The Archivists
2020 · 14m · Canada
Directed by Igor Drljaca
Tones: contemplative, melancholic
In a future where past art has been banned, three itinerant musicians discover a degraded vinyl record and attempt to resurrect one of its songs from memory and fragments.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Forbidden song turns out to be 'Smalltown Boy' in a dystopia — okay, that's a real punch in the chest, not just a logline. Drljaca and Noah Reid won't squander it.
Drljaca with Connor Jessup and Albert Shin producing, Noah Reid starring, and 'Smalltown Boy' as the forbidden artifact — this is exactly the kind of dystopian conceit that risks preciousness but is anchored by a genuinely devastating song choice. The Bronski Beat detail is the formal masterstroke.
Noah Reid (Schitt's Creek) leading a 14-minute dystopian short with Casey MQ on score and Christopher Lew shooting — that's a craft-loaded crew. The reveal that the forbidden song is Bronski Beat's 'Smalltown Boy' is the kind of needle-drop that earns its own emotional logic.
Festivals
- TIFF 2020
- TIFF Canada's Top 10 2020