Imperial Green

Abstract

Imperial Green is a 66-minute experimental autofiction film by filmmaker Zachary Lacosse, loosely structured as a reimagining of his life prior to relocating to Toronto. Set in Metrotown, a suburban district of Burnaby, British Columbia, the film foregrounds a place that has exerted a formative influence on Lacosse since childhood. Through a personal and introspective lens, the work explores struggles with Christian-tainted identity and the ways these internal tensions shaped his relationships with his mixed-Indigenous father and his fiancée at the time. Conceived alongside his decision to attend York University, Imperial Green reflects Lacosse’s desire to enter the world as an individual, charting the emotional and psychological pitfalls inherent in the process of becoming. Shot in high-framerate 60fps, it is a diaristic retelling of a crucial point in the filmmakers life, as well as an examination on urbanization, the automobile, and masculine impotence.