ATHLETES IN MOTION: HARDCORE BONSPIEL
Small town Tuesday night Ladies’ League curling couldn’t be more humdrum until iconic writer Douglas Coupland offers an accidental glimpse into the strangely beguiling daydream of local skip Jen, played by World Champion Curler Jennifer Jones. Directed by John Kerr, various touchstones of our shared experience are thrown down the ice to the idiosyncratic rhythms of Gordon Downie in a wry and blissful celebration of nothing less than what it is to be Canadian.
THE EMPEROR
Set in 1922 against the wild landscape of Canada's Rocky Mountains and based on actual Prohibition-era incidents along the Alberta-British Columbia border, "The Emperor" is a dramatic restructuring of the events surrounding the tragic shooting death of Alberta Provincial Police Constable Steven Oldacres Lawson,and the subsequent trial, conviction,and execution of notorious Crowsnest Pass bootlegger Emilio "Emperor Pic" Picariello and his housekeeper, Florence Losandro, for the policeman's murder.
Imitating the tones and textures of early silent films, "The Emperor" traverses a landscape of memory, history, myth and nostalgia, marrying music and spectacle with the language and syntax of cinema to create a thrilling and dramatic wordless play, complete with a chilling ending that will haunt audiences for years to come. Like a vast distorting mirror, the same events are seen through the eyes of both Emilio Picariello and Florence Losandro as they await their executions, forcing each of us to reflect on the very nature of reality and truth as we are confronted with the question: Who killed Constable Lawson?
