Kitchen Party

Colour, 35 mm
Canada, 1997, 84 min
Section: Forum of Independents

Synopsis

On one side of town, teenager Scott is giving a party in the kitchen of his parent’s house. On the other side his parents are getting drunk at another party: in fact, with the parents of his friends. Scott is giving his party in the kitchen, because the rest of the house is obsessively clean and has to stay that way - actually as proof for his parents that no parties are going on when they are not home. While Scott and his friends drink and chat, his anti-social older brother and rival Steve listens to hard rock in the cellar. It is not long before all kinds of disasters start happening: someone falls backwards on the fanatically vacuumed carpet. Scott’s girl runs away with the evil brother. One of Scott’s friends smashes his father’s car. The parents start quarreling because one of them suggest that the host’s son might be gay. A gun appears on the scene. The grass golf course is destroyed. And a small tangle of pubic hair is discovered... A comedy about parties, teenagers, parents, obsessively clean homes, smashed cars, evil brothers and pubic hair. 

About the director

Gary Burns (b. 1960, Calgary) is a writer, director and producer, was born in Calgary on April 18, 1960. He studied literature and fine arts and graduated in film studies at Concordia University in Calgary in 1992. He has made several short films. His directorial debut, The Suburbanators, was a critical success at the 1995 Toronto Film Festival. After his second film, Kitchen Party, he came to be considered one of Canada’ s most interesting young directors. Films: Happy Valley (1992, short), Beerland (1993, short), Turtleheads (1993, short), The Suburbanators (1995), Kitchen Party (1997), Fuck Coke (1999, short), Waydowntown (2000), My Life as a Movie (2003, TV), A Problem with Fear (2003).