Canadian filmmaker Chandler Levack is promoting her latest feature film, "Mile End Kicks," a comedy-drama centered on Montreal's indie music scene [1].
The project serves as a cultural time capsule of the city's artistic landscape. By focusing on the messy reality of early adulthood, Levack highlights the intersection of creative ambition and personal instability in a specific urban milieu.
The narrative is set in 2011 [5], capturing a period of transition for the city's music culture. While some descriptions associate the film with the 2000s scene [2], other accounts specify the indie culture of the early 2010s [3]. Levack began writing the story when she was 27 [6].
Levack said she wanted to make a movie that is like, filled with like sex, drugs, and rock and roll but like all the worst kinds that you can experience in your, in your early 20s [2]. The film focuses on the chaotic nature of emerging adulthood, emphasizing the less glamorous side of the rock-and-roll lifestyle.
The film's rollout includes two major events. It had its world premiere at the 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival in 2025 [7]. A local premiere is scheduled for 2026 at the Théâtre Outremont in Montreal [4].
Set in the Mile End neighborhood, the film uses the district's reputation as an artistic hub to frame its story [1]. Levack's approach focuses on the raw, often disorganized experience of young adults navigating their identities through music, and social experimentation [4].
“"I wanted make a movie that is like, filled with like sex, drugs, and rock and roll but like all the worst kinds..."”
The film's focus on the 2011 era of Montreal's Mile End reflects a broader cinematic trend of nostalgic explorations of specific urban subcultures. By centering the narrative on the 'worst kinds' of early-twenties experiences, Levack moves away from idealized coming-of-age tropes to examine the volatility of the indie music scene's peak years.
