Oscar-winning actresses Brenda Fricker
and Olympia Dukakis star in the lesbian road film Cloudburst.
While the film debuted in the fall of
2011 at the Atlantic Film Festival in Canada, it continues to have a
strong presence at film festivals in the United States and is
currently playing in several cities across Canada, including Toronto,
Saskatoon,
Belleville
and Victoria. The film opened last fall's Ft. Lauderdale Gay and
Lesbian Film Festival.
In the film, Dot (played by Fricker)
and Stella (Dukakis) are an older lesbian couple together 31 years
and living in Maine. When Dot's granddaughter (Kristin Booth) puts
her grandmother in a nursing home, Stella breaks her out and the pair
head to the border to marry in Canada. Along the way, they pick up a
young hitchhiker (Ryan Doucette), and the familial plot thickens.
At its U.S. debut last year at the Palm
Springs International Film Festival, Cloudburst was named a
Best of the Fest. It has racked up 35 additional awards.
Director Thom Fitzgerald told Edge
that Dukakis had no hesitation in taking on her first role as a
lesbian. (A trailer for the film is embedded on this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)