After the Second World War, Canada, and much of the Western world, became preoccupied with national security. Against the backdrop of Cold War paranoia, Canada began investigating federal employees who might be susceptible to blackmail by Soviet spies.
Homosexuality, then considered a “character weakness,” (along with drunkenness and adultery), was grounds for surveillance and interrogation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, under the directive of the newly-established Security Panel.
It was one of the largest bullying campaigns in Canada’s history. The miasma of despair born in those pop-up interrogation rooms has long-paralyzed these public servants and military members. This is their film. A film about the systematic dismissal of homosexual public servants in Canada from the 1950s through 1980s; a story rooted in hope and a country’s struggle to do the right thing.
The Fruit Machine_2019 Updated Trailer from SandBay Entertainment Inc. on Vimeo.
