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A struggling farmer must choose between several desperate options in this period drama, set in Canada in the 1950s. Snit Mandolin (Keir Gilchrist) is a young man whose family emigrated to Canada when he was a boy; they were viewed with deep suspicion by their new neighbors in Saskatchewan, and when his parents died, Snit was sent to live in a group home where brutal violence was commonplace. Snit is released and returns to Saskatchewan to find that his Aunt Matilda (Gabrielle Rose) is the only person still living on the family's farm, and she's left the fields and the cattle in a deplorable state. Snit wants to turn the farm back into a going concern, but he needs money, something Matilda can't provide. Snit becomes reacquainted with Johnny (Alexander De Jordy), one of his few friends from childhood, and Johnny offers to help Snit make raise some cash by working for him. However, Johnny's business is making bootleg whiskey, and with local sheriff Roy Kane (John Pyper-Ferguson) looking for an excuse to drive Snit out of town, moonshining could cost him his farm as readily as neglect or the elements. Based on a novel by one of Canada's most celebrated authors, George Ryga's Hungry Hills was an official selection at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.