Anne at 13,000 Ft

The Anne (Deragh Campbell) in Anne at 13,000 ft, works at a Toronto daycare with her best friend, the soon-to-be-married, Sarah (Dorothea Paas). Now 27, Anne seems happy and connects with the kids in her care, often more interested in fantasizing with them than in supervising them. But the cheerful self she displays in public is a mask behind which is a women who is dealing with anxiety and depression. This usually comes to the fore when she bickers with her fellow teachers, who pick on her for not following the district rules. For Sarah’s baccalaureate party, they go skydiving, and Anne seems completely in her element, floating above it all, a true departure from her strained, awkward professional and social interactions. Her apparent instability at work and in social settings disappears only when Anne is preparing for her next skydive, looking forward to the rush of adrenaline as she falls through the air high above the world becoming her true self, a woman at peace.

The Toronto Film Critics Association chose Anne at 13,000 Ft for 2021’s $100,000 Rogers Best Canadian Film Award.