[1] The film stars Patricia O'Callaghan as Trish, a waitress at a formerly opulent but now run down hotel bar in Northern Ontario, who learns about a mysterious unsolved murder of a cabaret singer that took place at the hotel in its glory days, and begins to imagine the story with herself as the singer.
[2] The film also features musical performances by Mary Margaret O'Hara, Hawksley Workman, Kurt Swinghammer and Albert Schultz,[2] with numbers performed in the film including songs by Kurt Weill, Randy Newman, Rufus Wainwright and Elvis Costello.
[1] It was loosely based on O'Callaghan's own history of having worked as a waitress before attaining success as a singer and actress, with Youkali having been the title of her first album.
[3] Although set in Northern Ontario, it was actually filmed in the old Grant Hall hotel in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
[4] The film received a private screening for cast and crew in Moose Jaw on November 26, 2003,[4] before premiering on December 4 as an episode of CBC's Opening Night arts anthology series.