Niagara film gets early critical acclaim
A regional feature film shot in the soon-to-be demolished Hotel Dieu Hospital is gathering early critical kudos.
In 2013, Fourgrounds Media of St. Catharines set up locations in the former hospital and elsewhere in Niagara for a haunting tale about a teenager’s loss of sight.
In the the movie “The Hotel Dieu” — co-written and directed by Fairground’s Adrien Thiessen — the male is seriously challenged after an accident that blinds him.
Hospital-bound for a time, Luke (Andrew Rotilio) finds a love interest wile doing therapy sessions with an unconventional psychiatric doctor.
“To us, it’s cool to be able to play this film — while the demolition of the Dieu is actually happening,” said Thiessen, 30.
“It is kind of bittersweet. We were fortunate to get in there and shoot a month after it was decommissioned,” he said. “We found it an honour and challenge to bring that place back to life, and honour its legacy it had.”
Shooting in Niagara helped with the film’s “visual aesthetic,” Thiessen adds. “It is shot quite beautifully.
“We were able to take our hometown and paint it onto screen in a way that looks awesome.”
The film had an approximately $100,000 budget, and was shot at sites that included the Ontario Street former hospital and Port Colborne.
A large crash scene was also staged in downtown St. Catharines, which happens to be the location of Fairground’s studio headquarters. It’s also Thiessen’s place of residence, as it is for key members of the advertising and production company. About 20 crew and a cast of 15 were involved.
The movie, which is readying for a commercial release, has already been an official selection of the 2015 Whistler, and Tallinn Black Nights Film Festivals.
As it’s made its way around the festival circuit, in 2015 has also earned a “Niagara Rises Best Feature” and “RBC Emerging Artist Award” at the Niagara Integrated Film Festival, “Best Director of a Feature Film” and “Best Supporting Actress in a Feature” at U.K.’s Portsmouth International Film Festival.
In 2015 it also took home “Best Producers of a Feature Film” at the St. Tropez International Film Festival in France.
“It’s been a pretty successful festival run,” Thiessen said.
Meanwhile, the film opens commercially to the public on Friday at The Carlton Cinema in Toronto and early November in Niagara Falls and St. Catharines.
Thiessen, speaking of their first film feature reflects that getting a film finished is the easy part.
“After that, there’s the release and everything else that takes time,” he said. “We found a distributor and got it out there … so we surpassed our own goals by winning a bunch of awards.”
There may be more public releases and festivals coming up for the film, with it’s likely to eventually end up publicly available on last Video in Demand.
Fourgrounds, which has seven employees, is now developing two other feature films and also working on a future web-based drama.
Regional film showings are Friday, Nov. 4, 7 p.m. at the Seneca Queen Theatre in Niagara Falls, and Saturday, Nov. 5 also at 7 p.m. at the St. Catharines Performing Arts Centre Film House.