Stories We Tell
| Stories We Tell | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Sarah Polley |
| Produced by | Anita Lee Silva Basmajian |
| Written by | Sarah Polley |
| Starring | Rebecca Jenkins |
| Music by | Jonathan Goldsmith |
| Cinematography | Iris Ng |
| Edited by | Mike Munn |
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Production
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| Distributed by |
Mongrel Media (Canada) Roadside Attractions (US) |
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Release date
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Running time
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109 minutes |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1,331,900 |
Stories We Tell is a 2012 Canadian documentary film written and directed by Sarah Polley and produced by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). The film explores her family's secrets—including one intimately related to Polley's own identity. Stories We Tell premiered August 29, 2012 at the 69th Venice International Film Festival, then played at the 39th Telluride Film Festival and the 37th Toronto International Film Festival.
The film looks at the relationship between Polley's parents, Michael and Diane Polley, including the revelation that the filmmaker was the product of an extramarital affair between her mother and Montreal producer Harry Gulkin. It incorporates interviews with Polley's siblings from her mother's two marriages, interviews with other relatives and family friends, Michael Polley's narration of his memoir, and Super-8 footage shot to look like home movies of historical events in her family's life. The cast in the Super-8 re-creations includes Rebecca Jenkins, who plays Diane – who had died of cancer, on January 10, 1990—the week of Polley's 11th birthday.
In her blog post on the NFB.ca website, Polley reveals that several journalists including Brian D. Johnson and Matthew Hays had known about the story of her biological father for years, but respected Polley's wish to keep the matter private until she was ready to tell her story in her own words.
In his August 29 Maclean's blog post, Johnson, one of the film critics who'd kept Polley's secret, wrote:
Now that I've seen her documentary, which premieres in Venice next Wednesday, I'm glad I didn't spill the beans. It's a brilliant film: an enthralling, exquisitely layered masterpiece of memoir that unravels an extraordinary world of family secrets through a maze of interviews, home movies, and faux home movies cast with actors.
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Wikipedia