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I'm Just Here for the Riot film image

I'm Just Here for the Riot

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On June 15, 2011, we witnessed Vancouverites’ capacity for anarchy. Hours after the Vancouver Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, there was panic in the streets, shattered glass on the sidewalks, and smoke and pepper spray in the air as rioters left police cars ablaze and laid waste to blocks of downtown. As thousands of smartphone photos were posted online in the wake of the mayhem, social media platforms became the equivalent of old-fashioned “Wanted” posters. It turned out that concerned citizens’ handheld devices had unwittingly turned them into Big Brother.

In this absorbing documentary, Kathleen S. Jayme (The Grizzlie Truth) and Asia Youngman revisit the events of that chaotic night through interviews with the likes of Roberto Luongo, Jon Ronson, and Alexandra Samuel, and track down several of the then-young offenders who became the poster children for the riots and paid mightily for their misdeeds. In doing so, they make the compelling argument that mob mentalities flourish as readily and destructively online as they do in the streets.

 

October 2 & 5: Q&A with directors Kathleen S. Jayme & Asia Youngman & crew

Directors
Credits
Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2023

Series

Special Presentations

Language

English

Film Contact
Content Warning

Coarse Language, Violence, Nudity

PG
78 min
Documentary Women Directors

Book Tickets

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Credits

Executive Producer

Asia Youngman, Kathleen S. Jayme, Marsha Cooke, John Dahl, Rob King, Brian Lockhart, Burke Magnus

Producer

Michael Tanko Grand, James Brown, Gentry Kirby, Mike Johnston

Cinematography

Kaayla Whachell

Editor

Greg Ng, Katie Chipperfield

Production Design

Ryan MacInnes

Original Music

Taylor Swindells, Jordan Klassen

Art Director

Matt Carson

Directors

Kathleen S. Jayme headshot

Kathleen S. Jayme

Kathleen Jayme is an award-winning Filipina-Canadian filmmaker. Her short Finding Big Country won the Audience Award at VIFF (2018), as did her first feature film The Grizzlie Truth (winner of the 2019 TIFF Pitch This! Competition) three years later. Her sophomore feature (co-directed with Asia Youngman), I’m Just Here for the Riot, is an ESPN 30/30 that had its World Premiere at Hot Docs 2023. Kathleen has gone on to direct for the NBA, CBC, NFB, and ESPN.

Filmography: Finding Big Country (2018); The Grizzlie Truth (2022)

Asia Youngman headshot

Asia Youngman

Asia Youngman is an award-winning Indigenous filmmaker from Vancouver, Canada. Some of her previous short films include This Ink Runs Deep (2019) and N’xaatikw (2022) which both premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Her first feature-length documentary I’m Just Here For The Riot (2023) is part of ESPN’s acclaimed 30 for 30 series.

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