Annual Top Films Lists

Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2017: # 80. Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais’ Birthmarked

Published on January 4, 2017

Birthmarked

Director: Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais
Writer: Marc Tulin

Quebecois anglo helmer Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais won Best New Narrative Director at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival for his debut Whitewash starring Thomas Haden Church. The actor turned director reunites with screenwriter Marc Tulin for comedy Birthmarked, set in Montreal, featuring Matthew Goode and Toni Collette as scientist who quit their university jobs in 1977 to embark on a revolutionary experiment regarding nature vs. nurture by raising three children contrary to what their genetic make-up would indicate regarding personality.

Cast: Matthew Goode, Toni Collette, Fionnula Flanagan, Michael Smiley, Suzanne Clement

Production Co./Producer(s): Item 7 (Pierre Even), Parallel Film Production (Susan Mullen).

U.S. Distributor: Rights available.

Release Date: With filming underway in Montreal, we’d expect Birthmarked to receive a lofty world premiere out of Toronto this fall.

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Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.