Technology has expanded our interaction with the world, yet it has also alienated us from human interaction at home. From this exploration into simulated intimacy, grew the protagonists of ALTERNATE VISIONS, Alex and Valerie, two busy young professionals who meet online. Their interaction through technology intensifies until one of them suggests that they should meet face to face. Of course, this is much more difficult than it seems, because the two lovers have never embraced real intimacy.
Based on the novel TRACING IRIS by Genni Gunn, THE RIVERBANK is an ingenious psychological thriller, placing at its dark centre a flawed but redeemable heroine, Kate Mason (Kari Matchett, Men with Brooms, 24) a thirty–something social anthropologist returning to the emotional crime scene she reluctantly calls home. While Kate mercilessly unearths the remnants of a life littered with evidence of abandonment, lies and loss, she also unravels the coil that binds her to Iris, the mother she never knew.
Montreal’s John L’Ecuyer has received several Directors Guild of Canada awards for Direction – Television Movie/Mini-Series and Outstanding Television Series.
The Riverbank was produced by Paul Stephens and filmed in Greater Sudbury.
The Riverbank is distributed in Canada by College Street Pictures.
“Put the camera down,” my sister Ileana says, her voice urgent. We’re in a taxi — a white Toyota Corolla, circa 1980 — on the way to Yangon airport. She reaches across and gently presses the camera to my lap. “I’m serious,” she says. “Last week, a man had his camera confiscated, and now he’s in jail.” In my mind’s eye, I see the monk uprising of 2007, and a Japanese journalist shot at point-blank range.
On every corner, one or two soldiers stand poised, automatic assault rifles slung over their shoulders, as if this were normal. Sometimes, they cluster, four or five, in camouflage gear, chatting, their eyes scanning the crowd. At the stop sign, one stares directly at me as we slowly round the corner, and I quickly avert my gaze, as if my eyes were capable of snapping a photograph. . .
Middle of the wedding ceremony, guests hushed and weepy.
“Repeat after me...,” the minister says, and a hummingbird slams full-tilt into the plate glass window facing the ocean. The bird’s small body quivers on the gravel path, its feathers iridescent, like neon fish. David’s friend, Joe, and his almost-wife falter mid-word, their eyes fixed on the trembling creature. No one moves. Better to pretend. David thinks of the word, ‘hummingbird’: an Americanism. The birds don’t hum; the rapid beat of their narrow wings produces the sound, makes them appear to be in constant motion. This one is lying on its side at a most unnatural angle. David’s chest expands. Enlarged heart: A compensation for increased need. He sighs. Concentrates. This is Joe’s wedding; this is a happy occasion and that’s that. . .
© 2023 Genni Gunn