The twentieth Whistler Film Festival summit kicks off December 1, and on that note, you’re possibly in line to screen Sam Flamont’s feature debut, Mercy. The new prison drama will be made available beginning December 11 with tickets now available, and stars Logan Mainil, Bryan Englund and Shawn Koch, and if you look closer, you’ll even spot Jason Truong as one of the supporting cast.
Check out the trailer above and read on!
Shot in Regina, and financed by the Telefilm Talent Fund, this is an astute first feature from Sam Flamon about a young man named Finn who is sent to a medium security prison for six months for killing a wounded deer. Finn is a quiet boy who likes to keep to himself, but there are some very scary fellows in the prison., including big hairy men who threaten the lives and the sexuality of their fellow inmates.
Soon after arriving, Finn meets M, a charismatic inmate that Finn immediately bonds with, who shows him the ropes. Finn runs afoul of Tony, a violent predator who doesn’t take it kindly when Finn dares to ward off his advances.
Shot in the square 1:33 ratio, MERCY is an old-fashioned guy-in-prison movie that may recall SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION in the minds of some viewers.. The cast is multiracial, with Indigenous, black and Asian actors. In fact, producer Dawn Bird, with roots in Nelson, BC works as an Indigenous actor when not producing Regina based films for others. Shawn Koch who plays the scary Tony character actually made another movie this year with lead Logan Mainil called CAGEFIGHTER.
With MERCY, there are frequent cutaways to open fields and scenes from Finn’s past, so the film does not feel overly claustrophobic given its subject matter. Finn’s search for inner peace culminates in a rousing indigenous song and dance ceremony. Like all good prison movies, MERCY is as much about the search for internal peace as for external liberation.