Prince George born filmmaker, Kennedy Goodkey promises to stay until every last Q is A'd during the presentation of his award-winning independent feature film, The Beast of Bottomless Lake, at the Playhouse Saturday, Oct. 22 at 8 p.m.
Goodkey started his career in theatre, and it wasn't until later in life that he discovered filmmaking.
"One of the exciting things about coming back to Prince George is to actually screen the film at the playhouse - I practically grew up in that building," he said. "So that's really going back home, as far as being an artist goes."
Goodkey spent time after university touring the country with a comedy troupe before he drifted towards film.
"Theatre really feeds the soul but there's a lot of magic in the creation of film on all levels - I am such a big geek for it," said Goodkey. "There's so much to learn and it's an art that I will be teaching myself for the rest of my life."
In The Beast of Bottomless Lake, a Provost Pictures production, Dr. Paul Moran, cryptozoologist, leads a team of dedicated and not-so-dedicated adventurers on an expedition to Lake Okanagan to prove the existence of the legendary lake creature, Ogopogo.
Winner of the People's Choice Award at the 2010 Okanagan International Film Festival, the film was played to a sold-out house, and interest was so high, a second screening was added. The Beast of Bottomless Lake also won the Best Feature honour at the 2010 Mississauga Independent Film Festival, and was an honourable mention at Los Angeles's Mockfest.
The film was the late Keith Provost's idea, who had approached Goodkey with a couple of scenes that convinced him to develop the story.
Provost was killed in a bicycle accident just as things got rolling and Goodkey was compelled to carry on the project in Provost's honour. Through some brainstorming Goodkey decided to get the film funded by selling production credits on eBay. That in turn got the film some notoriety before it was even made and it took off from there.
During the Playhouse presentation Goodkey will say a few words by way of introduction and director Craig March and the star of the movie, David Nykl will also attend the event. There is also a question and answer period after the film.
Goodkey will also show another short film he wrote, Bumperskiing, which is based on events from his childhood growing up in Prince George's Edgewood subdivision.
The Beast of Bottomless Lake shows at the Prince George Playhouse Saturday, Oct. 22 at 8 p.m. Doors open at 7:30. Tickets are $18 and are available at Studio 2880.
