Lea Nakonechny's second film has been chosen to have its big screen debut at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival.
Nakonechny's short film "Edge of the Desert” is one of the 63 shorts selected to be shown at the 34th annual Toronto International Film Festival. The film will debut on Sept. 15 and will be re-shown on Sept. 16 as part of the Short Cuts Canada Programme series. In total 33 Canadian produced films will be showcased. In total 604 short films were submitted for viewing at TIFF, with Edge of the Desert earning the nod to be shown at the festival.
The production is the latest release from Arid Sea Films, the production group of Southwest talents Lea Nakonechny (Rush Lake), Simon Nakonechny and Adam Budd (both from Swift Current). Budd and Simon Nakonechny produced the movie, while Lea Nakonechny wrote and produced the 17 minute film.
The film tells the story of a turning point in the friendship of two high school girls after they skip school one day and hitch hike into the Sandhills with a pair of oilfield workers.
A 46 second movie preview for Edge of the Desert is one of 37 that appears on the media gallery section of the festival’s website (tiff.net).
The production was shot on location last summer in the Leader/Great Sandhills area, and a trio of Southwest actors will be making their big screen debuts in the movie. Homegrown actresses Elya Rushka and Jordi Wieler, both originally from the Wymark area, are the two female leads in the movie. Hazlet area resident Steve McKnight along with Regina's Devon Bonneau, are the two male leads.
Lea Nakonechny, said shooting the film in the Southwest was a treat, as she remembers the Sandhills area from her school field trip days.
"I was always very inspired by the place and had wanted to shoot something there for quite some time. I just had to find the right story," she said.
This will be Arid Sea's second showing at TIFF, with The Whole Day Through, directed by Adam Budd showing during the 2007 festival. That film was shot at Lac Pelletier.
The debut production by Arid Sea Films was Two Museums, which played across Saskatchewan in 2005.
Although they are now based in Montreal, the trio have strong ties to the Southwest which keep them returning with new and innovative movie ideas.
"I think I will want to make more films in the Southwest," she said. "Not only are all my earliest memories based here, but I think there's a lot of untapped potential here in terms of story material. And the landscape, which always features strongly in my films, is so interesting and diverse."
