Toronto-based filmmaker Patricia Marcoccia, the woman behind The Rise of Jordan Peterson, a new documentary about the famed Canadian psychologist, has revealed how 'cancel culture' forced her to search for new ways to bring her film to the big screen.
The biopic – which premieres on 26 September in Toronto – documents Peterson’s transformation from an obscure university professor to an international sensation, after he challenged the Canadian government’s plans to enforce the use of preferred pronouns for transgender people.
The film, according to the trailer and the director, is nuanced and takes a look at Peterson through the eyes of both his admirers and opponents, but its declared non-bias didn’t guarantee a safe run in cinema theatres.
“Over the last few months we have been reaching out to mainstream and arthouse cinemas in key cities across North America,” Patricia Marcoccia said on the Hollywood in Toto podcast. “In many cases, we encountered challenges simply because of the subject matter being Jordan Peterson.”
“Some cinemas got stuck in internal debates. Others told us outright that they thought the film was interesting and fair, but that they couldn’t in good conscience contribute to the ‘cult of personality around Peterson’ in any way,” she recounted, adding that another major cinema said “nuanced films don’t sell”.
The Rise of Jordan Peterson is a follow-up to the shorter Shut Him Down, a documentary aired on Canadian TV last year that was also directed by Marcoccia. Ironically enough, the new film was shut down at least in one theatre last week.
A Toronto cinema has dropped a scheduled week-long run that was already agreed upon “because apparently one or more staff complained about the film even though they most likely hadn’t watched it,” Marcoccia explained. “This placed the cinema in a difficult position and they decided to cancel the run. They were very apologetic about this.”
She said it prompted her to focus on a cinema-on-demand strategy – meaning that people should request film screenings in their city, and the screenings take place if 40 percent of tickets are sold.
