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Hot Docs Showcase: Sault Ste. Marie

As we get closer and closer to “Shadows Season”, we’d like to remind you that there is another Film Festival in Sault Ste. Marie worth checking out. This years edition of Hot Docs Showcase: Sault Ste. Marie takes place on November 13th, 19th, 20th and 21st at the Sault Community Theatre Centre.

For more information, please visit https://www.saultctc.ca/hotdocs/

***This festival is not affiliated with Shadows of the Mind Film Festival***

Thank you for supporting the arts in Sault Ste. Marie!

Fans of Sherlock Holmes like what they see

This article was posted originally in the Sault Star on February 26, 2019 10:10 AM EST by Brian Kelly reposted with permission.

Source: https://www.saultstar.com/news/local-news/fans-of-sherlock-holmes-like-what-they-see

The Doctor's Case co-director Len Pearl, director James Douglas and actor Joanna Douglas attend a screening at The Bootmakers of Toronto on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019. (Supplied Photo)

James Douglas prepared for a tough crowd when his film about Sherlock Holmes was screened in Toronto last Saturday.

He’s the director of The Doctor’s Case, a short film about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson that’s based on a story by American horror writer Stephen King.

The Doctor’s Case was screened to about 100 members of The Bootmakers of Toronto, the branch of the international Sherlock Holmes Society in the provincial capital.

“Members of The Bootmakers meet regularly to discuss their hero and to critique any treatments of the Holmes legend that come to their attention,” said Douglas in a release. “I had prepared answers to 10 questions and/or criticisms I thought might be expressed during the (question and answer) by potentially disappointed fans. To my surprise and delight, not one of the comments was negative.”

He also received praise for detailing “the close and intricate relationship” between Holmes and Watson.

Douglas was joined at the screening by co-director Len Pearl and his cousin, and Sault Ste. Marie native, Joanna Douglas, who appears as Tabitha Hull.

The director’s father, Tom Douglas, is a former Sault Star reporter and editor of Shopper News, now Sault This Week. Douglas and his wife, Gail, served as historical consultants.

Music written by the director’s aunt, Sault resident Nancy Fairburn, is performed over the closing credits.

Shadows of the Mind screens The Doctor’s Case on Friday at 4:30 p.m. Admission is by donation to benefit Northern Fringe Festival.

Fairburn will attend the screening. Katie Short, a Sault resident who helped back the film’s financing, is a possible attendee.

The festival screening of The Doctor’s Case will be dedicated to the memory of Short’s parents, Perry and Janet, who were active with Sault Theatre Workshop.

‘We don’t have to fit in these boxes’: Giant Little Ones creator shuns labels in new film

This article was posted original on SooToday on by: James Hopkin, rereposted with permission.

Source: https://www.sootoday.com/local-entertainment/we-dont-have-to-fit-in-these-boxes-giant-little-ones-creator-shuns-labels-in-new-film-1258800

Writer and director Keith Behrman was on hand for the screening of his film Giant Little Ones during the Shadows of the Mind gala at the Sault Community Theatre Centre Saturday night. The film was shot in Sault Ste. Marie in 2017. James Hopkin/SooToday

Writer and director Keith Behrman was happy to be back in Sault Ste. Marie Saturday night, where his film, Giant Little Ones, was screening as part of the Shadows of the Mind Film Festival gala.

“It’s great to be back here and screening the film here in Sault Ste. Marie, because we did have a really special time making the film here,” Behrman told reporters before the screening of Giant Little Ones at the Sault Community Theatre Centre. “Everyone was so helpful and co-operative and supportive, so it feels really nice to be back here and sharing the film with people here.”

Behrman says his film — shot in Sault Ste. Marie in the summer of 2017 — is a tale involving three high school boys that came to him in a dream about five years ago.

“I realized I wanted to make a film that was about love and about family, and about acceptance, and just being true to yourself,” he said.

Behrman and producer Allison Black chose to shoot the film in Sault Ste. Marie in July 2017 in order to give the film the backdrop Behrman felt it needed.

 

“I always knew I wanted to be outside, and I wanted it to be in a sunny, warm environment,” Behrman said. “I wanted them to be moving around the streets, riding their bikes — a very open, energetic kind of thing — so I wanted to be some place where there’s a lot of greenery.”

Behrman says that his conservative, prairie town upbringing in Shaunavon, Sask., ultimately helped mould Giant Little Ones.

“I was always very uncomfortable with the very hard lines around masculinity and what it meant to be a man,” Behrman said. “It felt very restrictive, so as I grew up, I always just kind of struggled with that.”

“When I was ready to make this film, that was one of the things that I wanted to express — you know, the hard definitions we have around who we are, and the labels we have for ourselves, and the labels we have for everybody else, and the way we’re supposed to be,” he continued. “Human beings are way more complex than that, way more nuanced and layered.”

So far, Behrman’s film — starring Maria Bello and Kyle MacLachlan — has premiered all over the world, including at the Toronto International Film Festival.

In addition to the film-festival circuit, Phillips’ film has been screened commercially in Victoria, Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.

Additional screenings are being considered in Calgary and on the East Coast, he said.

The Shadows of the Mind Film Festival is organized by a coalition of local agencies. It offers films that touch on the facts and mythologies surrounding mental health and addictions.

For full information about the festival, click on the SooToday logo at the top left of this screen and them click on the Shadows of the Mind link.

In a surprise development, organizers announced Saturday night that they’re adding a second screening of Julien Temple’s Pandaemonium, which was shown in connection with a gala opening on Thursday night.

The second screening will be 7 p.m. Sunday at the Galaxy Cinemas.

Shadows of the Mind Celebrates 20 Years

This article was posted original on SaultOnline on  by Megan Pounder, reposted with permission.

 Source: https://saultonline.com/2019/02/shadows-of-the-mind-celebrates-20-years/

The 20th annual Shadows of the Mind Film Festival kicked off Saturday evening at the Sault Community Theatre Centre with a gala and movie screening.

Giant Little Ones, filmed right here in the Sault, is a movie about friendship between two teenage boys, self discovery and the power of love without labels.

Director and screenwriter Keith Behrman said the inspiration for this movie came to him after he had a dream about five years ago where a young man was talking to his mother in the kitchen of their house.

“I got up and I started writing the dream out and I just kept writing and writing and eventually I realized there was a film that was waiting to come out,” he explained, “and I realized that I wanted to make a film that was about love and about family and about acceptance and just being true to yourself.

“There’s so much divisiveness around how people are, around sexuality or whatever in the world now and we just wanted to make a film that spoke to the wholeness of people and just people being who they really are and having understanding and compassion for each other.”

He also drew from his own experiences, growing up in a conservative prairie town in Saskatchewan where he said he felt uncomfortable and restricted by the “very hard lines around masculinity and what it meant to be a man.”

“When I was ready to make this film, that was one of the things that I wanted to express – the hard definitions we have around who we are and the labels we have for ourselves and the labels we have for everybody else and the way we’re supposed to be,” he said. “But, human beings are way more complex than that – way more nuanced and layered than can really be captured in all these categories we have. So I wanted to make a film that was about breaking out of those categories and being the whole, full person that you can be.”

Behrman said they chose to film in the Sault because of the greenery and nature. He said he wanted the two main characters – teenage boys – to be moving around the streets and riding their bikes in a warm, sunny outdoor environment. His producer had also shot two other films in the city before this one and had a good experience doing so, so they decided it would be a great place to make the film.

Giant Little Ones has been screened at film festivals around the world, which Behrman said has been an amazing experience. Because they travel with the film, he’s been able to meet people all over the world, who he said all have had a similar response to the movie and it’s message – being true to yourself and not conforming to the boxes people put you into – straight or gay, man or woman, etc.

“A lot of people are really appreciate the film, they’re really grateful for the film and the message of the film, and they’re really moved and touched by the film wherever we go,” he said, explaining that he’s even had kids come up to him and tell him the movie has changed and even saved their lives.

“It’s been very meaningful to people,” he said. “So that’s been really special.”

Behrman said it’s great to be back in the Sault screening the movie right where it was filmed.

“It’s really great,” he said. “We did have a really special time making the film here, and everyone was so helpful and cooperative and supportive so it feels really nice to be back here and sharing the film with people here.”

Shadows of the Mind started 20 years ago as a way to promote conversations by shining light on mental health, addictions and social issues that are important to the community, through the unique power of film.

The festival continues throughout the week, with a total of 28 films being screened in a nine-day span.

Giant Little Ones Director Keith Behrman (left) speaks to a gala attendee at the 20th Annual Shadows of the Mind Gala on Saturday evening. Photo by Megan Pounder/SaultOnline
Giant Little Ones Director Keith Behrman (left) speaks to a gala attendee at the 20th Annual Shadows of the Mind Gala on Saturday evening. Photo by Megan Pounder/SaultOnline

Filmmakers ‘worked so hard’ on Giant Little Ones

This article was posted originally in the Sault Star on Published on February 21, 2019 by Brian Kelly reposted with permission.

Source: https://www.saultstar.com/entertainment/local-arts/filmmakers-worked-so-hard-on-giant-little-ones/

Giant Little Ones

Teens gave Keith Behrman and Allison Black a thumbs up when they readied Giant Little Ones for the big screen.

Behrman, the film’s director and screenwriter, shared his script with high school students in Vancouver. Heterosexual and LGBT adults were also consulted.

“We really worked so hard to get the script right,” Black told The Sault Star during a telephone interview from North Bay on Thursday. “Did this really feel real? Did this feel right?”

Reaction from a festival screening in South Korea helped answer those questions.

More than 40 young people thanked the filmmakers for the motion picture that is the gala screening at Shadows of the Mind on Saturday.

“More than one said ‘Thank you. I think this film is going to change my life,’” said Black. “One person even said, ‘Thank you. You’ve saved my life.’ These are young people who did not feel it was OK perhaps to have these feelings, to have an experience with someone of the same sex and to just be perhaps inquisitive and it’s all OK. We’re all human and it’s all OK. Love is love and that is the message of the film.”

The genesis of Giant Little Ones started with a dream Behrman had about a teenager and mother speaking. This was six years ago when there was “a tragic number” of suicides of LGBQT youth who were bullied, didn’t feel accepted or didn’t accept themselves.

“We wanted to do something,” said Black.

Giant Little Ones centres on two high school friends and how their relationship changes at a 17th birthday party.

The coming-of-age story was shot over five weeks in the summer of 2017 in Sault Ste. Marie. Locations include Bellevue Park, John Rhodes Community Centre, Superior Heights Collegiate and Vocational School and the former Cardinal Leger elementary school.

“What we really wanted to focus on was the energy and vitality and the aliveness of how teenagers feel,” said Black. “The gorgeous setting of the Sault provided that. Everything was in blossom. It just felt alive and vibrant … (Behrman) wanted it to feel beautiful and alive and a sense of growth.”

Behrman will introduce Saturday’s screening that launches the 20th annual festival. Screening is at 7 p.m. Film only is $20. Screening and party is $45. Tickets are on sale at the festival box office in the Dennis Street court at Station Mall.

Jennifer Mathewson, film, television and digital media coordinator for FutureSSM, will appear alongside Behrman.