Underplayed Gems

Moose Jaw: There's a Future in Our Past (1992)

Moose Jaw: There's a Future in Our Past poster
Original title
Moose Jaw: There’s a Future in Our Past
Directed by
Rick Hancox
Country
Canada
Runtime
57 min
Rating
7.0 of 10 from 1 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A filmmaker returns to his childhood home in Moose Jaw Saskatchewan and finds the city changed by economic decline. He reflects on his past through boarded up houses and a closed train station.

personalreflectivenostalgicmelancholicquietobservationalbittersweet

What happens

Moose Jaw: There's a Future in Our Past is a Canadian mid-length documentary film, written and directed by Rick Hancox and released in 1992. A personal essay film, it details his reflections on his childhood in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and the ways that the changing Canadian economy of the 1980s and early 1990s had greatly damaged the city by the time he returned for a visit in adulthood, including his own childhood house having been abandoned and boarded up, the city's train station having been closed due to the decline of rail travel, and the city having "museumified" itself by erecting the Mac the Moose statue as a tourist attraction. The film premiered in the Canadian Perspective program at the 1992 Toronto International Film Festival, where it received an honorable mention from the Best Canadian Short Film award jury. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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