Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.

Mary is a rising star at a big city, clickbait website. So what’s she doing in a small town in December? She’s chasing a story about the true meaning of Christmas… if it still exists. The village is like a simulacrum of a long gone era, where people dress in red and green and people still say “gosh” and “golly”. A young man dressed like an elf, and a kindly old woman are there to help anyone who asks. And after Mary’s  run-in with Chris, the cocoa-shop owner, it looks like true love. But not everything is as it seems. Dirty words start creeping into the town’s vocabulary, and that kindly old lady… is actually a white supremacist! Worst of all, Chris’s cocoa shop faces eviction on Christmas Eve unless he can come up with the rent. Can Mary save the day? Or will a cup of cheer turn to weak tea?

Cup of Cheer is a Christmas comedy that uses social satire to poke fun at our notions of the holidays and small town life. It takes cliches and twists them around till they’re almost unrecognizable, and uses sketch-comedy humour to keep it rolling.  Cup of Cheer is the work of Toronto-based, award-winning TV and film writer/director Jake Horowitz. Jake’s work has premiered at festivals worldwide, his features have reached #1 at the Canadian box office and are available on Prime, Crave, and Super Channel.

I spoke with Jake in Toronto via Zoom.

Cup of Cheer is now streaming in Canada on CBC Gem.