AMAZE FILM + TELEVISION, in Associa�on with GRAiNEY PICTURES and FOUNDATION FILMS Presents BEING CANADIAN Distributed by CANDY FACTORY FILMS Wri�en and Directed by Robert Cohen Produced by The Sibs [Colin Keith Gray & Megan Raney Aarons] Execu�ve Producers Michael Souther, Teza Lawrence, and Michael Lafetra Available in Theaters and On Demand – September 18, 2015 Running Time: 89 minutes Press Contacts: New York Susan Engel – [email protected] – 212.373.0114 Lee Meltzer – [email protected] – 212.373.6142 Los Angeles Jazmin Sanchez – [email protected] – 310.854.3267 Rebecca Fisher– Rebecca.Fisher @pmkbnc.com – 310.854.4897 Margaret Gordon– [email protected] – 310.854.4736 CANDY FACTORY CONTACT Jason Ward, CEO Candy Factory Films [email protected] – 518.857.8468 INDIECAN ENTERTAINMENT Avi Federgreen [email protected] 416-898-3456 SHORT SYNOPSIS When Calgarian Robert Cohen moved to L.A. to pursue his dreams of becoming a comedy writer, he quickly realized that his new friends and colleagues knew nothing but the usual stereotypes about his beloved homeland. After years of frustration, Robert decided to embark on a personal quest, traveling from one end of Canada to the other, to prove BEING CANADIAN is more than just maple syrup and Mounties. Imagine “Sherman’s March” or “Roger and Me”, but wearing a toque. LONG SYNOPSIS BEING CANADIAN chronicles the real life quest of Robert Cohen, a proud Canadian, who, after leaving Calgary for the U.S. to start a career as a TV comedy writer, began noticing how little people outside his beloved homeland knew or cared about it. After decades of ignorance, insults, and indifference to the land he truly loves, he decided to do something about it. Rob sets off on an epic personal quest, driving from the East coast of Canada to the West, to make sure the country he had been fighting for is still what he remembered after living away from it for so long. He weaves this journey with interviews from a variety of famous Canadians, like Mike Myers, Seth Rogen, Martin Short, Howie Mandel, Michael J. Fox, Will Arnett, Alanis Morrisette, Dave Foley, Malcolm Gladwell, Cobie Smulders, Eugene Levy, and many others. Along the way, he also sits down with a Canadian nutritionist, psychotherapist, a politeness expert, and the man in charge of protecting Canada’s top-secret emergency maple syrup reserve. Some long time American friends, like Kathy Griffin, Ben Stiller, and Conan O’Brien, also weigh in. And he sets the most Canadian of deadlines for his answer…midnight on Canada Day, in Vancouver. Although comedic in nature, Rob’s desire to rediscover his national identity and gain internal peace is real. Imagine Roger and Me or Sherman’s March, but wearing a toque. DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT When I first moved to the U.S., I was surprised at the way people reacted to me BEING CANADIAN. I didn’t view Americans and Canadians as being that different, but it didn’t take long for me to realize how Canadians were perceived beyond our border: with a weak smile and uneducated shrug. And for the few times they were forced to discuss Canada, between the sounds of their eyes rolling, I would hear snide comments about Mounties, hockey, beer, and drunk Mounties playing hockey. How could this be? I could name all 50 states and most of the world capitals, while “they” gingerly guessed that Toronto was the capital of Vancouver. This level of global indifference towards my home only became worse the more I traveled, so I decided to do something about it. So I finished a hockey game with my drunk Mountie friends, and joined forces with fellow L.A. based Canadians Colin Keith Gray and Megan Raney Aarons, better known as The Sibs (and both originally from Ottawa, Canada’s capital by the way!). We then teamed up with Mike Souther and Teza Lawrence of Amaze Film + Television (based in Toronto), and what developed is my first feature length documentary, BEING CANADIAN. Our goal was to cross the entire country in 10 days, going from coast to coast, with the deadline of finding out what it means BEING CANADIAN set at midnight on Canada Day in Vancouver (July 1st, but everyone reading this obviously knows that). Along the way, we met a wide selection of fantastic people and visited so many incredible places, hoping to erase all the ignorance about Canada, while rediscovering the country I so dearly missed and loved. This documentary was made by Canadians, for Canadians, and for anyone who has ever been curious about that massive polite blob sitting on top of Montana. This film is our home movie, about our home. Robert Cohen July 2015 FILMMAKER BIOS ROBERT COHEN (Writer/Director) Robert is the pride of the Canadian Rockies and has more than 20 years of experience in network sitcoms, sketch comedy, variety, improvisation, animation, and motion pictures. Most of it positive. Rob’s comedy writing stints include The Ben Stiller Show (for which he won an Emmy), Just Shoot Me!, The Big Bang Theory, The Wonder Years, Saturday Night Live, MADtv, and The Simpsons. This last opportunity also enshrined him for most of eternity as the visual inspiration for Bart Simpson’s best friend Milhouse, to whom he still bears a striking resemblance. His feature film work includes the Austin Powers films, all three Shrek films, Dodgeball, Madagascar; Tropic Thunder, and Anchorman 2. Rob also works as a commercial director and has produced/directed pilots and short films for MTV, Comedy Central, and HBO; eight episodes of the critically acclaimed IFC series Maron; studio feature campaigns for Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros., and 20th Century Fox; a music video for Aimee Mann; and multiple promos starring Tom Cruise, Ben Stiller, Mike Myers, Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis, and Robert Downey, Jr.. Rob’s turn-ons are honesty, cold pizza, and moderately short bios. The Sibs (Producers) Colin Keith Gray and Megan Raney Aarons Colin and Megan are an award-winning brother/sister writing, directing, and producing team originally from Ottawa, Canada. In 2003, The Sibs launched GRAiNEY PICTURES, a full service content creation company based in Los Angeles that specializes in unscripted content across all platforms. Recent credits include The Godfather of Pittsburgh for A&E, a TV docu-series produced with Mario Signore & Renegade 83; the feature doc Atari: Game Over for XBox & Showtime, directed by Zak Penn and produced with Lightbox & Fuel Entertainment; the rock-doc web series Hello, Again that The Sibs directed & produced for Beck/Lincoln Motor Company (Cannes Cyber Lion and Webby award winner); Meena, a scripted short film on child sex trafficking based on Nicholas Kirstof & Sheryl WuDunn’s book Half The Sky that The Sibs wrote and directed with Lucy Liu for UNICEF; Clean Break, an interactive web series that The Sibs directed and produced for Schick and Sony Crackle; Redlight, a TV documentary on child sex trafficking in Cambodia that they co-wrote and produced for Showtime; and Freedom’s Fury, the internationally acclaimed feature documentary that they wrote and directed about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. The Hungarian Government knighted The Sibs, along with Executive Producers Quentin Tarantino and Lucy Liu, for their work on the film. Michael Souther / Teza Lawrence (Executive Producers) Michael and Teza are co-owners and co-founders of Amaze Film + Television. Both acted as producer of four successful seasons of Call Me Fitz, a half-hour comedy series for HBO Canada (The Movie Network and Movie Central) starring Jason Priestley, which won Best Comedy Series at the Canadian Screen Awards. The series won 24 other awards during its four-season run. Their feature Finn on the Fly, won the Audience Choice Award for Best Feature Film at the 2009 Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival for Children, and a Best Independent Feature Film Award at the 2009 KIDS FIRST! Film Festival. They also received a 2006 Genie Nomination for Best Feature Film as a producer on Saint Ralph. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, winning the Grand Prix at the 2005 Paris Film Festival, and was distributed theatrically around the world. In addition, they have produced and directed a number of award-winning national television commercials and just wrapped production on the first season of the half-hour multi-cam series, The Stanley Dynamic for YTV. A SMALL SAMPLE OF SOME OF THE AMAZING PEOPLE IN OUR FILM... MIKE MYERS MICHAEL J. FOX HOWIE MANDEL ALANIS MORISSETTE PAUL SHAFFER ALAN THICKE DAVE FOLEY ALEX TREBEK WILL ARNETT BEN STILLER RUSH RUSSELL PETERS KATHY GRIFFIN THE TRAILER PARK BOYS CONAN O’BRIEN BARENAKED LADIES DAN AYKROYD NATHAN FILLION EUGENE LEVY WILLIAM SHATNER MALCOLM GLADWELL RICH LITTLE CAROLINE RHEA DAVID STEINBERG MORLEY SAFER RICK MERCER FORMER PRIME MINISTER KIM CAMPBELL SETH ROGEN COBIE SMULDERS THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FARCE MARTIN SHORT CATHERINE O'HARA JASON PRIESTLEY GEORGE STROUMBOULOPOULOS ... AND MANY, MANY MORE. BEING CANADIAN END CREDITS AMAZE FILM + TELEVISION In Association With GRAiNEY PICTURES FOUNDATION FILMS And ENTERTAINMENT ONE Present A Film Written & Directed by ROBERT COHEN Producers THE SIBS [Colin Keith Gray & Megan Raney Aarons] Executive Producers MICHAEL SOUTHER TEZA LAWRENCE MICHAEL LAFETRA Editor BECKY HUTNER Director of Photography MEGAN RANEY AARONS Composers CRAIG NORTHEY & SCOTTY HARD Graphic Designer DAN PIERSE DOJO DESIGN & MOTION, LLC Co-Producer JARROD THALHEIMER Associate Producers STEPHEN KESSLER PETER B. ARONSON Featuring (in order of appearance) KATHY GRIFFIN CONAN O'BRIEN DAN AYKROYD HOWIE MANDEL GEDDY LEE NEIL PEART ALEX LIFESON EUGENE LEVY WILL ARNETT CAROLINE RHEA MORLEY SAFER SETH ROGEN COBIE SMULDERS ANN LUU TANYA MEMME MARTIN SHORT JASON PRIESTLEY CATHERINE O’HARA MICHAEL J.