Bye Bye Blues (film)

Bye Bye Blues is a 1989 Canadian film. It was written and directed by Anne Wheeler and produced by Alberta Motion Picture Development Corporation with the assistance of Allarcom Limited.

During World War II, Daisy Cooper (Rebecca Jenkins) returns home to her small Alberta town after she and her soldier husband, Teddy (Michael Ontkean), are split by the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong. While waiting for the war to end and to learn if Teddy is alive or dead, she joins a swing band as a singer to provide for her family, performing with them in many community halls. Daisy and her children initially live with her husband's parents, but later rent a house for themselves, as Daisy chafes under her in laws' scrutiny. Daisy struggles to balance societal expectations of fealty and commitment to her children, while also struggling to financially support herself and her children by travelling and performing with the band. A trombonist in the band has a secret past and a not so secret yearning. Daisy struggles with an impossible choice as she hears that Teddy is returning home. Her husband's sister, a somewhat similar free spirit, befriends an Australian airman in Alberta to train in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.

The cast also includes Luke Reilly, Leslie Yeo, Kate Reid, Wayne Robson, Robyn Stevan, and Stuart Margolin.

The film was nominated for twelve Genie Awards at the 11th Genie Awards in 1990, and won three: Best Actress (Jenkins), Best Supporting Actress (Stevan), and Best Original Song ("When I Sing" by Bill Henderson).

Springwater School in Starland County, Alberta, Canada was used as a set. There are a number of buildings in Alberta's Ghost Town Rowley, Alberta. This town's buildings were refaced and looks like a Hollywood movie set hence its nickname Rowleywood.

For several years Bye Bye Blues could not be exhibited on television or theatrically (and could not be issued on DVD or made available digitally) because nobody could determine who held the copyright. On August 21, 2013, however, the Copyright Board of Canada issued a licence to Rebecca Jenkins, allowing the film to be distributed in Canada by television, Internet, and other means. The licence was issued under section 77 of the Copyright Act, which allows the Copyright Board to issue a licence in respect of orphan works where "the Board is satisfied that the applicant has made reasonable efforts to locate the owner of the copyright and that the owner cannot be located". Pursuant to the licence, the film is available online in Canada through the iTunes Store, and two theatrical screenings were held in October 2014 at the Vancouver International Film Festival.