Lucas Anders interviews Jacqueline Doorey (director) about her documentary THE HOCKEY PLAYER. You can see the Canadian Premiere at the Metro Cinema on Friday June 26th at 8:30PM. This red-carpet event will feature a VIP reception, Guests (Luke Prokop, Jacqueline Doorey and more) and more as they celebrate an important and deeply personal hockey story in the city that helped shape it.

Shot over the last five years, The Hockey Player follows Canadian-born defenseman Luke Prokop as he decides to become the first — and still only — professional athlete playing under contract to an NHL team to come out as gay. Growing up in Edmonton steeped in Canada’s tough, often homophobic hockey culture, and playing without gay role models throughout professional sports, Luke’s path to coming out of the closet has been neither easy nor obvious. The film charts Prokop’s personal journey against the backdrop of a professional hockey industry that has had, at best, an ambivalent relationship to diversity. As the film sensitively reveals, being publicly out certainly came as an earthquake to his family, especially his father Al, who as Luke’s mentor and sometime coach represents the most complex and moving relationship in the film.

TIX & INFO: https://metrocinema.org/event/the-hockey-player/
DISTRIBUTION: https://www.uppercanadafilms.ca/ourwork
INSTAGRAM: @jackydoorey
@lukeprokop_
@uppercanadafilms

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Christian Zyp interviews Corey Payette (writer/director/composer) about the feature film STARWALKER. It will be screening as part of the Rainbow Visions Film Festival at Metro Cinema on Saturday June 20th at 9:15pm.

STARWALKER is a luminous celebration of Indigenous and queer resilience — a love letter to self-expression, chosen family, and the unapologetic joy of authenticity. Bursting with music, movement, and spirit, it’s a dazzling journey from pain to pride, and from survival to radiant self-love. In the beating heart of East Vancouver’s drag scene, Star, a Two-Spirit Indigiqueer performer, struggles to rise above the city’s shadows and claim their true identity. Lost and longing for belonging, Star finds refuge in the glittering world of the House of Borealis, a chosen family of bold and brilliant drag artists led by the radiant Mother Borealis. Surrounded by sequins, light, and sisterhood, Star begins to transform — discovering the healing power of performance and the courage to embrace who they truly are.

TIX & INFO: https://metrocinema.org/event/starwalker-rvff/
WEBSITE: https://www.starwalkerfilm.com/
INSTAGRAM: @starwalkerfilm
@coreypayatte

Christian Zyp interviews Siobhan McCarthy (director/writer/editor) about their feature film directorial debut SHE'S THE HE. It screens as of Rainbow Visions Film Festival on Saturday June 20th at 6:30pm at Metro Cinema.

SHE’S THE HE is an outrageous, uproarious, teen comedy for the ages. Before graduation, Ethan and Alex decide to pose as trans women in a last-ditch effort to quell gay rumours. It’s all a joke until Ethan realizes she really is trans. The two must reckon with their changing friendship, coming out, and coming-of-age. In the tradition of the wild and raunchy 80’s teen sex comedies.

TIX: https://www.showpass.com/shes-the-he/
WEBSITE: https://www.rainbowvisions.ca/
INSTAGRAM: @obscuredreleasing
@rvffyeg