Year: 2002
Language: English
Format: 35mm Colour
Runtime: 90 min
Director: Wiebke Carolsfeld
Producer: Julia Sereny, Jennifer Kawaja, Bill Niven
Writer: Daniel MacIvor
Cinematographer: Stefan Ivanov
Editor: Dean Soltys
Sound: Roderick Deogrades
Music: Leslie Barber
Cast: Molly Parker, Rebecca Jenkins, Stacy Smith, Marguerite McNeil, Ellen Page
Production Company: Idlewild Films Limited, Sienna Films

Agnes (Molly Parker) returns from Toronto to the quiet landscape of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to visit her ailing, alcoholic mother. Years earlier, Agnes left to escape the dark secret that haunted her. Having fought her own battle with alcohol, she returns home sober, strong and seemingly able to face the past. Yet her sisters, Theresa (Rebecca Jenkins) and Louise (Stacy Smith), are not convinced. When Agnes begins to drink again and goes off on unexplained solitary drives, the sisters suspect that what little peace they have known will be destroyed. Agnes’s actions threaten to set off a chain of events that will pry open a long-shuttered past. Eventually, all three sisters learn they must confront the hidden secrets of the past in order to move on with their lives.

Having worked as an editor on such films as Jeremy Podeswa’s The Five Senses and Renny Bartlett’s Eisenstein, Wiebke von Carolsfeld made her directorial debut with Marion Bridge. The film was written by Daniel MacIvor and is based on his Governor General's Award-nominated stage play.

Winner of the Best Canadian First Feature Film Award at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival, Marion Bridge offers an endearing portrait of family turmoil in the Maritimes that is richly textured but devoid of quaintness or quirkiness. It was marketed for its theatrical release as a sentimental "women’s picture" or "chick flick". It enjoyed positive critical responses in Canada and major U.S. markets, and was named one of Canada’s Top Ten of 2002 by an independent panel of filmmakers, programmers, journalists and industry professionals.