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Canada, 2009, 95 Minute Running Time Genre/Subjects: Coming of Age, Drama, Family Issues, Fantasy, Romance Programs: Contemporary World Cinema, Films in Competition, New Directors ShowcaseLanguage: English
DIRECTOR: Ryan Ward Producer: Paul Fler, Mike Masters (exec)Editor: Sam HallScreenwriter: Ryan Ward, Matthew HeitiCinematographer: Chayse IrvinPrincipal Cast: Ryan Ward, Rebecca McMahon, Shantelle Canzanese, JoAnn Nordstrom
Along with co-screenwriter Matthew Heiti, director, co-screenwriter, and lead actor Ryan Ward uses the hard-up, grungy streets of Ontario, Canada, as a backdrop against which to explore the healing power of love in Son of the Sunshine. Sonny is a young man crippled with a disease that isolates him from society – Tourette’s Syndrome – even as it strengthens the cloying grasp of his drug-addled mother. Determined to extricate himself from their codependent relationship, he opts to undergo an experimental operation in the hopes of a cure that will allow him lead a regular life. But as his Tourette’s subsides, so does his gift for healing the sick and wounded – a gift that he has never fully understood but that has shaped his entire family life: as a young boy he saved his sister after she fell from a railroad bridge, although he can’t remember the incident and she can’t explain it. Meanwhile, in the midst of his search for normalcy, Sonny falls in love with a troubled young woman who exhibits the violent mood swings he recognizes so well. The chaos of their relationship, compounded by the trauma arising from the unearthing of family secrets long buried, leads to the return of his symptoms – along with his instinctual ability to connect with those who are broken. As he slowly comes to terms with the facts of his life, Sonny finally begins to take responsibility for them – and, in so doing, to turn his own affliction into a source of reparation and redemption.