World Premiere – Whistler Film Festival
A big dream can carry you through life—as long as it comes with a killer soundtrack
HARKNESS
A film by Maria Markina
World Premiere Screening
Saturday, December 7
3:00pm
Village 8 Cinemas – Screen 2
PRESS RELEASE
Turn up the volume! The world premiere of HARKNESS — a raw, electric look at elusive musician Harkness — is set to shake up the Whistler Film Festival on Saturday, December 7. Written and Directed by Maria Markina along with Producer Ed Barreveld of Storyline Entertainment, this high-voltage feature documentary hits the screen at 3:00pm at Village 8 Cinemas – Screen 2.
HARKNESS tracks the highs, lows, and comebacks of Harkness, a musician with a self-guided mission for rock stardom. From his high school band days in Toronto to the legendary clubs of London, Harkness was always “the one who was going to make it.”
A journey into music and identity began with a turbulent period in the late 80’s when Harkness had a bad acid episode during his teenage years—a spiral that set the tone for a life lived on the edge of convention. This period inspired his unique, ‘self-free’ stage persona: he performs in a flowing purple gown, hood, and oversized visor, obscuring his face and deflecting identity. As he explains in the film, “When there is the absence of self, there is this oneness that is innocent and loving – but having an ego is the psychosis.”
After a determined attempt to break into the music scene in London, and disillusioned and frustrated by the rigid rules of the music industry, Harkness retreated from the scene entirely. For decades, he disappeared into his mother’s basement, converting it into a state-of-the-art studio and becoming a mystery figure dedicated to creating his own music. Now, 20-years later, he’s coming out swinging with a power-pop album he’s convinced will be his ticket to the big time. Is the world still waiting for Harkness?
Come for the music, stay for the story.
Produced with the Participation of Canada Media Fund, Ontario Creates, Rogers Telefund, with the assistance of Hot Docs-Slaight Family Fund, with the support from Doc Institute Breakthrough Rogers CBC Award, with the cooperation of the Canadian Federation of Musicians, film and television tax credit assistance from the Government of Ontario, funded by the Government of Canada, produced in association with documentary Channel.