Marcia Gay Harden stars in Gigi and Nate. Pic credit: ©Imagecollect.com/Faye Sadou/AdMedia

As a self-described mother bear, Marcia Gay Harden says she can easily identify with her tough-but-nurturing character in Gigi & Nate, a poignant movie about a boy and his unlikely service animal who helps everyone move past their family tragedy.

Just weeks before he was heading to college, Nate Gibson (Charlie Rowe) suffers a near-fatal illness and is left with quadriplegia. Moving forward seems impossible – especially because he is in pain and laced with doubt and depression – until he meets Gigi (Allie), a curious and intelligent capuchin money – who helps Nate find what he needs the most: hope.

At face value, Gigi & Nate is about a disabled boy and his monkey overcoming hardship and succeeding together, but it is clearly about so much more!

Harden, an Academy Award winner for the 2001 film Pollock, portrays Nate’s mom,...