Grappling with love lost, Maryna Ohanesian’s debut short film, “It’s March 17 and I’m Still In Love With You,” was shot over three days last weekend.
Sudbury.com caught up with the volunteer crew at a Bancroft Drive home on Saturday, where the bulk of the piece was filmed.
The small house was packed with crew members meticulously staging each scene.
“It’s just amazing how everyone is so collaborative and willing to participate and commit and dedicate their time into doing short films and art together,” Ohanesian told Sudbury.com during a brief break from filming.
Originally from Ukraine, Ohanesian previously settled in Toronto until friend Zha Babaieva encouraged her to join them in Sudbury, where a filmmaking community awaited them.
“It’s not a place that normally people talk about, but I wish that more people knew how many opportunities there are and how you can find community here,” Ohanesian said.
This group of like-minded friends coming together to help achieve her vision has been “a beautiful moment,” she said.
Ohanesian starred in Babaieva’s short comedic film, “20 Crickets,” which was shot over the course of a weekend in September 2024.
These short films are all part of the local MotionArc Studios’ SCRIPTFEST series, which producer Mathieu Seguin considers a labour of love by local filmmakers striving to make their way into the industry.
“They’re passionate, and they’re clearly here because they want to be creative,” he told Sudbury.com. “It’s definitely not for money, because there is no money.
“If we’re going to be taken seriously as directors, cinematographers, producers, production designers, editors and screenwriters, then we need to be able to do those positions.”
As it stands, he said that few of these local filmmakers would be hired when major productions roll into town, which having a few film credits under their belts could help change.
“We’re making art, and it’s coming from the heart, and it’s just flexing our muscles,” he said. “If you can make a killer short film, there’s a good chance you can make a killer feature film.”
“It’s March 17 and I’m Still In Love With You” is about a woman who grapples with a breakup by recording over love messages her ex left on a tape recorder, which talks back to her and lets her to realize things about the relationship which rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia blinded her to.
“We see flaws from both of them and why their relationship didn’t work out,” Ohanesian said
"It's inspired by my breakup, which I went through last year,” she added. “It was my first queer relationship and it was very hard to process, but I found writing this script really helped.”
Prior to an intense three-day film shoot, Ohanesian storyboarded the entire piece and filmed a preliminary shoot with a cell phone to ensure everything would work.
“Now we are just following the plan,” she said from the film set on Saturday.
The shoestring-budget operation was bankrolled by donors, Seguin said, with various movie-quality filming equipment on loan for the weekend.
Last weekend saw the first of four short films shot as part of the second season of Scriptfest. There were 34 local aspiring filmmakers who pitched ideas for the second season, of which six were shortlisted and four are being shot.
The first season of Scriptfest was shot last year. Consisting of three short films, Seguin said the season one films will each premiere at Sudbury Indie Cinema at some point this year.
“We’re putting the finishing touches on it, we’re doing the final mix, getting colour, VFX on some of them,” he said.
“The expectation is that they all have their own premiere, so the local filmmakers who made them can see them on the big screen, but also to make an event out of it.”
Each film will later be released on the Dogme95 International YouTube channel.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.