What is the film about?

In 1922, a young boy named Sonny works in an underground coal mine with a group of adult miners. He takes care of the caged canary which the men use to detect deadly methane gas.

Hoping to escape the dark and dank underground, the boy teaches his bird to play dead. The clever prank sends the panicked miners to the surface, where Sonny and the canary enjoy playing in the sunlight.

When the boy naively ignores the dangers of the game he is playing, it leads to a tragedy he may never recover from.

A little background information...

“Many people aren’t aware of the fact that canaries were used in underground coal mines as recently as 1986.

These incredibly fragile creatures can detect dangers that we humans cannot even perceive — we find this quite amazing. But then we used their delicate sensitivities and exposed them to some of the harshest environments in the world against their will, much like the children who were also forced to work in the mines.

What if one of these coal mine canaries had developed a friendship with a child miner?

It was imagining the existence of this special bond between a young boy and his bird, both trapped within this extremely fraught setting, both striving for an improved situation, that was the genesis of our story. It is a story we have been determined to tell for nearly ten years now. We hope it resonates with you as strongly as it does for us.

-PH & Ben