Sarah Polley

Country: Canada
Born: 1979

Films directed by Sarah Polley

Don't Think Twice (1999)
The Best Day of My Life (1999)
I Shout Love (2001)
All I Want for Christmas (2002)
Away From Her (2006) (also known as: "Loin d'elle")

Quotes by Sarah Polley

"In a lot of ways, being an actor is the worst training you could possibly have for being a director. You've been in this environment your whole life, so you think you know it. But 90 per cent of everyone's job on a set, you soon find out, is to protect the actors from any pertinent information. It's not like you're being manipulative or secretive. But they have to go somewhere profound and do something quite emotional. You're not going to mention the weather is screwed and you have to condense three-day scenes into half a day and they better get it right or we're all going to hell."
-- Sarah Polley (source)

"We're still at a point where women [directors] aren't allowed to be mad visionaries. We have to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that we're responsible, that we can handle it, that we've got all our ducks in a row . . . most women who direct always come in on budget, always come in on schedule, and if they were wild and irresponsible it would not be put down to brilliance, but to a general flakiness."
-- Sarah Polley (source)

For QUOTES about a specific film by Sarah Polley, please see: I Shout Love Away From Her

Notes about Sarah Polley

Director, actor, screenwriter, and political activist.
Born in Toronto.
Began acting when she was four years old; as a child, had a major role in the TV series Road to Avonlea (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation).
As an adult, has acted in films such as Atom Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter (1997) and Isabel Coixet's My Life without Me (2003).

(sources)

Bibliography for Sarah Polley

Section 1: Publications about Sarah Polley

Newspaper or Magazine Articles

Cassivi, Marc. "À table avec... Sarah Polley : deux nations, deux cinémas." Interview with Sarah Polley. La Presse, May 29, 2007. [French]
McLaren, Leah. "From TV starlet to director, via a road less travelled." Interview with Sarah Polley. Globe and Mail, September 7, 2006.
Onstad, Katrina. "An actress with doubts, but not about directing." Interview with Sarah Polley. New York Times, April 29, 2007, Late Edition (East Coast).
Phelan, Erin. "Road from Avonlea: face to face with Sarah Polley." Interview with Sarah Polley. Reader's Digest (Canadian), August 2007.

Web Sites

"Canadian Film Encyclopedia." Film Reference Library (Toronto International Film Festival Group). http://www.canadianfilmencyclopedia.ca/. (s.v. 'Sarah Polley')

Section 2: Publications about the Films of Sarah Polley

I Shout Love (2001)

Newspaper or Magazine Articles

McSorley, Tom. "Short takes: I Shout Love." Review of I Shout Love. Take One, May 2002.

Away From Her (2006) (also known as: "Loin d'elle")

Books

Munro, Alice. Away from Her. New York: Vintage Contemporaries, 2007.

Journal Articles

Cicero, Caroline, and Craig Detweiler. "Solidarity and Ambivalence in Away From Her." Journal of Aging, Humanities and the Arts 3, no. 1 (March 2009): 76-80.
McGill, Robert. "No Nation but Adaptation: 'The Bear Came Over the Mountain,' 'Away from Her,' and What It Means to Be Faithful." Canadian Literature, no. 197 (Summer 2008): 98-111.
Oatley, Keith. "Coming together." Review of Away From Her. PsycCRITIQUES 52, no. 39 (2007).
Peters, Harry. "Niet ver weg van haar verhaal: boekverfilming Away from her." Skrien 39, no. 9-10 (November-January 2007-2008): 22-25. [Dutch]

Brief Sections of Journal Articles

Naremore, James. "Films of the Year, 2007." Film Quarterly 61, no. 4 (2008). (pp. 57-58)

Newspaper or Magazine Articles

Alleva, Richard. "Cheating to be Faithful: 'Away from Her'." Review of Away From Her. Commonweal, June 15, 2007.
Ansen, David. "Love's labor's lost." Review of Away From Her. Newsweek, May 14, 2007.
Bradshaw, Peter. "Forgive and forget: Sarah Polley's directorial debut is a spellbinding, delicate Alzheimer's drama: Away from Her." Review of Away From Her. Guardian, April 27, 2007.
Calhoun, Dave. "Film: Close up: Sarah Polley." Interview with Sarah Polley. Time Out, May 11, 2007.
Castaldo, Joe. "That vision thing." Interview with Sarah Polley. Canadian Business, September 11, 2006.
Cochrane, Kira. "'I felt like a crazy stalker'." Interview with Sarah Polley. Guardian, April 13, 2007, Film & Music section.
Denby, David. "Games of chance: The current cinema." Review of Away From Her. New Yorker, May 14, 2007.
Desrochers, Jean-Philippe. "Away from Her." Review of Away From Her. Séquences, July-August 2007. [French]
Diva. "Away from Her." Review of Away From Her. Diva, no. 132, 2007.
Fulford, Robert. "A loss of language and the language of loss: the poetics of Alzheimer's." National Post, May 15, 2007.
Garbarz, Franck. "Loin d'elle : le deuil de la mémoire." Review of Away From Her. Positif, May 2007. [French]
Globe & Mail. "Director Sarah Polley turns Munro story into feature." Globe and Mail, February 22, 2006.
Goldstein, Meredith. "First-time director is picture of maturity: Sarah Polley, 28, earns raves for 'Away From Her'." Boston Globe, May 13, 2007, LivingArts section.
Griffin, John. "Young age can't mask Sarah Polley's old soul: Her feature-length directorial debut, Away from Her, carries the assurance of a veteran artist -- which she is." Montreal Gazette, May 12, 2007, Final edition.
Harvey, Dennis. "Away from Her." Review of Away From Her. Variety, September 25, 2006.
Johnson, Brian D. "Goodbye to that jagged little pill: A mellower Sarah Polley plays parent to some elder icons for her stunning directorial debut." Maclean's, May 7, 2007.
Johnson, Brian D. "A star is reborn, behind the camera: Directing her first movie, the ever-precocious Sarah Polley finds magic in age-old love." Interview with Sarah Polley. Maclean's, September 11, 2006.
Kauffmann, Stanley. "People in shadows." Review of Away From Her. New Republic, May 21, 2007.
Kelly, Brendan. "Canuck film finds homegrown hero." Variety, July 16, 2007.
Kelly, Brendan. "Kudos for Polley pic." Variety, April 25, 2007.
Knight, Chris. "A heartbreaking departure of both mind and love." Review of Away From Her. National Post, May 4, 2007, All But Toronto edition, Arts section.
Lacey, Liam. "Sarah Polley makes an assured directing debut." Globe and Mail, May 4, 2007.
Lacey, Liam. "Top 10 of 2006: Sarah Polley: She's had a milestone year in front of and behind the camera. But she hasn't let the bright Hollywood lights distort her vision." Globe and Mail, December 22, 2006.
Lussier, Marc-André. "Away from Her : Sarah Polley : naissance d'une cinéaste." Interview with Sarah Polley. La Presse, May 5, 2007. [French]
Matheou, Demetrios. "Not remembering to forget." Interview with Sarah Polley. Sight & Sound, May 2007.
Mitchell, Elvis. "Sarah Polley: Actors who say they want to direct are a dime a dozen--but ones who make movies like hers are few and far between." Interview with Sarah Polley. Interview, June 2007.
Monk, Katherine. "Ache of loss: Sarah Polley's tale of grief is a remarkable achievement." Review of Away From Her. Ottawa Citizen, May 11, 2007, Final edition, Front section.
Munso, Danny. "Away from Her." Creative Screenwriting, March 2007.
Patterson, Hannah. "Away from Her." Review of Away From Her. Sight & Sound, May 2007.
Pevere, Geoff. "Away from Her draws us close to husband's anguish." Review of Away From Her. Toronto Star, September 11, 2006.
Pupo, Mark. "Woman on the verge: On the eve of her directorial debut, she's steeling herself for the spotlight--again." Toronto Life, October 2006.
Reid, Michael. "Pinsent savours dream role." Interview with Gordon Pinsent. Edmonton Journal, May 8, 2007, Front section.
Riding, Alan. "A role about winter for Julie Christie, a star in eternal spring." Interview with Julie Christie. New York Times, April 18, 2007, Late Edition (East Coast).
Schneller, Johanna. "At 28, Sarah Polley starts over: On Friday, the girl from Avonlea makes her debut as a director with the already lauded Away From Her: 'I'm in a good place right now'." Interview with Sarah Polley. Globe and Mail, April 28, 2007.
Schwarzbaum, Lisa. "Recall girl." Review of Away From Her. Entertainment Weekly, May 11, 2007.
Scott, A.O. "Time's wounds, and the heart's." Review of Away From Her. New York Times, May 4, 2007, Late Edition (East Coast).
Sealy, Shirley. "Away from Her." Review of Away From Her. Film Journal International, June 2007.
Stone, Alan A. "A care in the world." Review of Away From Her. Boston Review, July-August 2007.
Travers, Peter. "Away From Her." Review of Away From Her. Rolling Stone, May 3, 2007.
Tremblay, Odile. "Entrevue avec Sarah Polley : une étonnante maturité." Interview with Sarah Polley. Le Devoir, May 12, 2007. [French]
Winters, Laura. "The fresh young filmmaker and her scenes from a long marriage." Interview with Sarah Polley. Washington Post, May 6, 2007, Final edition, Sunday Arts section.