New Bedford Movie ‘Finestkind’ Is Finally Ready for Its World Premiere

There's no doubt about it.

New Bedford and Fairhaven have been thrust into the Hollywood spotlight over the past couple of years. We've watched as major movie stars such as Jenna Ortega, Tommy Lee Jones and Paul Giamatti have worked their magic in our backyards. We've seen the movie crews setting up and breaking down the lights and the cameras with familiar SouthCoast spots as the backdrop.

Above is a photo of Ortega and Ben Foster in a scene filmed inside Fairhaven's Rasputin's Tavern last year for the highly anticipated film Finestkind.

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Now, it's finally time for people to see the final product of that New Bedford-based film.

The first audience in the world to get the opportunity to see Finestkind will be north of the border in Canada. The Toronto International Film Festival has three showings of the movie scheduled. The first is Friday night (Sept. 8), followed by a matinee on Saturday and a final showing Wednesday.

One thing we know is that New Bedford is going to be front and center in this film. In fact, the city is mentioned by name in the film festival's synopsis of the movie.

Charlie (Toby Wallace) is looking to get away from his dull college education when he begs his older brother, Tom (Ben Foster), to let him work on his fishing trawler for a summer. There’s no deterring him, even after their first expedition almost ends disastrously. Charlie becomes fast friends with the group, making a place for himself in New Bedford as he starts dating Mabel (Jenna Ortega), who’s trying to make her own future. In this town, scallops are gold, and more is never enough as Tom’s crew encroaches into Canadian waters to continue fishing.

The brothers get involved in some sticky activities that involve a dangerous drug deal that throws them in the middle of a situation that is much more than they bargained for.

Academy Award winner Brian Helgeland, writer and director of the film, is a New Bedford native.

What's been the most fun about watching this New Bedford-made movie come together is witnessing the emergence of Ortega. Her status has skyrocketed since her time here last summer with the title role in the Netflix blockbuster hit Wednesday and also Beetlejuice 2, now in production. Her work in this film will absolutely grab some eyeballs for Paramount+.

But, first thing's first. Finestkind needs to get some good reviews this weekend in Toronto. We'll spotlight those reviews next week right here.