New life has been breathed into Final Breath.
The Prince George short-film project was just a proposal, but it was so compelling it won one the $10,000 production grants being offered by Telus through the StoryHive cultural stimulation program. That amount was awarded to each of the Top 15 proposals (all of them had to be led by a female director working in the short-film format) in B.C. and another 15 in Alberta.
The StoryHive crew curated a long-list of proposals and online voters determined the winning Top 15.
The Final Breath project's writer and director, Kim Feragen, got the news on Thursday.
"We got it!!!!" she texted to The Citizen at 12:05 p.m., only minutes after finding out. Shortly after that, she was mapping out what now can - must - happen with the project.
"We have to do the filming this month. I know that's a tight timeline but I have to get a certain look, a stark autumn atmosphere, and that can't wait until there's snow on the ground," she said.
There is also a second part to the StoryHive contest. Getting the $10,000 triggers a requirement for the 15 directors to submit the finished films so a second round of voting can happen early in 2017 (Feb. 6-12), and the winner from B.C. joining the winner from Alberta for the grand prize of special training and exposure for their films.
Feragen has partnered with two seasoned Prince George filmmakers, Norm Coyne and Mike Kroetsch, to help her boost the production quality.
"We will meet on Monday, set the plan, and then it is go-go-go, which is great. It makes us get everything done ASAP and then we have all the filming done so we can take our time on editing and post-production."
The film's script centres on a true story from Feragen's youth.
It had to do with a remote location and a spooky set of circumstances she encountered one day on a walk in the woods.
As an aspiring filmmaker (she is already a well-known still photographer and graduate of Vancouver Institute of Media Arts), she took the bones of her memorable encounter to Coyne who helped her add script density. Now it's ready for actors and off-camera crew to go to work bringing it to life.
"I want to do this with as much Prince George talent as possible," Feragen said.
"I want it to be so much about our community that everyone can feel proud of it. I know I'm the one who proposed this story, but I wouldn't be anywhere without all the people who voted for it, and now people are coming forward to provide so much help and the things we will need to make it happen, and that's so exciting and so wonderful about this community. People want to help you."
Some things in the making of a movie, even a short-film, simply cannot be done by donations and volunteers. The grant money from StoryHive will be spent and then some, even with all the support.
