Unless they're among a lucky few, Greater Sudbury citizens will have to wait until at least the fall of 2007 to watch a movie filmed in the city last year.
Barstool Words was completed in June, and the cast and crew got to see the movie for the first time last week.
There will be "sneak peek" screening of the film in Greater
Sudbury in late February or early March for local people who
were involved in bringing the movie shoot to the city, as well
as the cast and crew.
Employees with the Northern Ontario Development Corporation
(which loaned the filmmakers $250,000), as well as the Greater
Sudbury Development Corporation and Music and Film in Motion
will likely be invited.
Then the movie will hit the festival circuit. Producer Jesse
Ikeman hopes to screen the movie at Cinefest in September 2007.
If a distributer picks up the movie, it will play in theatres
across the country in late 2007 or early 2008.
"It took about seven months for us to put the movie together.
That's actually about the time it takes to do a film," said
Ikeman.
"The editing process takes about three or four months, and then
you have do the sound work. To be honest, I think it was
actually a fairly quick turnaround."
Greater Sudbury is featured prominently in the film, Ikeman
said. Scenes were shot at a house in Copper Cliff, a flooded
open pit near Clarabelle Mill on Highway 144, May's Tavern
and Boomers Restaurant.
"Sudbury is a main character in the movie. You can pretty much
play 'spot the location.' You'll be able to see
everything from schools to local landmarks," said the producer.
The movie is about two friends who reunite 10 years after high
school. They meet up with a femme fatale from their past and
pull a prank on her because she has been toying with their
emotions.
The screenplay was adapted from an off-Broadway theatrical
production written by Josh Ben Friedman. Director Jeff Glickman
worked with Friedman to write the screenplay, and asked Ikeman
to produce the movie for him.
"When you start a movie, it's only words on a page," said
Ikeman. "At this point, it has really surpassed the
expectations of everybody involved in the movie - myself, the
director, and everybody right down to the sound team. We're
very happy."
Ikeman said he's currently trying to find the right
distributer for the movie.
"There are a number of distributers we're looking at to get
this film out in the right way and find the right audience," he
said.
"This film targets the 18-35 audience, skewed more male.
It's a teen movie. It's a commercial movie. It's
not an art house movie. Some distributers specialize more in
certain areas than others."
For more information about Barstool Words, go to
www.suddenstorm.ca.
