I’m very happy to share that a short film I’ve been a part of for the last year is finished and has been making its way onto the film festival circuit.
Torch Narrows, written and directed by Simon Garez, is a short drama about two friends (played by Danny Knight and Simon Garez) revisiting the site of a tragic shared memory on the Saskatchewan River. Set in and filmed around Nipawin, Saskatchewan, it’s an evocation of a place and the ways of life that develop in that place.
I had the honour of serving as both cinematographer and editor. Simon and I have collaborated together before - he acted in my film La Cartographe and we’ve been developing some other projects together. I was honoured and nervous when he asked me to DP his first short. We spent a lot of time discussing the feelings he wanted to capture, which were tied to the amazing, huge landscapes and industrial structures of rural Saskatchewan.
A key image for us was that of one of Nipawin’s hydroelectric dams at night. Most of the film takes place in the sight of this structure, and the challenge of using it as a silhouette-casting main source was what hooked me on the project. Most of the film takes place at night, and we did everything we could to lean into the limited light sources of the setting to capture a sense of the loneliness and vastness of the land.
It was an honour to work with Simon, Danny, and our sound recordist/designer/composer Blaze Baerwald. We spent a couple of days (and one long night!) traipsing up and down the Saskatchewan River and surrounding prairie. On the post-production side, I’m very grateful to Blaze, re-recording mixer Daryl Pierce, and colourist Devan Scott for all of their hard work getting sound and image squared away. Most of all, my thanks to Simon for the opportunity to help bring his vision to life.
Upcoming events/screenings:
Saskatchewan Independent Film Awards - Torch Narrows has been nominated in two categories - Best Short and Technical Achievement (Cinematography). The awards ceremony will live streamed on Sat. Nov. 27, at 7PM CST. Tune in at sifa.ca.
Past screenings:
Central Alberta Film Festival - Oct 16, 2021 - Red Deer, AB
Silver Wave Film Festival 2021 [online] - Nov. 4-14, 2021 - Fredericton, NB