Night Work: A Sawchuk Poem

Dir. Justin Simms / Canada / 5:00 / Fiction
A poignant reflection of hockey legend Terry Sawchuk, this dramatic short underscores his lasting impression on a young man in a small Newfoundland town, to whom he is both hero and human.

What Moving Stories Films Advisors Are Saying…
This [film] did what you hope a dramatization will do: expand into the unsaid bits of the poem to bring an even bigger experience to the viewer -Anne Collins, Publisher

ABOUT THE FILM: “I was attracted to the work because it’s rife with incredible powerful imagery right from the first page,” states JUSTIN SIMMS, St. John’s-based Director of NIGHT WORK: A SAWCHUK POEM by long-time Corner Brook resident RANDALL MAGGS. “For ten years, Randy immersed himself in the cult and culture of hockey in the early days of the sport, before they wore much equipment, before a goalie wore a mask. What kind of man puts himself in the path of a rubber missile travelling straight to his head at the velocity of a Bobby Hull shot? That’s what we explore in the film.”

Justin called on his colleague, award-winning talent GREG SPOTTISWOOD to adapt the screenplay from the book. For the BookShort film, they delve into the mythology of the man as sports legend, but also touch upon the very human side of Sawchuk, who suffered from untreated depression and died at the age of 40 after a scuffle with a teammate.

ABOUT THE BOOK: Randall Maggs NIGHT WORK: THE SAWCHUK POEMS is published by BRICK BOOKS. The book is a collection of poems that draws the reader inside the complex personality of Terry Sawchuk, and follows him through the triumphs and failures of his twenty-year NHL career. In this epic prose poem that reads like a novel but is based on true fact, Maggs tells the story of the man, and of the game itself.

Film Info Sheet

Based on a poem in Night Work: The Sawchuk Poems
By Randall Maggs
Brick Books
ISBN 978-1894078627