2021-01-20 • Fredericton • Staff
The first feature film directed by Fredericton professor, author and filmmaker Robert Gray, Entropic tells the story of an introverted man asked to help the most beautiful person he knows find freedom from the burden of others’ desires. It is adapted from the title story of Gray's collection of short stories which won the prestigious Thomas Raddall Prize from the Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia in 2016.
The queer-themed indie had its world premiere at the FIN: Atlantic International Film Festival, its US premiere at the Tampa Bay Underground Film Festival, and screened to a full house at its hometown Silver Wave Film Festival.
Grid City Magazine said it is “for film lovers who love the subtle queer nuances of mainstream cinema and the ask from the filmmaker for the audience to suspend disbelief, and give themselves over for the journey.” Halifax Today called it “an incredible feature film out of New Brunswick … one of the weirdest films I saw at the festival, but the sensual, incredible filmmaking here makes it hard to ignore. Lead Khalid Klein gives a sensitive performance, and this one will be difficult to forget.”
The film stars Khalid Karim, Stephen Huszar and features many cameos from beloved Canadian actors. This role is everything I wanted as an actor,” said Karim. “The subject matter just pushes boundaries. It all feels so real, organic, and we have complicated three-dimensional characters of importance and relevance.” Huszar added “I’m so proud of everyone who made this film happen! It takes an incredible amount of drive and passion to make an independent film.”
Gray says he’s thrilled for the film to find a wider audience online now and is looking forward to the conversations. “We live in a cultural context that is heavily critical of objectification but scapegoats it, with little space for reflection on how it is part of the matter of how we see and know the world. The other piece for me is about beauty, how we construct it, how we covet it, how we, ultimately, have no mercy or sympathy for it.”
Entropic was produced by Frictive Pictures. The film received funding from Telefilm Canada’s The Talent Fund through the New Brunswick Filmmakers’ Co-operative. The film was also produced with the participation of the Province of New Brunswick’s Cultural Industries (Section) and Tourism, Heritage and Culture; and made with the generous support of ArtsNB, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) and the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA).
Entropic is on Apple+, Roku, Amazon Prime, and the NFB site as of early January, 2021,.
