DECEMBER 5, 2019 | THE COMMUNITY NEWS | 5
Movie shot in Minto features local residents as extras and supporting cast » FROM PAGE 1
Harriston-based Grey Wellington Theatre Guild (GWTG) in supporting roles. Kamal said he has been impressed with the calibre of the local recruits. “They take direction really well and they’re not very shy … they’re awesome,” he stated. “It’s a beautiful town,” the director continued. “Chad also knows a lot of people, which helps us in the production and budget and the people are very nice and accommodating. So that’s a big thing for a movie production.” For local residents involved, the experience has been unique. “I think it’s fantastic. Each year I always tell my family I want to do something different and this is certainly it for this year, being able to be in front of the camera and actually take a character and develop it,” said Harriston resident Dan Bieman, who portrays a priest in the film. Bieman’s son Jake is currently studying film and television at Fanshawe College in London and appreciated the chance to be involved, both as an extra and a production assistant. “Chad called me up. He knew I was in the program and that I was passionate about film and thought it would be a great experience to be on set and experience a real live film production,” said Jake, who noted he learned a great deal from the professionals involved. “At school, we more or less use our own crews full of students and here it’s people working in the industry, so you really get a sense of all the work that we practice doing put into action, and how everyone is coming together as a community.” “It’s been such an incredible experience,” said Flora Burke of Mount Forest, who also plays a supporting role. The veteran of many GWTG stage productions,
Burke said this was her first opportunity to be involved with a motion picture. “I’ve had so much fun. Everybody’s been so kind to me and it’s a great crew to work with, really interesting stuff. Everybody’s been really professional too … Everybody’s doing exactly what they’re supposed to be doing, when they’re supposed to be doing it.” Acting is acting, but film offers one advantage over the stage, Burke notes. “You get a chance to do over … the multiple takes are different,” she pointed out. In addition to writing Godforsaken and directing the film, Kamal is also financing the independent production. “This is a documentarystyle horror film, and Ali wrote the lead very real and with me in mind,” said Tailor. “So basically I’m a filmmaker and I come back to my town for my high school friend’s funeral.” After some disturbing events at the funeral, Tailor
continues, “I go back to Toronto to get a couple of my filmmaker friends because we want to find out what happened, we want to make a documentary about this miracle, we want to know the facts.” Tailor said the plan is to enter Godforsaken in the Toronto After Dark Film Festival and other horror genre film festivals, then look for further distribution. “The big plan is always movie theatres. But in this day and age there’s always other stuff like Netflix, Hulu … we want to go as big as we can,” said Kamal. While the film shoot covered 18 days, Tailor said the team has been working on organizational aspects of production since June and is planning to take the next six months to work on postproduction. “Editing, sound mixing, visual effects and color correction takes time when collaborating with other creative specialists to produce the final cut,” he explained.
Local talent - LEFT: Harriston native Chad Tailor, left, stars in the locally-filmed movie Godforsaken, while Harriston resident Dan Bieman, right, plays a clergyman in the film. RIGHT: Special effects makeup artist Sara Feehan prepares Kes Battams of Listowel for a scene. Photos by Patrick Raftis
Crowd scene - Director Ali Akbar Akbar Kamal right, gets set to film a crowd scene populated by a large group of local extras.
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