October Country

2009     1 x 80 min     Color & B/W: HD     English

A Wishbone Films Production

Produced and Directed by:
Michael Palmieri
Donal Mosher

World Premiere at LA Film Festival

Won the SILVERDOCS Sterling Award for best US Feature.

Every family has its ghosts. In a decaying industrial town on the Mohawk River in upstate New York, the Mosher family has more than most. Examining war, teen pregnancy, foster care, child abuse and molestation, this vibrant film captures a working class family struggling for stability. Richly photographed over a year from one Halloween to the next, October Country hums with textured visual metaphors, offering subtle motifs that illuminate each character. Four generations of the family are intimately revealed  – from middle-aged grandparents locked in a marriage shadowed by military service, to an adolescent girl carrying the weight of a dreadful family secret, to an infant great-grandchild bounced from one family member to the other as her teen mother loses her ability to cope. But even as their situations unravel, the quiet strength and rich humor of each family member infuses the film with a fragile sense that good intentions may prevail.

“We have chosen a film that has resonated with us long after we viewed it,” the Sterling Award Jury said of October Country. “It is a film that is subtle and intuitively creative while presenting important social issues in a surpris- ing way. It showcases an extraordinary fresh talent, which left us excited to see what they do next.”