The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom

Fiction / 2010 / 95 min. / English
written and directed by Tara Johns   |   produced by Barbara Shrier

Release date | US DVD release : January 24, 2012

Visit the Director’s blog | Follow us Facebook!

Synopsis | It’s 1976 and Elizabeth is just your average suburban 11-year-old praying for adolescence to arrive when she discovers her whole life has been a lie. With only her imagination to guide her, Elizabeth runs away in search of her true identity. Her adoptive mother Marion is then forced to break out of the carefully constructed “truth” she’s been clinging to and go after her daughter. This leads to a cathartic cross-country trek by a mother searching for a daughter who’s searching for a mother – both of them really searching for themselves…. The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom is a poignant, sometimes funny, very female, coming of age story that explores the tension between creating identity and finding it within…

Starring

See full cast and crew credit list (PDF)

Prizes and festivals

Les rendez-vous du cinéma québécois 2011 | Closing night film
GIFFONI Film Festival 2011 – Italy | Official competition
GIMLI 2011 – Manitoba, Canada | Special presentation
Eastern Township Film Festival 2011 – Quebec, Canada | Closing night gala
LUCAS International Children’s Film Festival 2011 – Germany | Official competition
BUSTER Coppenhagen Internation Film Festival 2011 – Denmark | Official selection
DOLLY DAY 2011 – Yukon, Canada | Fundraiser Yukon Imagination Library
HAMBURG Children and Youth Film Festival 2011 – Germany | Official competition
SCHILINGEL International Film Festival 2011 – Germany | Official selection
EXGROUND filmfest 2011 – Germany | Official selection
ALE KINO International Young Audience Film Festival 2011 – Poland | Special presentation
KESWICK Film Festival 2012 – England | Non-competitive
BUFF Film Festival 2012 – Sweden  | Official competition

Distribution

Original soundtrack

An intrinsic part of the film is not only to have Dolly Parton’s persona woven through the story, but her music as well. In addition to original recordings that come from the on-screen action, Tara Johns always envisioned Canadian artists recording their own versions of Dolly Parton songs for the film’s soundtrack, further underscoring the theme of finding one’s own voice. Five of Dolly Parton’s classic songs have been re-recorded for the film: The Grass is Blue, Light of a Clear Blue Morning, Do I Ever Cross Your Mind, The Seeker, and Little Sparrow. Canadian artists selected to deliver their renditions of these songs include Martha Wainwright, Wailin’ Jennys, Coral Egan, Nelly Furtado, and Franco-Manitoban singer-songwriter Geneviève Toupin.

You can purchase the soundtrack in all good music stores, on land or online.

Nelly Furtado – The Seeker

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Martha Wainwright – Do I Ever Cross Your Mind

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The Wailin’ Jennys – Light of a Clear Blue Morning

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Photo Gallery

Photos Rebecca Sandulak

Photos Sébastien Raymond

Media Kit

Click here to be redirected to the media kit page