Happy FKN Sunshine

Happy FKN Sunshine is a story about the last chapter in the life cycle of an industrial town told through the eyes of the town’s working-class youth. Northern Ontario and Manitoba (Canada) are littered with small towns that sprung up around pulp and paper mills in the heyday of the mid-late 20th century forestry industry. People flocked to these towns on the promise of stable high paying jobs and a real future for themselves and their children. But the economy changed in the 1990’s and many mills began closing. Suddenly, many of the children of the millworkers found themselves without the chance of the bright future that their parents once thought they had.

The plot of Happy FKN Sunshine is simple: Will and Ronnie, the teenage children of a millworker, start their first band while the mill is on strike and the town’s entire economy is collapsing. Music is their refuge. Inspired by the band’s chemistry and their growing popularity on social media they increasingly see music as the path to a life otherwise unattainable. Thematically, the film is a character drama about music’s power to provide comfort and a sense of purpose in otherwise impossible circumstances.

The entirety of the soundtrack of the film is music that the characters listen to and the music that they make as a band. It is a rich blend of punk, country, electronic, rock, and metal ranging from the 1970’s to contemporary pieces. The songs the band performs are entirely original and were written for the film. When the band plays their music the audience experiences the same sense of sanctuary as the characters. Cinematographer Clement Lush and writer/producer Ryan Keller spent a large part of their careers working together filming bands for documentaries, music videos, and television and drew upon the repertoire of strategies to realistically convey the connection among musicians that arises through the act of making music.

It was incredibly important to the filmmaking team that all details, from the dialogue and locations to the background performers, felt authentically like Northern Ontario. Hence, the film was shot entirely on location in North Bay, Ontario. To further capture the authenticity of the story, the actors playing the band and their relatives are Northern Ontarians. The adult characters are played by an ensemble of industry veterans recognizable from numerous film and television productions. The younger cast are newcomers who were found through an extensive casting process and who worked under the guidance of director Derek Diorio to create powerful debut performances.