The Fruit Machine

What an incredible gift this morning to all of us, especially the Purge survivors. Dear Sarah and team: I am a musician from North Bay, Ontario. About a year and a half ago, I saw a screening of The Fruit Machine at the North Bay Film Festival. I was deeply moved (and of course distressed) by the stories the courageous people in your documentary told. ... Being a songwriter, I was immediately inspired to write a folk-style ballad that tells the story in summary, using a composite character. That song has now been released, so I thought it might be of interest to you to know that your very valuable and wonderfully produced work inspired another piece of art that attempts to help tell this important story. I’m by no means famous or anything like that, so I’m not expecting my song to add much to the impact, but I do feel this topic brought out some of my best work. Just thought you might like to know about it. Thanks for making the film. Allister Thompson

If you have burned through Tiger King and are looking for more documentary content, catch an airing of The Fruit Machine tonight on TVO at 10pm EST.

Saying hello to the new visitors finding their way to our community page thanks to TVOs social campaign to share the film. Welcome! Many of the film's featured voices are active on this page, together with purge survivors from across Canada - if you have any questions or comments on the film, please feel free to share.

Happy to share that we are programmed as part of the 2020 Salt Spring Film Festival!

Excellent interview on CBC's The House this morning with Michelle Douglas

Some nice follow-up from our Kelowna screening: The screening of The Fruit Machine last night was moving. It was an immensely powerful film. Not many were left with dry eyes. Thank you for letting us screen the film here and allowing us to have a small part in sharing the stories you had captured in the film. Kind regards,... Mark Paterson Educational Programming See more

For those interested, TVO now offers the hour-long cutdown version of The Fruit Machine on YouTube.

A friendly reminder from TVO! Tonight the feature-length version will be broadcast starting at 9pm EST. Happy Pride.

Coverage from Athens regarding our upcoming screening on Thursday. Athens Pride -