Until Branches Bend
Sun March 5 — 7 pm
1 hr 8 min
Not rated/18+
Psychological Drama

Grace Glowicki plays Robin, an average young woman from a small farming town who works at a peach factory. One day she finds a beetle inside a peach and brings it to her boss, Dennis (Lochlyn Munro). Dennis takes it to his boss, who suggests they ignore it. Robin isn’t convinced and gives pictures of the bug to a local research center, which shuts down the operation out of an abundance of caution. The townspeople who rely on work at the factory and in the peach fields blame Robin for their sudden unemployment.
Branded a pariah and effectively exiled with her younger sister Laney (Alexandra Roberts), Robin must also deal with the complications of terminating an unwanted pregnancy. It’s a psychological drama that’s also a pensive social statement about how women are viewed in the workplace and health care system. Robin is in many ways a hero, but she behaves like a suspect – her character’s minimal dialogue leaves a lot unanswered, certainly a conscientious choice of director and co-scripter Sophie Jarvis. Robin is no Erin Brockovich, but she has found herself in the middle of a storm.
Sophie Jarvis’ psychological drama delves into the ills of this seemingly postcard-perfect community. What starts out as an intimate whistleblowing drama ultimately grows apocalyptic in scale, all while preserving the human story at its core. Until Branches Bend is billed as a psychological drama, but it’s made to feel a lot like a horror film.
Preceded by:

Love, Amma
NFB, 2022, 15min, Canada
Director: Prajwala Dixit
After being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, a young mother writes a letter to her daughter about their family’s collective journey to acceptance.