The Calgary International Film Festival’s 2016 Closing Gala film is CHOKESLAM. Directed and co-written by Calgary filmmaker and CIFF alumnus Robert Cuffley, CHOKESLAM is a comedy about wrestling, life after high school, and lost love. Tickets are $35 and include an after-party at Workshop Kitchen + Culture.

Director Robert Cuffley, cast members Michael Eklund, Niall Matter & Agram Darshi, producer Carolyn McMaster, screenwriter Jason Long, and moderator Ron Scott in attendance! 

Corey Swanson has problems. He's almost 30, still lives in his mom’s basement, doesn’t date, and his career amounts to slicing meat in an archaic deli that no one ever comes to – unless they want to rob it. After a chance encounter with a popular former classmate, Corey learns that his high school crush Sheena Halliday will soon be in town for their 10-year reunion.

Sheena, now a world-famous athlete, has been dubbed "the Lindsay Lohan of the wrestling world". She twists and pounds people into oblivion for a living – the same thing she did to Cory’s heart back in high school. Corey puts his broken heart (and punched face) aside, and with the help of his new friend, he helps Sheena bring her act to the small town she left years ago.

Shot in Saskatchewan and starring Chris Marquette, Amanda Crew, Michael Eklund and Mick Foley, the latest feature film from Calgary director Robert Cuffley and producer Carolyn McMaster is a comedic tale of reconnecting with your high school crush, and the perils of dating a female wrestler with a bad temper.