Stage Mother
Thom Fitzgerald + Allistar MacDonald
Thom Fitzgerald: Since his 1997 feature debut, Thom has won over two dozen international awards including the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television Award (Genie), The FIPRESCI European International Critics’ Prize, The Emerging Master Award at the Seattle International Film Festival, and the Reader Jury of the “Siegessäule” Award at the Berlin International Film Festival. He won both the Best Canadian Film Award and the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. Thom is a three-time premiere guest of The Sundance Film Festival and has been lauded abroad with the City of Grandola Prize at the Troia Film Festival in Portugal, and the Best Screenplay Prize at the Mar del Plat Film Festival in Argentina. He was awarded both the Best Screenplay Award and the Most Popular Film Award at the Vancouver International Film Festival. In 2012 Thom was awarded the prestigious Portia White Prize which is the highest honor awarded to an artist by the government of Nova Scotia recognizing artistic excellence. For his theatre work, he won the Merritt Award for Best New Play CLOUDBURST and was nominated for Outstanding Set Design.
Toronto-based Allister MacDonald has worked with Thom Fitzgerald on the feature Splinters and was cast by Fitzgerald for his 2020 film Stage Mother. Set in the drag world of San Francisco, Stage Mother is a feel-good musical journey that had its glittering debut at the 2020 Palm Springs International Film Festival, earning praise as “Best of Fest.” MacDonald stars as Joan of Arkansas along with two-time Academy Award nominee Jackie Weaver.
XO chats with Thom and Allister and it’s all about STAGE MOTHER. Take a listen.
