In 2010 Fitzgerald 's first full-length play '' Cloudburst '' debuted in Halifax at Plutonium Playhouse . Critics called the play " a knock-out " and " the best thing to happen to the Halifax theatre scene in a decade " '' Cloudburst '' won the 2011 Merritt Award for Best New Play . Fitzgerald shot a film version of '' Cloudburst '' in 2011 starring Olympia Dukakis , Brenda Fricker and Ryan Doucette . The film debuted at the 2011 Atlantic Film Festival and won an Atlantic Canada Award for Best Screenplay and the People 's Choice Audience Award for Best Film of the Festival . It also won the Audience Award for Best Film at Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival , the Audience Award for Best Canadian Indie Film at Edmonton International Film Festival , Top Ten Canadian Film at Vancouver International Film Festival , and Best Film at Image Nation Montreal Film Festival . It won a Best Canadian Film Award at Victoria Film Festival . It won a Grand Jury Prize at the Atlanta Film Festival . Cloudburst won film festival prizes worldwide including Audience Awards in Copenhagen , Barcelona , Hannover , Waterloo and other cities
Vancouver International Film Festival
Vancouver International Film Festival
Thom Fitzgerald