Mile End Kicks

The film's original screenplay outline, submitted under the working title Anglophone, was announced in 2016 as the winner of a competition for emerging women screenwriters staged by Zapruder Films, the production company of Matthew Miller. The prize was $12,000 and the services of a professional story editor to help develop and complete the full screenplay. Most of the cast was announced in August 2024, The film was shot in August and September 2024 in Montreal. Levack has said the production budget of the film was approximately $4 million, a significant increase from her previous feature I Like Movies, which cost about $130,000. The Montreal indie rock band Tops wrote two original songs for the soundtrack. ==Release==

Mile End Kicks had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 4, 2025. The film was also screened in the Borsos Competition program of the 2025 Whistler Film Festival. It was screened at the Kingston Canadian Film Festival on February 28 and March 1, 2026. The film was released theatrically on April 17, 2026, in Canada by Elevation Pictures (with Entract Films releasing in Quebec) and in the United States by Sumerian Pictures. ==Reception==

Critical response Shelagh Rowan-Legg of Screen Anarchy wrote that "with a vibrant palette, a terrific soundtrack, Mile End Kicks might lose a little bit of steam as it stretches out the ending, but it's a worthy entry to contemporary romcoms, one that acknowledges sex, queerness, money troubles, sexism, how any of us can get caught in the trap of not knowing our own worth, and learning to embrace our love, our anger, and our talent". Alex Hudson of Exclaim! wrote that "if there was ever a film that's a perfect bullseye for Exclaim! Magazine, it's surely Mile End Kicks, which is about trying to make it as a music critic in the halcyon days of Montreal's indie rock boom. It's got original music from TOPS, live footage of Islands, a background character named Claire who I'm pretty sure is supposed to be Grimes snorting drugs off a toilet, and even shots of an inbox full of emails from publicist Brendan Bourke." The film was named to the Toronto International Film Festival's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list for 2025. Accolades ==References==