12-year-old Mildred's life is turned upside down when her mother lands in hospital and estranged, American magician father, Strawn Wise (Elijah Wood), comes to look after her. Hoping to entertain the bookish tween, Strawn takes Mildred camping in the notoriously rugged New Zealand wilderness, and the pair embark on the ultimate test of family bonding -- a quest to find the mythological beast known as the Canterbury Panther. With Nell Fisher, Morgana O'Reilly, Michael Smiley.

"Ant Timpson’s heartwarming Bookworm is an effulgent love letter to ’80s kid cinema laced with a distinctly quirky, Kiwi dryness." (Slant Magazine)

"This is great, emotive, and deeply funny stuff." (Fiction Magazine)

"With near-perfect pacing and a gob-smacking density of punchlines, “Bookworm” is the sort of movie that will make you excited to repeatedly whisper, “Remember THAT?” — when you catch your breath from laughing (maybe even crying?), and the credits finally roll on a winding adventure that’s very Timpson and yet one of a kind... Adorable, complex, and deliriously entertaining." (IndieWire)

Saturday, November 23
Doors 12:30 | Movie 1:00 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

Catch all of the Rio Grind Film Fest’s programmed events with a $50 Festival Pass here:
https://riotheatretickets.ca/events/33713-rio-grind-film-fest-festival-pass

BOOKWORM (Ant Timpson, 2024 / 103 mins / PG) 11-year-old Mildred's world is turned upside down when her estranged father, the washed-up magician Shawn Wise, comes to look after her and agrees to take her camping to find a mythological beast known as the Canterbury Panther.