Drive Back Home

In the winter of 1970, a cantankerous, small town plumber from rural New Brunswick, must drive his beat-up work truck 1000 miles to Toronto to get his estranged, gay brother out of jail after being arrested for having sex in a public park. The two men are then forced to drive back home together at the behest of their hard-nosed mother before they kill each other. Inspired by a true story.

  • Michael Clowater
    Director
    4 Eyes (2017), Sleep Dormindo (2013), Alfred's New Dog (1997)
  • Michael Clowater
    Writer
    4 Eyes (2017), Sleep Dormindo (2013), Alfred's New Dog (1997)
  • Brian Mason
    Producer
    Who's Yer Father? (2023), North of Normal (2022)
  • William Woods
    Producer
    The King Tide (2023), The Kid Detective (2020), Castle In The Ground (2019), Mean Dreams (2016)
  • Maddy Falle
    Producer
    DADA (2023), Gay Mean Girls (2019), Witches In The Woods (2019)
  • Stuar Campbell
    Producer
    Mayor of Kingstown, The Handmaid's Tale
  • Mikaela Bodin
    Producer
    The Fight Machine, The Wishing Tree, Last County
  • Hayden (aka Hayden Desser)
    Producer
    Canadian singer-songwriter (Everything I Long For, Are We Good)
  • Alan Cumming
    Key Cast
    ""Perley""
    Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, Goldeneye, X2:X Men United, Spy Kids Trilogy, Burlesque, Titus, Sweet Land, Battle of the Sexes, Marlowe, The Traitors
  • Charlie Creed-Miles
    Key Cast
    ""Weldon""
    Nil By Mouth, The Fifth Element, King Arthur, Peaky Blinders, Wild Bill,
  • Clare Coulter
    Key Cast
    ""Adelaide""
    By Design, The Worst Witch, Fargo, Three Pines
  • Sprague Grayden
    Key Cast
    ""Martha""
    John Doe, Jericho, Over There, Low Winter Sun, Six Feet Under, Sons of Anarchy, 24, Dirty John, A Million Little Things
  • Gray Powell
    Key Cast
    ""Moses""
    Designated Survivor, Hardy Boys, A Dangerous Romance, Sort Of, The End of Sex.
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    Drama, LGBTQ, Period, Comedy
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 40 minutes
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    Canada
  • Language:
    English, French
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Cinefest Sudbury
    Sudbury, Ontario
    Canada
    September 19, 2024
    World Premiere
  • Calgary International Film Festival
    Calgary, Alberta
    Canada
    September 24, 2024
    Alberta Premiere
    Audience Award for Canadian Narrative Feature
  • Edmonton International Film Festival
    Edmonton, Alberta
    Canada
    October 26, 2024
    Edmonton Premiere
  • San Diego International Film Festival
    San Diego, California
    United States
    October 18, 2024
    American Premiere
    Artistic Director's Award
  • Heartland International Film Festival
    Indianapolis, Indiana
    United States
    October 19, 2024
    Indiana Premiere
  • Charlottetown Film Festival
    Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
    Canada
    October 18, 2024
    Atlantic Canada Premiere
  • Windsor International Film Festival
    Windsor, Ontario
    Canada
    October 29, 2024
  • Barrie Film Festival
    Barrie, Ontario
    Canada
    October 22, 2024
  • OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival
    Fort Lauderdale, Florida
    United States
    October 22, 2024
Distribution Information
  • Game Theory Films
    Distributor
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: All Rights
  • Photon Films and Media
    Distributor
    Country: Canada
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Michael Clowater

Michael is an award-winning writer, director and producer of films and commercials and is based in Toronto, Canada. He was born in Nashwaaksis, New Brunswick.

The first time he failed a grade in school was grade 8. However, that same year, he also won a national essay writing contest, and his work was presented to Queen Elizabeth II so they pushed him through. Determined, he went on to Fredericton High School where he repeated grade 10 anyway. After high school, he got accepted at St. Thomas Catholic University by forging his priest’s signature. From there, he improved his grades enough to go to the University of New Brunswick where he graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1994. While at school, he worked at the National Video rental store and discovered the films of Martin Scorsese, Hal Ashby, David Lean, Sydney Pollack and Billy Wilder.

After graduation, he began his career at E.W. Clowater & Sons Plumbing and Heating and whilst contemplating a life in plumbing, he joined the New Brunswick Filmmaker’s Co-operative and wrote, produced, animated and directed his first short film “Alfred’s New Dog”.

This film screened at the TIFF Kids International film festival as well as the Solomon R Guggenheim museum in NYC. He moved to Toronto and got a job as an advertising copywriter and worked in that industry for 16 years while continuing to make short films on the side – most on super 8 film.

Determined to fulfil his filmmaking ambitions, at 44 he left the advertising world and moved behind the lens to begin directing TV commercials. He wrote, directed and co-produced “4 Eyes” – a 15-minute dramedy about growing up in the 80s with eyeglasses and insecurity. That film won the A&E award for best short film at the National Film Institute of Canada.

At 54 years old, Michael stubbornly willed into existence his first feature film - Drive Back Home, which he wrote and directed. It is inspired by the true story of the only time his life that his grandfather (E.W. Clowater) left New Brunswick. He had to drive to Montreal get his brother out of jail for having sex with another man in a park.

He really hopes you like it.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

DRIVE BACK HOME is a story that’s inspired by true events that happened in the 1960s to my grandfather (Ernie Clowater) and his brother, my great uncle (Hedley Clowater).

The only time that my grandfather ever left New Brunswick in his life was when he drove up to Montreal to get his brother out of jail for having sex with a man. However, I could never understand WHY an uneducated plumber who didn’t know anyone outside of New Brunswick would be able to get his brother out of jail for committing an actual crime.

What I discovered was that, unofficially, police departments were motivated to get these cases off the books by offering to drop the charges if family members or employers came to vouch for them. By forcing these men to “out” themselves to people that mattered to them, the police were satisfying two needs at once. The first was to relieve themselves of paperwork and the second was to ensure that the people they took so much offense to still had their lives ruined.

I showed this script to a friend of mine who had a bad experience when he came out to his family and he told me that his favourite part of it was that it was about two nobodies.

He went on to explain that, while there are films about key moments in the history of gay rights, the history of ordinary gay people was not something that he had seen before.

If you’re a young black person in 2024 and you want to know what life was like for ordinary black Canadians in the 1960s, you can ask your black grandparents. But if you’re gay, you don’t have gay grandparents to ask. A film like this would have been the only way for him to see that life.

I also wanted this to be real and authentic and funny. I wanted the two men to be imperfect and littered with their own personal baggage that we all have. I used western themes and wanted to give it a cinematic feel of a western by using snow and bleak landscape of a Canadian winter in the same way that John Forde or Sergio Leone would use the harsh landscape of a desert.

Our world is so fragmented today that it seems impossible to see things from other people’s points of view. But I figured, if you stick the most stubborn pair of assholes in an old beat up truck and forced them to drive across Canada together, they’re bound to find some sort of understanding with each other.

Or they’d kill each other.