Empire of Dirt (film)

Empire of Dirt is a 2013 Canadian drama film directed by Peter Stebbings. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.^[1][2]

Empire of Dirt
Film poster
Directed by	Peter Stebbings
Written by	Shannon Masters
Produced by	Bob Crowe Jennifer Podemski
Starring	Cara Gee Jennifer Podemski Luke Kirby
Cinematography	David Greene
Edited by	Jorge Weisz
Music by	Justin Peroff
Production companies	Red Cloud Studios Narrow Path Productions
Release date	6 September 2013 (2013-09-06) (TIFF)
Running time	99 minutes
Country	Canada
Language	English

The film was a shortlisted nominee for Best Picture at the 2nd Canadian Screen Awards.^[3] It also garnered nominations for Best Actress (Cara Gee), Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Podemski), Best Original Screenplay (Shannon Masters) and Best Editing (Jorge Weisz).

Plot

The film stars Cara Gee as Lena, a young single First Nations mother struggling to bridge the generation gap with her daughter Peeka (Shay Eyre) and her mother Minerva (Jennifer Podemski).

Production

The film was shot from 19 September to 4 October 2012 at Kensington Market in Toronto and at Keswick, Ontario.^[4] Its original working title was Empire of Dirt, and it was briefly called Running Wolf.^[5]

Cast

• Cara Gee as Lena
• Shay Eyre as Peeka
• Jennifer Podemski as Minerva "Minnie"
• Luke Kirby as Russell
• Jordan Prentice as Warren
• Michael Cram as Doc Baker
• Sarah Podemski as Charmaine
• Lawrence Bayne as Hank
• Kate Corbett as Wendy
• Tonya Williams as Sandra
• Shannon Kook as Angel
• Sarah Manninen as Anna