Alternately amusing and reverent, The Cross and Bones has the coveted April 23 opening slot in Hot Docs’ 2005 Canadian Spectrum program, where it makes its world premiere.

The $300,000 doc, directed by Paul Carrière and produced by Lisa Cochrane for Montreal’s Amérimage-Spectra, follows a group of Christians in the Canadian Badlands of Drumheller Valley, AB, who mount an annual outdoor re-creation of the Passion of Christ.

The setting provides fertile thematic ground for the film, because in that ground lies a rich deposit of dinosaur fossils, drawing paleontologists of all stripes, and laying the framework for an Inherit the Wind-type debate between faith and science. Throw into the mix 3,000 rough-and-ready Harley-Davidson owners who annually converge at a site nearby to drink themselves silly and take in wet T-shirt contests. The three disparate groups eventually intersect in surprising ways.

‘We’re dealing with serious subjects and we’re certainly not poking fun at anyone,’ Cochrane says from her base in Nova Scotia. ‘The film doesn’t take one point of view over another, but it’s a lighthearted way of looking at the fact that people can coexist with opposing viewpoints.’

Carrière came across the goings-on in Drumheller while on vacation three years ago. He and Cochrane, who has specialized in performing arts programs, had discussed collaborating before, and all Carrière needed to convince her was a pamphlet from the Passion Play. The following summer involved returning to Drumheller for research, and shooting was done last year.

Leading off Canadian Spectrum marks a triumphant return to Hot Docs for Carrière, who won there for best history/biography film in 1995 for Laure Riese. Also, Cochrane got the initial go-ahead on the project from CBC Newsworld at Hot Docs.

Carrière, who has spent much of his career in Toronto, balances his doc pursuits with dramatic work, principally the Showcase drama series Naked Josh.

‘I like going from one format to the other,’ he says. ‘I had just finished Naked Josh, the first season, and it was freeing, going from drama to documentary with a small crew and my own idea – to go suddenly from a set full of people to a much smaller crew in the Badlands.’

Subsequent broadcasters include Canal D, Knowledge Network and SCN. Additional funding was secured from the Canadian Television Fund, SODEC, tax credits and the PRIM Media Arts Centre. Spectra International Distribution is handling the doc’s foreign sales, which Cochrane says she will look to drum up at Hot Docs.