Nov 29, 2023
Hurry Up & Wait: Monarch Documentary
Nov 18, 2023
Midnight Madness & Kitschy Thrift Shop Finds
Last night was Midnight Madness in downtown Medicine Hat, Alberta, and over the last couple years, this has become one of my new favourite Christmas traditions. Mostly, it's an excuse to snack and shop, but in addition to a few great visuals (like the balloon glow) we've made a habit of using the event as an excuse to find thrifty treasures around downtown.
If you're wondering where all of your grandparents' kitschy gems ended up - last night I bought 'em all! I am a sucker for vintage books, film, travel souvenirs, photography, etc.
A few of my finds included more VHS, 45s, and 8 tracks. I also found a handful of location-based glassware, your grandma's spoon collection from around North America, and a handful of vintage travel guides - including the official photo book of the torch relay from the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, the guidebook from the Tower of London gift shop, and a 1966 travel guide of Pompeii (100% in Italian). And what did my total come to for all of these incredibly rare historic artifacts? A whopping $18 for the night. It was a lot of fun.
Oct 15, 2023
Vintage Monarch Theatre Movie Ad Prints: Series 2
This second collection is a follow up to the first series of vintage movie ad prints created as part of the production for Your Cinema Needs You about the Monarch Theatre in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Full details on this new collection here. Also, here.
Sep 19, 2023
Monarch Theatre Has Finally Been Sold
Aug 28, 2023
Vintage Monarch Theatre Movie Ad Prints: Series 1
Part limited-edition print release, part official merch drop for my upcoming documentary, today I released a collection of 10 cardstock prints featuring custom-restored movie ads from the Monarch Theatre in Medicine Hat, Alberta.
Created as part of the production for "Your Cinema Needs You", the soon to be released feature-length documentary about Canada's oldest surviving cinema, these prints feature stylized ads spanning the Monarch Theatre's history from the silent era up into the 1980s.
Each print is 5x7" and is printed on a heavy cardstock, matte laminated on the image side, and features the documentary film logo and description on the reverse. These prints were restored from uncovered negatives, were custom edited and stylized for "Your Cinema Needs You", and each one specifically references the Monarch Theatre and just some of the notable films that played there - because of this process, this collection does not exist anywhere else.
The collection of 10 prints is available for $60 and includes a free pop & popcorn enamel pin set in addition to free shipping. Full details for this flash sale are on the Editing Luke Facebook page as of today (while stock lasts).
Prints in series one include: Silent Era 1, Charlie Chaplin, Silent Era 2, Wizard of OZ, King Kong, Gone With the Wind, Mid-Century 1, Mid-Century 2, Jaws, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Aug 17, 2023
Medalta Documentary: Tourism Feature
My thanks to Tourism Medicine Hat for their feature on my documentary about Medalta Potteries and the historic clay district this week. The documentary is titled Clay, Creativity & the Comeback and was released in 2019. Read more about that project here.
Aug 3, 2023
Film On Monarch Theatre History Complete
With the documentary on the Monarch Theatre (Your Cinema Needs You) finally wrapped, it's now all about working out the details for a premiere and the much anticipated release. This story appeared in the Medicine Hat News today following the official announcement on the film's completion just a few days ago online. Full article here.
Jul 30, 2023
One Last Chapter: Monarch Documentary
It has been one year and seven months to the day - 577 days to be exact - since I made an announcement about the Monarch Theatre, a signed production agreement, and the new feature-length documentary I had going into production at the start of 2022.
Deciding to uncover the story about a potentially significant old cinema is one thing, but you can't really appreciate just how long 112 years actually is until you find yourself face to face with what a single newspaper archive spanning that timeframe looks like up close - and worse, just how sparse the clues in those archives are when the subject you've chosen to focus on is a seldom written about single screen movie house in the middle of the Canadian prairies.What can I say though? I do love movies and the places that show them.
It's honestly been a dream to explore, document, interview, contextualize, and uncover artifacts in connection to a cinematic landmark that (let's be honest) the vast majority of Canadians have understandably never heard of before. There's something exciting about knowing you've found your hook though, a point that only became reinforced when just a month into production the announcement about my little movie was picked up and spread nationally by the Toronto Star.
And, oh yeah, was the Monarch ever going to reopen again? This news hung over the production for over a year while plans shifted, promises changed, and I continued to pretend that I knew what the conclusion to my movie would eventually be. As the Calgary Herald so fittingly put it in their feature about the documentary, "true stories rarely have tidy endings".
So, here we are. After all of the teasers, updates, sneak peeks, rumours, changes, and behind the scenes snapshots, I guess it's finally time that I break the long-awaited news (and yes, I thought I'd make a meal out of this update too) the documentary is actually done. Scored, previewed, revised, rendered, cut, locked, and now awaiting release.
Your Cinema Needs You is finally, officially complete.

Jul 28, 2023
Stampede Midway & A Stress Cow
Jul 15, 2023
Filmmaker Eager to Debut Film: Monarch Documentary
My thanks to Chat TV for the feature on "Your Cinema Needs You".
This is where the Monarch documentary gets a lot more fun for me again. First looks, behind the scenes, and a few more promos as we work out delivery and the eventual release date. We're getting so close to completing this thing! Read the story here.
Jul 5, 2023
A Documentary By the Pages: Your Cinema Needs You
When post-production on the Monarch Theatre documentary kicked off last year, it was difficult to describe what condensing a 110 year story actually looked like. I had 400+ pages of production notes outlining dates, archival references, transcripts, visual cues, etc. all in addition to the script I wrote and was working from.
That's when we had the idea to line the aisle of the Monarch Theatre with the notes I had on hand. This is what editing a feature-length documentary actually looks like (about 30% of it anyway).
The reason I'm posting this now is because for months and months, it has felt like an unending battle to work my way through these notes. Some weeks I was a machine, some weeks I was lucky to shave off a couple pages. I became the living embodiment of the Titanic meme "it's been 84 years ..." lol. But at the moment of posting this, the number of pages that stand between me and the completion of Your Cinema Needs You? ... 9.
Just 9 pages to go.
Jun 27, 2023
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
When you get a message asking if you'd like to witness one of the last airworthy B-17 Flying Fortresses in the world come in to land and then have the opportunity to privately explore it, the correct response is, "I'm on my way". Here are a few behind the scenes snaps (including a few interiors) following yesterday's landing of "Sentimental Journey" at the Medicine Hat Airport.