40 Acres (film)

40 Acres is a 2024 Canadian post-apocalyptic thriller film written and directed by R. T. Thorne (in his feature directorial debut). The film stars Danielle Deadwyler as a matriarch of descendants of African-American farmers who settled in 1875 in rural Canada after the first Civil War. Two hundred years later, they are trying to survive in a decimated future.

40 Acres
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	R. T. Thorne
Written by	R. T. Thorne Glenn Taylor
Produced by	Jennifer Holness
Starring	Danielle Deadwyler Kataem O'Connor Michael Greyeyes Milcania Diaz-Rojas Leenah Robinson
Cinematography	Jeremy Benning
Edited by	Dev Singh Sandy Pereira
Music by	Todor Kobakov
Production company	Hungry Eyes Film & Television
Distributed by	Mongrel Media
Release dates	September 6, 2024 (2024-09-06) (TIFF) July 2, 2025 (2025-07-02) (U.S.)
Running time	113 minutes[1]
Country	Canada
Language	English
Budget	$8 million[2]
Box office	$775,204[3][4]

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2024.^[5] It was theatrically released on July 4, 2025, by Mongrel Media in Canada.^[6][7]

Cast

• Danielle Deadwyler as Hailey Freeman
• Kataem O'Connor as Emanuel Freeman
• Jaeda LeBlanc as Danis Freeman
• Michael Greyeyes as Galen
• Milcania Diaz-Rojas as Dawn
• Leenah Robinson as Raine

Production

The first news of project developing by R. T. Thorne was released during the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.^[8] On October 17, 2023, it was reported that Danielle Deadwyler would star in the independent post-apocalyptic film directed and written by R. T. Thorne.^[6] Also was cast Kataem O'Connor, Michael Greyeyes, Milcania Diaz-Rojas and Leenah Robinson. The film was produced by Jennifer Holness with Hungry Eyes Film & Television.^[6]

Principal photography began in September, 2023 in Sudbury, Ontario, and wrapped on October 26.^[9]

The film has faced allegations of unpaid invoices to crew, employees, and local vendors in the Sudbury area.^[10] As of October 2024, IATSE confirmed that all outstanding money owed to the film's crew had been paid, while producer Jennifer Holness was still working to pay the vendors.^[11]

Release

40 Acres had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 6, 2024.^[12] It was released in theaters on July 4, 2025.^[7]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 91% of 81 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Dystopia is a family affair in 40 Acres, a thoughtful thriller given extra heft by provocative themes and a terrific Danielle Deadwyler."^[13] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 75 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[14]

The film was named to the annual Canada's Top Ten list by TIFF for 2024.^[15]