ABOUT THE FILM

MADOKA RAINE'S award winning debut feature, HAPPY 40TH, is a female-centric spin on the "best friends' weekend," but if you're expecting The Hangover, you're in for a big surprise. Sophia (Yvonne Woods) invites her three best friends for a weekend away at a cabin to help celebrate her 40th birthday. Though she's been living in self-imposed isolation following an accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down and in a wheelchair, Sophia is determined to re-enter society, using her 40th birthday as a way to help make it happen. Sophia's husband, Ben (Brian Slaten), will be joining the party, too, as he's taken on the role of caretaker, driven in part by duty and guilt, having been responsible for the car accident which forced Sophia into her wheelchair. Over the course of the weekend, an unthinkable betrayal forces the group of friends and lovers to re-evaluate long-held beliefs and re-examine assumptions that are, painfully, no longer valid. An assured and even-handed debut, Raine's drama pokes and prods at fragile relationships to reveal uncomfortable truths about the secrets we keep from each other, and from ourselves.

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