Director: Aaron Houston
Cast: Patrick Gilmore, Kacey Rohl, Ben Cotton, Amitai Marmorstein
Country: Canada
Language: English

Movies like “Sunflower Hour” are why I love Cinequest so much. It’s well-made, nothing like the movies Hollywood turns out, and frequently made me gape at the screen before collapsing in astonished laughter.

Mockumentaries are a delightful genre when they’re done right, and this one is definitely done right. It brings us the dark underbelly of children’s television, taking us behind the scenes of a contest to find the newest puppteer for popular kids’ show “Sunflower Hour.” The gal running the contest is married to the sleazy, horrible producer of the show, and uses it as a way to get revenge, bringing the four weirdest and most inappropriate puppeteers from the preliminary auditions to a final round on the show itself.

We meet David, a sweet but very neurotic and bullied young man with a real gift; Satan’s Spawn, a teenage goth who auditions to “make a point;” Leslie, a devout Christian who wants to use the show as a platform for God’s Word; and Shamus, whose relationship with his puppet is anything but healthy.

The actors are all solid, committing to their characters’ lunacy a hundred and ten percent. As with the best mockumentaries, the cinematography is a character in itself. This is a top-notch film, and one hopes that it will be one of the handful of Cinequest films that get wider distribution each year. It deserves it.

“Sunflower Hour” makes “Avenue Q” look like “Sesame Street,” and is not for the faint of heart or the uptight of humor. This is a no-holds-barred dive into the seediest of shows, and nobody will escape with their innocence intact.

Showtimes:

3/3 5:00 PM Camera 12
3/4 9:15 PM Camera 12
3/8 11:30 AM Camera 12