The Armoire, a Jamie Travis film

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Synopsis

11 year-old Aaron plays a game of Hide and Seek in which his friend Tony is never found. The mystery of their relationship—and of their queer attachment to the armoire in Aaron's bedroom—can only be revealed, it turns out, through hypnosis.

At once a comedy, a mystery and a melodrama, Jamie Travis’ The Armoire is the resounding finale to his Saddest Children in the World trilogy.

Key Credits

  1. Written and directed by
    Jamie Travis
  2. Producer
    Mark Montefiore
  3. Executive Producers
    Robin Cass and
    William Cranor
  4. Co-producer
    Jamie Travis
  5. Production Designer
    Mauro LaCaprara
  6. Director of Photography
    Catherine Lutes
  7. Editor
    Matthew Hannam
  8. Composer
    Alfredo Santa Ana

Starring

  1. William Cuddy
    as Aaron
  2. Ricardo Hoyos
    as Tony
  3. Tammy Isbell
    as Gwen
  4. David Keeley
    as Harry
  5. Maggie Huculak
    as Dr. Mendoza
  6. Dennis James
    as Detective Lee
  7. Penelope Corrin
    as Lea Martell
  8. Lois McDonald
    as Mrs. Day
  9. Rebecca Auerbach
    as Ms. Penner
  10. Craig Brown
    as Deputy Smith
  11. Catherine Fitch
    as Heather
  12. Mathew Lyons
    as Rick

Jamie Travis, Writer/Director

With The Armoire, Jamie Travis has completed his second trilogy of short films. His six shorts, all of which have premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, have established him as a director of precise vision. Called “one of the most original voices in Canadian cinema” by The Toronto Star’s Bruce Kirkland, Jamie’s body of work—Why the Anderson Children Didn’t Come to Dinner (2003), The Patterns Trilogy (2005/2006), The Saddest Boy in the World (2006) and now The Armoire—has drawn comparisons to filmmakers as disparate as Peter Greenaway, Todd Solondz and Alfred Hitchcock. Numerous retrospectives of his work have been held, most notably at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts and at the Prague International Film Festival.

Contact

Mark Montefoire, Producer

Mark Montefiore is a creative producer with several award winning short films to his credit including the Bravo!FACT funded Career Day! His debut feature film, Eating Buccaneers, is set for its theatrical release in Toronto after having its US premiere at the Newport Beach Film Festival and the Chicago Just For Laughs Film Festival. Recently nominated by the Premier of Ontario as Most Successful Recent College Graduate, Mark is also a graduate of the Canadian Film Centre’s Producers Lab (’06). He is set to direct another Bravo!FACT short film in the spring called Little Wings and is thrilled for his first Toronto International Film Festival premiere with Jamie Travis’ The Armoire.



William Cuddy as Aaron

Born in 1997, William Cuddy decided to begin his film acting career in 2006. His feature film debut was as Tom Cavanagh's nemesis in the opening hockey sequence of Breakfast with Scot (2007). He went on to play a 10-year-old Gore Vidal, opposite Ewan McGregor and Hilary Swank, in Mira Nair's Amelia (2009). Born and based in Toronto, William has just wrapped a feature lead role opposite SNL's Chris Parnell in the comedy The Dogfather, coming 2010.

Stills

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News and Screenings

Dec 08, 2009: Sundance Film Festival to Host U.S. Premiere of The Armoire

After a strong Canadian festival run (Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax, Sudbury, Calgary, Montreal), The Armoire will make its American debut at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival (Jan 21 – 31) in Park City, Utah.

The film screens as part of the International Short Film Competition. Screening details will be posted here soon.

Director Jamie Travis and producer Mark Montefiore will be in attendance. For press or sales inquiries, email info@thearmoire.ca

Dec 07, 2009: The Armoire is one of Canada’s Top Ten

The Armoire has been voted into Canada’s Top Ten, an annual TIFF initiative that celebrates the best in Canadian film—both features and shorts.

All Top Ten films will play in Toronto at the Cinematheque Ontario between Jan 14 and 21. Screening details to be posted here soon.

For more information, visit the Top Ten website.

Sept 20, 2009: The Armoire wins honourable mention for Best Canadian Short at the Toronto International Film Festival

TIFF has come to a close and The Armoire has been awarded a special mention by the Canadian film jury. Their official statement describes Jamie Travis as “an exciting filmmaker with an original voice and an exquisite vision.”

The award for Best Canadian Short went to Pedro Pires’ Danse Macabre.

Sept 01 2009: Toronto International Film Festival to Host World Premiere of The Armoire!

The Armoire, Jamie Travis’s final installment of his Saddest Children in the World trilogy, is set to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. This marks Jamie’s sixth film to be included in the TIFF lineup. The Armoire screens as part of Short Cuts Canada Programme 4.

Screening Details
Monday, September 14, 6pm, Jackman Hall—AGO
Tuesday, September 15, 3pm, Jackman Hall—AGO

For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit http://tiff.net.

Press

Rich with mystery and dead-on early ‘90s set design, The Armoire centers on a young boy whose best friend has just gone missing. Through his eyes, a dark childhood tale unfolds as we watch the chain of events from a hide-and-seek game gone awry. Please give Jamie some money to make a feature — this is one of the strongest entries in all of TIFF that I’ve previewed to date. —BlogTO, Chandra Menard

With his fusion of bright colors and rich art direction all shot through with an undeniable layer of melancholy, Canada’s Jamie Travis invites comparison to Tim Burton at first glance. But stick around a little bit and you’ll find an entirely unique voice—one of Canada’s best—slowly building recognition around the globe. Travis’ Patterns trilogy was my own entry point to his work, a striking and surreal trio of shorts that has racked up a pretty healthy array of festival appearances and awards around the globe. But for his latest, The Armoire, Travis moves away from Patterns to complete a second trilogy of shorts that he began with his 2003 debut, Why The Anderson Children Didn’t Come To Dinner, and continued with 2006’s The Saddest Boy In The World.
—Twitchfilm.net, Todd Brown

Jamie Travis’s series of sad children trying to find their way in a difficult world continues with a haunting and beautifully art-directed film. Here the young boy has so many secrets that his inner psyche is put to the test, and his descent further into the armoire in his bedroom seems to be his only destiny.
—Xtra!, Kathleen Mullen

The latest short from Toronto filmmaker extraordinaire Jamie Travis is another revelation. This man can do no wrong.
—Xtra!, Matthew Hays

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