LevelFilm Buys U.S. Rights to ‘Never Steady, Never Still’ (EXCLUSIVE)

October 12, 2017  By Patrick Frater

LevelFilm has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Parkinson’s disease drama “Never Steady, Never Still.” The film premiered at the Toronto festival last month and will screen at the Busan Film Festival, in the Flash Forward section.

Directed by Kathleen Hepburn, the film stars Shirley Henderson and as a recently widowed mother with Parkinson’s disease fighting to regain her independence, while her son, played by Theodore Pellerin (“Endorphine,” “Les Demons”), is battling his sexual and emotional identity.

LevelFilm is planning a theatrical release in early spring 2018. The company bought the rights from Denmark-based sales agent LevelK, with Derek Lui, and LevelFilm managing director David Hudakoc negotiating.

Production was by Tyler Hagan at Experimental Forest Films and James Brown at Christie Street Creative. Carol Whiteman and Lori Lozinski are executive producers. Production finance came from Telefilm Canada, The Harold Greenberg Fund and the Women in the Director’s Chair Feature Film Award.

Toronto-based LevelFilm has other upcoming releases, including comedy-drama “Suck It Up” from director Jordan Canning; Joyce Wong’s debut feature “Wexford Plaza”; and Jack Kesy-starrer “Juggernaut,” directed by Daniel DiMarco.

“’Never Steady, Never Still’ is one of those films that stays with you immediately and long after you see it. Kathleen Hepburn’s debut feature shows she has a bright future ahead of her,” said Hudakoc. The feature is an expansion of her 2015 short film of the same title.

https://youtu.be/scozjQLMpUM

Life on Judy's remote lakefront property has always been lonely, but beautiful. But the sudden death of her husband leaves Judy (Shirley Henderson, HARRY POTTER) thrown into a tailspin as she finds herself without a caretaker while dealing with advanced Parkinson's disease. As she struggles to maintain her independence, her son Jamie (Théodore Pellerin, IT'S NOT THE END OF THE WORLD) is fighting a different battle of his own on an Albertan oil rig, trying to come to terms with his sexuality in an environment full of machismo. When Jamie returns home and must become his mother's caretaker, it leads to an emotional catharsis for both mother and son.

The script for “Never Steady, Never Still” won best screenplay at the 2014 Vancouver International Women in Film Festival, and was developed in part through the Canadian Film Centre’s Writer’s Lab.

http://variety.com/2017/film/asia/levelfilm-u-s-rights-to-never-steady-never-still-1202587976/