A few days ago the news broke that The Roxy Theatre in Saskatoon, Canada had cancelled the April 22nd showing of Dead Hooker in a Trunk due to an anonymous complaint from a woman regarding the NAME OF THE FILM! Yup, that's right, the name of the film caused theatre manager Tom Hutchinson to pull the screening.
Now first of all, I can see why some people may have a problem with the name, especially in that area. There have been a spate of dead prostitutes in the area since the early 90's. In fact, when I looked further into it, there was a serial killer, John Crawford who killed at least seven prostitutes in the early 90's, however because of the fact that these women were aboriginal women, neither the press, the public or even the police basically gave a fuck! Crawford is currently serving 3 life sentences for his crimes. Also between 1990 and 1994 there were at least 500, yes people FIVE HUNDRED aboriginal women reported missing in Western Canada. Check out this article for more information.
Now all of this is pretty fucking shocking by anyones standards. However, pulling a film in a blatant mode of censorship is not going to bring these women back. The energy put into stopping the film which actually treats the prostitute with more respect than most accepted Hollywood movies do, it should be put into pushing the police to do more about solving these missing persons cases and giving justice to the women involved. Maybe all the controversy around Dead Hooker in a Trunk will actually make people stop and think and do something about the ACTUAL problem. Here's hoping so.
Anyhoo, thanks to John Allison (the man behind The Dark Bridges Film Festival who were showing the film) he has managed to secure a different venue, same time, same date (the birthday of moi, Rondo Hatton, Bettie Page and Daniel Johns of Silverchair...and Earth Day), however just at The Broadway Theatre in Saskatoon instead. People in the area be sure to get out there and support Team Soska and also TEAM ANTI-CENSORSHIP!
So yay, thanks to everyone who signed my petition. Let's keep it going as well. I still think The Roxy Theatre need to realise just how close minded their decision was. Also, check out what Jen and Sylvia have to say on their blog here!
Last but not least I urge you to futher support Dead Hooker in a Trunk in all it's madness and pre-order a copy of the DVD from Amazon.com. Do it, you know you want to! ;) xx
Now first of all, I can see why some people may have a problem with the name, especially in that area. There have been a spate of dead prostitutes in the area since the early 90's. In fact, when I looked further into it, there was a serial killer, John Crawford who killed at least seven prostitutes in the early 90's, however because of the fact that these women were aboriginal women, neither the press, the public or even the police basically gave a fuck! Crawford is currently serving 3 life sentences for his crimes. Also between 1990 and 1994 there were at least 500, yes people FIVE HUNDRED aboriginal women reported missing in Western Canada. Check out this article for more information.
Now all of this is pretty fucking shocking by anyones standards. However, pulling a film in a blatant mode of censorship is not going to bring these women back. The energy put into stopping the film which actually treats the prostitute with more respect than most accepted Hollywood movies do, it should be put into pushing the police to do more about solving these missing persons cases and giving justice to the women involved. Maybe all the controversy around Dead Hooker in a Trunk will actually make people stop and think and do something about the ACTUAL problem. Here's hoping so.
Anyhoo, thanks to John Allison (the man behind The Dark Bridges Film Festival who were showing the film) he has managed to secure a different venue, same time, same date (the birthday of moi, Rondo Hatton, Bettie Page and Daniel Johns of Silverchair...and Earth Day), however just at The Broadway Theatre in Saskatoon instead. People in the area be sure to get out there and support Team Soska and also TEAM ANTI-CENSORSHIP!
So yay, thanks to everyone who signed my petition. Let's keep it going as well. I still think The Roxy Theatre need to realise just how close minded their decision was. Also, check out what Jen and Sylvia have to say on their blog here!
Last but not least I urge you to futher support Dead Hooker in a Trunk in all it's madness and pre-order a copy of the DVD from Amazon.com. Do it, you know you want to! ;) xx
I can never thank you enough for everything you have done to support our film. An indie like this usually can only make it so far due to its modest budget, but the horror community gave it legs and a reach I could have never dreamed of.
ReplyDeleteIt was very upsetting that the first Canadian screening outside of my hometown (Vancouver) banned the film on title alone. The sad situation is that prostitutes are killed the world over and many times, their murders go ignored. How couldn't be frustrated with that? But to turn that frustration on a Canadian made independent that actually humanizes the title character is a misdirection of their efforts.
I hope that this incident got enough attention in the area to get the focus to where it should be - the murder victims and their families.
Thank you, Jennifer, for the beautiful, well-spoken words, the petition to raise awareness on what was happening, and all the little things you do all the time that make me love you more. I'm so happy that the film will be playing at the Broadway Theater, but saddened that there was no reasoning with Tom Hutchinson of the Roxy Theater.
Can't win them all, but in a way, this time it feels like we won very big indeed.
Jen you are most welcome. Anything I can do to help. This whole situation has been total madness, I'm just glad that you are still getting to show your DEAD HOOKER in Saskatoon. Teehee, that name still makes me laugh. I loved Mike's comments about how you just made up that name, made me giggle.
ReplyDeleteAlso this whole situation has brought my attention to a serial killer I was completely unaware of, so I get some geeky education out of it too! ;) xx