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Locally-shot cinematic thriller Break on Through will premiere in Red Deer next week

Ignition Films movie will be screened from Oct. 14
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Shalayna Christante (as R.J.) and Robert van der Linden (as her father, Keith) in a scene from Break on Through. (Contributed photo).

A spooky, silent boy. An isolated farm house. A group of distrustful strangers who must rely on each other to survive a mysterious, cataclysmic event…

Just in time for Halloween, Ignition Films is premiering its atmospheric thriller, Break on Through, next week in downtown Red Deer.

The 75-minute indie movie was shot in Central Alberta on a budget of $75,000, and will be showing Oct. 14, 15, 17 and 18 at Red Deer College’s Welikoklad Event Centre. Tickets are $5 at the door.

Producer Matt Grue said he was inspired by the TV series Lost, and the work of directors David Lynch and M. Night Shyamalan to write a script full of creepy, unsettling elements. His story’s nebulous plot line involves people becoming panicked by the sound of intermittent, booming noises and a slowly vanishing human population.

The movie was shot in August and September 2016 in an Alix farm house, with mostly local actors and technical crew. Post-production work was completed over the past year, so that Break on Through will be ready to hit the film festival circuit early in 2018.

“I didn’t realize how challenging it would be,” admitted Grue, to decide how much explanatory dialogue to include in the script, and how much to leave up to viewers to decipher.

Those who pay close attention to the on-screen exchanges between odd-ball characters — including a mysterious boy who can’t speak and the young woman who’s taken him under her wing — will probably get the movie’s ending.

But there are no guarantees the dark twists will make sense to everyone, said Grue, with a chuckle. Much as with the conclusions of Lost or Twin Peaks, he expects some viewers will be left wondering what did I just see?

“The answers are all there in the film, but it’s up to viewers to find them…”

Break on Through was directed and edited by Dustin Clark, a Red Deerian now based in Vancouver, who also created the original score. Adam Cummerford, the director of photography, and Alison Hill, the sound editor, are former city residents who are now living in Toronto.

Local actors Minyang Dau, Shelayna Christante and Christoff Lundgren are in the cast, as are former Red Deerians Robert van der Linden and Sebastian Kroon. Also in the film is Calgary’s Amber Bissonnette.

Grue hopes Break on Through connects with viewers on a deeper level — that is, if they manage to puzzle out the film’s meaning. “Each time I watch it, I get something more out of it,” he said.

But regardless of how many people ‘get’ the movie, he hopes they will be entertained by it.

The film will be screened at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 14, 15, 17 and 18. There will also be a 3 p.m. showing on Oct. 15, and a question and answer session with some cast and crew members following the film screening on Oct. 18. Tickets at the door.



lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com

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