format:35mm, Colour, English
running time:Feature Film
writer:Kirk Todd Kelin
director:Shani Grewal
producers:Trish Dolman, Christine Haebler (Terminal City
Pictures),Carlo Dusi (POV/Aria Films), Shani Grewal (Balhar Films)
development financing:Movie Central, Telefilm,
BC Film, COGECO
Status:Final Draft

You can ignore the past but you can’t escape it.

Gordon Teamoh’s (32) life changed the day he helped his brother drown. Now in jail on a charge of first–degree murder, Gord is forced to reveal and confront the disturbing family secrets buried within a faÁade of suburban normality.

On the surface Gord’s life is comfortably average. He has a nice home, steady job, good friends and, together with his wife Diane, a 5–year old son – Adam – whom they adore. Gord shares a close relationship with his diabetic brother Jim (29) and their mother Kate (55) who is a nurse.

During a party for Adam’s 5th Birthday, Gord notices a dark figure standing on the sidewalk staring in at them. Later that night he receives a mysterious and unnerving phone call. When Gord picks Adam up from school the following day he is shocked to see his younger brother – Sean (27) - walking along the street. Sean is an alcoholic who, several years earlier, fled to Mexico after he was charged with the statutory rape of a 14–year old boy. To return home Sean has made a deal with the courts to get off the booze, enter rehab and join an anger management programme. Gord and Sean have a deeply complex love/hate relationship. After their reunion Sean wants to see his nephew Adam but, given his past, Gord refuses.

With alarming speed Gord’s uneventful life begins to unravel: Diane is offered a prestigious job that would require the family to move away from his beloved Tiger Lake; Jim’s behavior becomes disturbingly erratic; Sean’s threatening outbursts are impossible to deal with; and a mysterious rash has surfaced on Adam’s body.

When the doctor reveals the rash to be a symptom of AIDS and 5–year–old Adam is diagnosed as HIV positive the Teamohs’ world is torn apart. How could this happen to an innocent boy? Gord’s search for the person responsible will lead him to reveal painful truths about himself and his family and with tragic consequences beyond his darkest nightmares.

A Canada-UK Co-production with POV Films.