As the last coal mine in Cape Breton prepares to close, bringing to an end a 300-year tradition, men in a world-renowned choir of working and retired coal miners sing passionately about lives spent deep underground. The camera plunges through narrow tunnels that wind 12 miles under the sea to the heart of the mine, revealing the camaraderie that's forged by hard physical labour and danger, before it rises again to portray the daily lives of the men's families and communities on the surface. The men's powerful voices shape the film, memorializing those lost in past mining disasters and capturing the rhythms of Cape Breton's musical soul. Empowering, inspiring and elegiac to a passing way of life, Men of the Deeps reveals director John Walker's profound respect for the love between working men in this celebration of their humour, wisdom and relationships. Lynne Fernie
A 25-minute discussion with the director will follow the screening.
Co-presented with The Royal Conservatory of Music.