By Canadian Press

Curling and teen life collide at Canadian theatres with release of “Curl Power”

Jan 23, 2025 | 5:05 AM

The combination of teenagers and curling might seem an odd pairing for a documentary, but “Curl Power” weaves rocks and rings into a coming-of-age story.

Curling is the tie that binds five young women together as they navigate ambition, anxiety, depression, body dysmorphia, sex, a mother’s breast cancer diagnosis, what to do with their lives after they graduate high school and the impending separation graduation brings.

“Teenagers are weird,” says Hannah Smeed, one of the documentary’s subjects.

“They’re not kids and they’re not adults. A lot of us are overlooked as people, really, which is similar to curling. Nobody really gives curling a second look, but like, curling is cool.”

The 86-minute film, made with financing from Telus, debuted at Toronto’s Hot Docs festival in 2024.

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“Curl Power” is scheduled for theatrical release Friday when it will be shown in 73 theatres across Canada from Victoria to Halifax.

The film follows Smeed, Brook Aleksic, Sav Miley, Ashley Dezura and Amy Wheatcroft and their curling team from Maple Ridge, B.C., from 2019 to 2023 as they age from 14 to 18.

Director Josephine Anderson gave recreational curling a try at the Vancouver Curling Club in 2018.

“I was kind of blown away by how lovely the sport is and the community,” she said.

“At the same time, I was interested in making a coming-of-age film at the time, and sort of thought what would happen if I mash these two unsuspecting ideas together?”

She spent hours talking on the phone with the teenagers, and three mom-coaches, to make them comfortable with both her and the camera recording intimate moments in their homes.

“Mainstream culture often makes teenage girls feel like their opinions aren’t that consequential,” Anderson said. “For a filmmaker to come in and genuinely listen consistently over time, and care, helped to build trust, helped them to understand that I thought what they were going through mattered.

“As we filmed more and more, they became more used to the camera, and then over time, it just became not that big of a deal to talk about something quite vulnerable on camera.”

The ambition of the “4KGirl$” — as they called their five-person team — is to reach the Canadian junior championship and win it.

A layer to their story is that the three mothers coaching the teens have been where they dream to go — the national women’s championship Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Dezura and Wheatcroft are the daughters of Diane Dezura and Georgina Wheatcroft, who were Kelley Law’s front end when they won a women’s world title in 2000 and an Olympic bronze medal in 2002.

Aleksic’s mother, Shannon Joanisse, has appeared in five Canadian women’s championships.

The three moms are prominent in the documentary as they shepherd their daughters through life and sport.

Ashley Dezura, now a student-curler at the University of Western Ontario, has watched the documentary four times.

“Seeing it the first time was really weird because I was so conscious of myself,” she said from London, Ont. “So the first time through — I spoke with all the girls about this, and we all kind of said the same thing — the first time, it was a lot. We all kind of were just picking apart the way we came across, the way we looked. The more times we’ve seen it since then, we’ve started to really appreciate it for the story that it tells.

“The film does such a good job showing so many aspects of what it’s like to just be a girl and a teenager and have friendships and relationships and go through ups and downs. I just hope that it shows other girls that these things are normal and that this is what life is like.

“I hope that it sheds light on the curling community. Curling as a sport is so about the community and the relationships, and I think that this film also really highlights how sport can bring people together.”

The five have scattered to different universities, but Dezura says curling remains a glue in their relationship.

“Having this film has been something that has really kept us close together,” she said. “That’s been another really special aspect about it.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 23, 2025.

Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press