Mean Dreams, a movie filmed in Sault Ste. Marie received a resounding round of applause from the near sellout audience that viewed it on Monday at Cinema Six as part of the Timmins Film Society’s offering of films.
A total of 165 people turned out to watch Mean Dreams in a theatre that holds 192 and 108 people stayed behind to ask questions of producer William Woods.
Mean Dreams, directed by Nathan Morlando, is love story in the Romeo and Juliet mold, set in the fall, which the lush cinematography captured exquisitely. It is a movie about first love.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5160928/
It’s also a coming of age movie, as the two young lovers, Jonas Ford (Josh Wiggins) and Casey Caraway (Sophie Nélisse) meet at a time in their young lives when each craves to be free from their respective suffocating home life. Jonas is the son of a hard working ranger and Casey’s father has just been hired as the new police officer in town.
Their love helps them survive their stultifying home life, but it creates new problems.
“I was introduced to the writers of Mean Dream through mutual friends,” said Woods. “I worked with the writers for a year on the script before seeking funding to shoot the film.”
“Then we selected Nathan Morlando because he was on the same page with what we wanted to do with the film,” he added.
The film also explores the generational conflict between teens Jonas and Casey and their ineffectual parents, who are struggling to cope with the demands of life and are a barrier to the young couple’s maturation and liberation.
But the generational divide extends beyond the family to other authority figures that the couple encounters.
The time that the story takes place is unclear. Woods indicated it could be anywhere from the 1970s to the 2000s.
Woods said the film was shot in Sault Ste. Marie and vicinity in 26 days, but the place in the story were the farm and the small town are located also is vague.
“We loved shooting in Sault Ste. Marie and Nathan Morlando had shot a film in Sault Ste. Marie before so he had some familiarity with it,” explained Woods. “In the community we worked with local producer Rosalie Chilelli so she made working their very, very easy.”
The accents of Josh Wiggins as Jason Ford and Officer Wayne Caraway (Bill Paxton) are Texan, the police uniforms with star shaped badge are American. Yet the accents of the Police Chief (Colm Feore) and Casey Caraway (Sophie Nélisse) are not.
“The Soo does have a film infrastructure and as well we needed that rural farming environment in proximity to several small towns,” explained Woods. “The Soo is noted for its spectacular fall colours and we wanted to capture that – that was an important element in our decision.”
Two issues surfaced with respect to the use of Sault Ste. Marie as the location for the film. First, should the story be open about the location and incorporate it in the script, the dialogue and even accent of the actors?
A glimpse of a blue license plate, with the words Great Lake emblazoned under the number indicate that it could be on the north or south side of the Great Lakes – pretty wide territory - Great Lakes being the name of a fictional jurisdiction given to the territory.
The name of a nearby town on a gas station sign and the appearance of another scrawled as graffiti in one scene are about the only clues on the geography of where the film was shot.
Woods indicated that from a general audience point of view the story of the two young lovers is way more important than the details where the film was shot. But he acknowledged that they consciously gave a nod towards the American market.
According to Wood, from a film economy point of view, the American market is much larger and for the film to succeed and recoup its “less than $10 million financing” it does have to appeal to an American audience.
Woods told the audience that Mean Dreams was very fortunate to be shown both at Cannes Film Festival in 2016 and it was sold for viewing to 30 countries including the US and Canada. The universality of the love story and the intergenerational struggle will appeal to audiences around the world.
“Getting exposure at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and at Cannes is very important for the success of an indie film like Mean Dreams” Woods said. “Getting into Cannes was huge - we sold to over thirty territories around the world while we were there.”
“And having our domestic premier at TIFF in September, 2016) helps the film do well domestically,” he added.
“Those two festivals can make or break an indie film so were so lucky to have been invited to both.”
Two Lovers and a Bear Shot in Timmins also debuted at the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes according to John Belanger of the Timmins Film Society.
On Monday, the Timmins Film Society will be showing “It’s Just the End of the World/Juste le fin du monde’ at the Cinema 6 Theatre on Cedar St. S. In French with English Subtitles. Tickets are $10 if purchased in advance at the Timmins Museum.
