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Flashback

Flashback

PETER HAYS | CANADA | 2024 | 90 MIN | ENGLISH

PETER HAYS | CANADA | 2024 | 90 MIN | ENGLISH

DocumentaryMADE AU CANADA

Synopsis

The rediscovery of a neon sign transports us back to when disco was queen and Edmonton’s Flashback club became “the Studio 54 of the Prairies.” Through years of violent raids and the encroachment of AIDS like wildfire, the club and its members nourished an open-hearted, fashion-forward oasis. Created and narrated by Montreal teacher and writer Matthew Hays, Flashback is an insider’s take on how a nightlife “melting pot” defied expectations of “the most Bible Belt-y place in Canada” and rose to international fame. Told he wasn’t gay enough to enter Club 70, Albertan John Reid endeavoured to create his own welcoming space: equal parts state-of-the-art discotheque, record store, and community hub. There, queer youth blossomed and Gretzky and Sarah McLachlan partied. Twirl to the soaring vocals of D’orjay and hip bump with those who were there through clouds of perfume and poppers, while getting a fascinating primer on how the club’s designers calibrated disco music for a custom-built dancefloor. Even when Flashback eventually lost its blissed-out exuberance during the AIDS epidemic, it gave much in return: a relief in a maelstrom and a social conscience for the fights to come.

Trailer

Filmmaker Bio

Peter Hays is an award-winning writer/director/producer of unscripted television series and feature films made for Canadian and American broadcasters and distributors. The former journalist lives in Calgary, Alberta where his company Tangerine Productions Ltd. is focused on telling essential human stories with universal appeal.

Director's Statement

I started as a reporter in newspapers then TV news, and have been working in film and television for the past three decades. During the darks days of COVID I decided to start making films of my own ideas, through my company Tangerine Productions Ltd. This allows me to conceive and execute the films that I want to make, in the way I want to make them. It's quite wonderful. This is my first feature film.

Producer

Bradley Warren

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