National Canadian Film Day: Rhymes for Young Ghouls

This screening took place on Wednesday, April 19, 2023 at 8:00 pmYukon Theatre

For National Canadian Film Day, April 19th, celebrating the world of Canadian cinema.

 

PRECEDED BY:

Wood Kingz

Dir. Douglas Joe, 2021, Yukon, 4 MIN

One cord of wood, fresh off the log. 500 big ones. 100 percent prine primo, baby. Muisc by Soda Pony and Local Boy. Starring Jeremy Parking and Dustin Titus.

 

It’s 1976 on the Red Crow Mi’kmaw reserve, and 15-year-old Aila (Jacobs) is the weed princess of her community. Hustling drugs with her uncle Burner, she sells enough dope to pay a “truancy tax” to Popper, the sadistic “Indian agent” who runs St. Dymphna’s Residential School. It’s a tough life, but she’s making it work. That is, until the precarious balance of her world is threatened by her father’s return from prison and the theft of her drug money. Part fable, part small-town drama, Rhymes for Young Ghouls is a richly imaginative and striking drama about growing up during a very dark time in Canada’s treatment of Indigenous people.

Celebrating the work of Mi'kmaq director, Jeff Barnaby.

 

Writer-director Barnaby weaves a surprising amount of tenderness into the fabric of violence, as well as a good measure of magic realism, to keep the gritty story engaging. - Michael Rechtshaffen, Los Angeles Times

 

Recommended for ages 18+ for violence, drug use, language, sexual references and graphic nudity.

 

Thanks to National Canadian Film Day, all tickets are pay-what-you-can.