POOKA
 

Pooka: a mythical figure or imaginary friend that wreaks havoc
 

Tag Line:  'Abigail throws the biggest party of the year but only invites herself.'

Synopsis:
This is the tender, tragicomic coming of age story of Abigail Cooke, or Pooka, as her dad calls her.  To make her once popular parents believe she fits in, a desperate Pooka creates fake friends and fake friends' parents with the aid of a homeless woman.  When her parents go away for the weekend the house gets trashed during the biggest house party of the year.  Total attendance:  one lonely teenage girl.
 

The Story:
Sometimes, for whatever reason, children feel they cannot talk to their parents or their teachers.  Tragically, Abigail cannot come to admit to her parents that she is unhappy for fear of disappointing them.  Instead, she concocts a fictional life of popularity to make her parents believe she is happy.
 
I think we all feel alone with no one to turn to at times.  We observe Pooka in moments of heart-wrenching sadness and liberating rebellion as she navigates the social life of being a teenager.  Ultimately, Pooka wins our hearts through her unique perspective and independent spirit.
 

Talent:
I have been blessed with a wealth of talent interested in collaborating on Pooka.  Katie Boland has been amazing.  She has brought Maria del Mar and Aidan Devine (schedule dependent) on board.  Megan Follows has expressed interest in playing Rosey.  Maria and Katie star as mother and daughter in a new show out this fall on CityTV called 'Terminal City'.  It's really a dream cast and I am so excited about the opportunity to collaborate with them.

Crew:

Kiarash Sadigh will be my cinematographer (see his brief bio on our website htttp://www.choroidfilms.com/kiarashsadigh).  We have worked well together three times now (2 feature films and one short) and I have the utmost respect for him and his abilities.  

 Comic book art:

Two well-known and respected Toronto artists are collaborating on the comic book diary aspect of the story:  

Michael Cho (http://chodrawings.blogspot.com/ )

Diana Tamblyn ( http://www.tamblyn.blogspot.com/)

They will use there incredible artistic talents to portray Abigail's inner struggles through her diary drawings.

Soundtrack:
I am also grateful to have interest from the following local musicians: 

Sook-Yin Lee (Sweet Dreams Get Up) 

Anjulie (Bang a Drum)

Ronley Teper (Cornered in the Alley)

Lenni Jabour (A Little Sad)

Hunter Eves (Tic Tac Box Aquarium)

Lindi Ortega (Oh Dear)

I am also in talks with Nelly Furtado's management and EMI about the possibility of using her song 'Maneater' 

They are all talented and eclectic Toronto musicians that suit this film so well.  If you want to hear samples of their music, search them on myspace.com.  They will give you a good idea of the film's tone.