Turning April

Directed by Geoffrey Bennett

Obedient April is the wife of a bureaucrat with a lecherous boss, and is the mother of a sweet, undemanding 9-year-old girl. April is somewhat close to her eccentric, ecology-obsessed mother, but distant from her wealthy father. Feeling more and more disconnected from the world, April has taken to shoplifting.

One day, en-route to a tea party that has political importance for her husband, April can't resist a quick thieving junket. To her shock, more ambitious - though ultimately inept - robbers than she burst into the store and end up taking her hostage. At first, April is outraged and terrified. Slowly, however, being removed from her mundane life allows April a taste of personal and sexual freedom that she's never before experienced.

Partly black comedy, partly a story of a woman's awakening, Turning April is an unusual film full of pleasant surprises and little shocks. Bennett's shots are wonderfully composed, and Tushka Bergen is utterly convincing as a woman on a transformational internal journey.

1995, 35mm, Color, 104 minutes

Executive Producer: Philip Gerlach, Robert Lantos
Producers: Lael McCall, Heather Ogilvie
Cinematographer: Steve Arnold
Editor: Susan Shipton
Screenwriter: James W. Nichol
Music: Lesley Barber
Cast: Tushka Bergen, Aaron Blahey, Tayler Kane, Dee Smart, Bradley Buquar,
Justine Clarke, Kenneth Welsh, Judi Farr, Christopher Morsley