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Along with SHOTGUN STORIES, FROZEN RIVER makes 2008 a good year for independent film debuts. An expansion of her short film, Courtney Hunt won the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival for this original story set in the world of the working poor. Hunt crafts a thriller that surprises because it never loses sight of its central purpose — telling the stories of two desperate mothers. Melissa Leo and Misty Upham play these characters in remarkably subtle and touching performances.

Ray Eddy (Leo, THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA) is the mother of a 15-year-old and a 5-year-old and her gambling-addicted husband has just run off with the down payment for the doublewide trailer. In the small New York town along the Canadian border where she lives, she can only get a part-time job at the Yankee One Dollar store. Out looking for her husband at the bingo parlor, she catches Mohawk Indian Lila (Upham, SKINS) driving off in her husband’s car. While Ray is trying to take back her car, Lila says she knows a human smuggler who will buy the car for more than it’s worth. Desperate, Ray bites and ends up involved in smuggling Chinese over the border via the frozen river that separates the Mohawk reservation on the U.S. and Canadian sides.

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Check Out the Trailer

Those unfamiliar with Noel Streatfeild’s “Shoes” series of books might be drawn to this film by HARRY POTTER star Emma Watson. What they will find is something much more than Hermione taking a break from wizardry. While there isn’t any overt magic, this film does have a bit of wish-fulfillment fantasy in it that is magical. Young girls, open-minded boys and parents alike will find joy within this production.

After her parents passed, Sylvia Brown went, with her nurse Nana (Victoria Wood, 1996’s THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS), to live with her great uncle Matthew (Richard Griffiths, THE HISTORY BOYS). Matthew is a world-trotting fossil hound, which fits Sylvia perfectly. During his adventures abroad he also has a knack for discovering abandoned baby girls, which fall under the care of the adult Sylvia (Emilia Fox, THE PIANIST) and Nana. Now with Matthew believed lost on one of his adventures, the women have a hard time making ends meet, opening up the house to borders. The girls all have big dreams, but little means. Pauline Fossil (Watson) — surname given by Sylvia — wants to be an actress. Posy Fossil (Lucy Boynton, MISS POTTER) wants nothing more than to be a ballerina. Petrova Fossil (Yasmin Paige, TV’s THE MYSTI SHOW) wants to be a world famous aviator.

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