Anne at 13,000 Ft.

The film stars Deragh Campbell as Anne, a shy, socially awkward daycare worker whose attitude to her life and work is radically transformed after she skydives for the first time.^[3] Anne goes through the motions of life as a 20-something woman in Toronto, clashes with her co-workers, goes on an awkward Tinder date, and serves as maid of honour at her best friend's wedding. Anne suffers from an unspecified anxiety disorder, which remains undiagnosed throughout the film.^[10]

Anne at 13,000 Ft. premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival,^[4] before screening at other international festivals, such as the Berlinale.^[11] During its festival run, the film was picked up for American distribution by Cinema Guild.^[12]

The film was scheduled to be theatrical released on March 20, 2020, but the planned release was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[7][13] Nearly a year later, the film was released virtually on February 19, 2021, through the TIFF Bell Lightbox,^[14] and Vancouver's Cinematheque.^[15]

Critical reception

The film received critical acclaim. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 89% based on 46 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Held aloft by Deragh Campbell in the title role, Anne at 13,000 Ft tells the soaring story of a woman who's lost her moorings."^[16] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 80 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[17]

Jessica Kiang of Variety called the film "a brief, bracing burst of microbudget indie filmmaking at its most powerful."^[10] Barry Hertz of The Globe and Mail dubbed it "a startling, bracing achievement worth celebrating."^[18] Peter Howell of the Toronto Star praised Campbell's "riveting performance as a woman on the verge of vertigo is a sight to behold."^[19] Norm Wilner of Now wrote that "if the Dardenne brothers remade A Woman Under The Influence, it might look a lot like Radwanski’s latest study of a Torontonian in a slow-motion crisis: this time, his protagonist is a young day-care worker whose equilibrium is slipping out of her grasp."^[20]

Accolades

In 2021, the film won the Toronto Film Critics Association's $100,000 Rogers Best Canadian Film Award.^[8] It was also nominated for four Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Motion Picture, and five Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards (winning two for Campbell and Johnson's performances).^[9]

• Anne at 13,000 Ft. at IMDb