Frank's Way

Frank's Way is our next film project that will feature disability activist Frank Hull as he redefines his relationship to the piano, once his lifeline through generational trauma and conversion therapy, now as a medium to publicly share his journey of survival and self-reclamation. 

*Content Warning for 'Frank's Way Demo Reel' below: mention of suicide pact, physical and emotional abuse, Canada's Residential Schools and conversion therapy. 

Frank Hull is an artist and activist ​​who proudly lives with cerebral palsy and madness, embraces his Mi'kmaq heritage, and celebrates his gay identity. In “Frank's Way" he revisits his relationship to the piano, referred to as “my first love that saved my life”.

Frank shares the effects of generational trauma passed down from his grandmother’s experience in the Canadian Residential School system and the direct trauma he experienced as a teenager through conversion therapy practiced by the LDS Mormon Church. It was his relationship with the piano at school and church that allowed him to access his inner strength to survive these experiences.

In this film Frank will prepare to share his music in a live concert for the first time at the age of 53. As Frank has not had regular access to a piano for over 30 years, he will begin by playing on public pianos throughout the city of Toronto. He recalls his compositions easily and creates new pieces effortlessly. His approach to playing is what he calls “faking it”. Other artists refer to him as a “musical genius”.

Frank met and played for singer-songwriter Paul Anka when he was 16 through the Montreal program World of Dreams. Anka later rewrote his own lyrics to his song “My Way” with Frank as the subject as a gift for Frank. Anka remarked in an interview with Entertainment Tonight after meeting Frank that, “His optimism is incredible, his dedication to want to play is monumental and I was really touched by him”. We will be reaching out to Anka’s management to see if he would be available for a reunion with Frank.

Frank will play the piano in a concert featuring other musicians who share similar life experiences to him through their shared identities. During the concert he will share the journey that brought him to this particular moment. The audience will be a witness to his natural gift of storytelling and creating beautiful music through his performance and reunion with his first love, the piano.

The film’s visual language will keep the audience eye-to-eye with Frank. The camera will meet him at his seated height, never looking down, and at the piano, we will see him as he experiences himself - from a seated or upward gaze. His hands, captured in intimate close-up, will become their own characters along with the piano which is not just an instrument but a central character in his story.

This visual intimacy will be interwoven with archival material including his meeting with Paul Anka, photographs of his childhood in Halifax, NS and stark images of Canada’s residential schools and conversion therapy to reveal the cultural and historical weight behind each note he plays.

Conversations with friends, artists, and former teachers will help fill out a portrait of a man whose musical genius has long been unknown. Rehearsals will offer a window into both the craft and the vulnerability of preparing for performance, shifting from music as a private refuge to a gift to be shared with the wider community.

Frank will play and practice at public pianos across Toronto, as he does not own a piano. These scenes will bridge the past and present, showing that talent, like memory, can lie dormant yet remain intact.