Cream Films Reveals Tom Wilson Documentary

Cream Films, a division of Cream Productions, is set to debut Beautiful Scars, based on Canadian musician Tom Wilson’s best-selling memoir, at Hot Docs on May 2.

From Métis director Shane Belcourt (Red Rover, Kaha:wi: The Cycle of Life), the documentary unravels Wilson’s biographical history and follows him to the Kanawahke reserve, where he explores his Mohawk heritage and meets his birth family, who he didn’t know existed, for the first time.

Beautiful Scars is a TVO original documentary. Its broadcast partners are TVO and APTN, and it received funding from the Hot Docs Slaight Fund.

“Making this movie was a transformative and revitalizing experience for my mother and I,” Wilson said. “It freed whatever old ghosts were hanging around our attics and stirred up the sludge at the bottom of our lakes. My mother and I were victims of a heartless colonial system, but in the end, we won.”

“Tom is a fearless artist that courageously wears his heart on his sleeve, and for us, he puts it on the screen,” Belcourt said. “And as we spoke about from the beginning, his reclamation journey isn’t about putting on an indigenous costume; this is ultimately a story about taking the costume off and revealing Tehoh’ahake (Two Roads), his Mohawk name.”

Corey Russell, executive VP of Cream Films and producer of the film, added, “With Shane at the helm and our incredible access to Tom, who’s a naturally gifted storyteller, we tell a layered, nuanced story. Beautiful Scars is Tom’s painstakingly told journey about the scars that both hurt us and make us who we are.”