Get the best of Vancouver in your inbox, every Tuesday and Thursday. Sign up for our free newsletter. 

Seagrass, the debut indie feature by Vancouver filmmaker Meredith Hama-Brown, will get a full theatrical release starting tomorrow (February 23).

The film, which first debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival (and, of course, screened at the Vancouver International Film Festival in September) is set to show at more than 40 cities across Canada and US—including Los Angeles, New York, Las Vegas, and Toronto. It’ll also play at Vancouver’s 5th Avenue Cineplex.

“I'm absolutely thrilled that Seagrass will be having its theatrical release across Canada and the US starting this week,” Hama-Brown says in an email. “The film looks at many themes that are meaningful to me such as Japanese-Canadian (and American) identity, as well as mixed-race Asian identity, motherhood, grief and family dynamics, all wrapped within the perspective of complex female characters.”

The award-winning feature follows Judith (played by Ally Maki), a Japanese-Canadian woman on a retreat with her two kids and husband, struggling with the recent death of her mother and the rising tensions within her own marriage. When the couple connects with another interracial duo (Chris Pang and Sarah Gadon), Judith’s own marital discontent is highlighted. Shot on Vancouver Island, the film fuses racial and emotional tensions with ‘90s aesthetics and haunting beachside vistas. 

“I really hope above all that viewers of the film will find a sense of connection with the story,” Hama-Brown adds.

The BC movie theatres showing Seagrass are:

• 5th Ave Cineplex, Vancouver
• Cineplex Cinemas Orchard Plaza, Kelowna
• Snakebite FF, Penticton