Article content The Stanley Cup riot left a dark stain on Vancouver’s reputation, one that hovers over the city like a spectre to this day, most recently with the city’s belated and tightly controlled watch party for this year’s playoffs. It’s a blemish Kat Jayme and Asia Youngman , filmmakers from Vancouver, wanted to explore in depth and the resulting documentary will have its Canadian broadcast debut on TSN, at 5 p.m.
on June 5. The documentary, I’m Just Here for the Riot , was turned down by every Canadian outlet they could think to pitch the story to, only to be snapped up by ESPN’s esteemed sports documentary series 30 for 30 . The directors sifted through the enormous cache of documentation of the world’s first smartphone riot, which at the time triggered the largest police investigation of its kind, and the self-righteous online shaming that followed.
“We kind of felt like it was a tale of two riots,” Youngman said. “The riots people think of, but also the online riot that happened in the form of mob mentality — ‘let’s cancel these people, let’s shame these people.’ “What happened online was almost like what had happened on the streets.
” The two obtained a lot of footage from onlookers, scenes not publicly seen before, as well as the co-operation of a handful of rioters — some identified, some with their faces blurred — whose lives were permanently changed after criminal convictions. “A lot of people were very hesitant about sha.
