In spite of opening in only 18 theatres and having to compete against Hollywood blockbusters like Iron Man and Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, Fugitive Pieces managed to do respectable box office business in Canada during its opening week.

According to Playback online, Fugitive Pieces averaged $5,000 per theatre (from May 2 to 8).(That would place it between Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Baby Mama, which were number five and six in the top ten movies in Canada, in terms of average per theatre.)

I attended a special screening of Fugitive Pieces on Thursday, May 1 that was organized by Rory Richards to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day. Members of the Greek Canadian and Jewish Canadian communities attended, and special speakers included professor Andre Gerolymatos, senator Larry Campbell, and Mark Weintraub.

Gerolymatos spoke about some little known facts about Greek history during the Second World War. He said that many prominent Greek citizens, including lawyers, clerics, and business people, spoke out against the Nazi treatment of Jewish people, some of them Greeks of Jewish descent.

The movie was adapted by director Jeremy Podeswa from an Anne Michaels novel.