Sonicsgate opens at SIFF Cinema this Friday

Watergate...Irangate...Strippergate.

And then there was Sonicsgate.

If your are a sports fan in Seattle - and in particular - a fan of the gold and green hue of the one time NBA home team Seattle Supersonics you'll have the opportunity to relive the off-court drama that precipitated  the demise of the Sonics franchise in Seattle.

This was a high stakes drama that involved high powered players in business and government, millions of dollars and an ambivalent hometown. A drama which ultimately resulted in the team pulling up stakes and setting up its hometown hardwood in Oklahoma.

Sonicsgate culls archival footage, news reports and interviews from politicians, community leaders and NBA players to tell the story that had the local sports community fighting to keep the only professional team to win a National championship in Seattle.

If you read the papers or followed news reports during the long fought battle you know how the story ends. But Sonicsgate wraps it all up into a tidy two hour package that provides additional color and back-story with plenty of interviews with key players including Gary Payton, Brent Barry, former Sonics coach George Karl and former Sonics Prez and CEO Wally Walker.

Painful to relive the heartbreak of seeing your hometown team undone by forces of capitalism, politics and the court of public opinion? Perhaps. But sharing that experience with like minded fans at SIFF Cinema could also be a cathartic moment that allows the final goodbye to the Sonics while moving the collective to redouble its efforts in its fight for the next NBA franchise.

Sonicsgate opens at SIFF Cinema on Friday, December 11 and plays through December 17. Click here for movie and ticket information.

Read more from Michael Nank on film, theater, music and more -- or follow him on twitter at twitter.com/mikeunited