Join us for a special screening of Run Woman Run—the second film in a series of cinematic works selected by Melissa General as part of her artist residency. Stick around for a Q&A session with the writer/director Zoe Hopkins and Melissa following the screening!

Synopsis:
The ghosts from your past will catch up to you. So will the donuts.

Single mother Beck has been running from reality. Her “breakfast of champions” is a 5 cream, 5 sugar coffee, and donuts. Something has to give and it does when Beck finds herself in a diabetic coma and visited by a ghostly ancestor, the legendary Indigenous marathon runner Tom Longboat, who becomes her wise-cracking new life coach. Told with a lighthearted touch, Run Woman Run is a feel-good anti-rom-com about a woman who has to tackle the ghosts of her past before she can run toward a new future. “Save a mile for yourself. Honor your own life.”

Writer/Director Bio:
Zoe Hopkins is a Heiltsuk and Mohawk woman, born in her mother’s community of Bella Bella, a fishing village on the coast of BC.  She is now raising her son in her father’s community of Six Nations, Ontario, where she learned to speak and teach Kanyen’kéha (the Mohawk language.)

Hopkins drew upon her personal connection to the Great Bear Rainforest for her award-winning first feature film, Kayak to Klemtu, about a girl who leads her family on a kayak journey to fulfill her late uncle’s dying wish and save her people’s waters. Kayak to Klemtu received a theatrical release in Canada, and is distributed by Mongrel Media, and available on most Canadian streaming platforms.

Run Woman Run is Zoe’s second feature film. It had a successful theatrical release in Canada and thrilled the pandemic-fatigued audiences with its story about gratitude, family, hope and health. It is distributed in Canada by Level Film and is the winner of multiple audience awards, best film awards, and was nominated for Best Director by the Director’s Guild of Canada. It streams on CRAVE and CBC Gem.

With a BAA in Film from Ryerson, Hopkins is also an alumna of the Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program. Her films have screened Internationally at festivals including Sundance, Berlinale, TIFF Kids, and Edinburgh. With her dynamic range from comedy to drama, and as a writer and director, Zoe’s work expands to premium spaces on the small screen. She is a writer and director of three episodes of the award winning limited series, Little Bird, for CRAVE, APTN and distributed by Fremantle. She was also a writer and consulting producer on CBC’s dramatic series Trickster, a director of 3 episodes of Season 2 of Run the Burbs, a half hour comedy for CBC and CBC Gem and the CW in the US. Most recently, Zoe directed all six episodes of Don’t Even, a half-hour comedy series for CRAVE and APTN that will air in 2024.

Zoe is a member of the Writer’s Guild of Canada, the Director’s Guild of Canada, and a VIP at Boston Pizza Ancaster where they let her write till late.

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