment I started writing this film, I really wanted the audience to cry, laugh, sing, cry a little bit more and then go home with the film in their hearts and pull down their own fences.”
Chuck Baby Chuck makes its North American Premiere at TIFF on Friday, September 8, 3:15 pm at Scotiabank Theatre in Toronto with a further screening at Scotiabank Theatre on Sunday, September 10, 6:45 pm – Scotiabank Theatre
