By John Corrado

Nathaniel Chadwick in The Last Porno Show

Kire Paputts’ The Last Porno Show was set to open in theatres for a limited run at the Carlton Cinema in Toronto at the end of March. But mere weeks before that could happen, all of the theatres were shut down due to COVID-19 and the release was cancelled, throwing the film’s distribution plans into disarray.

The film is now set to receive a proper VOD release in a few weeks. But before that happens, writer/director Papputs has decided to make his film available to stream for free on Vimeo this weekend from May 1st to 3rd (the link is embedded below), and I admire his reasoning that he laid out to me in an email regarding the decision; people are stuck at home now anyways looking for things to watch, and getting his film seen is the most important thing at this point.

I reviewed The Last Porno Show during TIFF last year, where the film had its world premiere, and liked it a lot. The film follows a struggling actor, Wayne (Nathanael Chadwick), who inherits a rundown porno theatre after his estranged father Al (Christian Aldo) dies. Wayne initially plans to sell the property, but starts to morph into a version of his father the more time that he spends in the building, as he comes to terms with his unusual upbringing. It goes without saying that the film features some extremely mature sexual content and won’t be for everyone. You can read my full review from the festival here.

This is a small Canadian film, the sort that usually benefits from the publicity that comes with a theatrical release, but making it available online in this circumstance is the right thing to do. Check it out, give it a chance. It’s free this weekend, after all.