What’s the Cost of a Problem Free Future?

Ann Marie, could you share what inspired you to create this film? Was there a specific event or story that sparked the idea?

Ann Marie Fleming, Director, photographed by Brian Van Wyk at the Filmable Portrait Studio

Ann Marie Flemming (AMF): I was living in Vancouver's West End when 10,000 trees blew down. In the news, Canada was considering raising the CPP age as people were living longer. I wanted to tell a story that drew attention to Climate Change and social inequality. It started off as a dark satire. But world events turned it into something much more poignant.

We love a good dark satire. Is there a specific aspect of the film that you are really excited about and would like to speak more to?

AMF: In Can I Get A Witness? the future is slower. I want people to talk about what we are willing to do for the greater good. What we are willing to do for each other. The film is so beautiful. I hope it shows how precious this amazing world is, and how important it is to know our history.

Speaking of the greater good, what were some of the biggest challenges you faced?

AMF: We shot in Powell River, qathet region. Besides normal remote shoot issues, an international choir festival that had been on hold since COVID was taking place there and it was impossible to find accommodations. But we did it! Also, all the locations we scouted were transformed by a heat wave, changing the palette. Mother Nature definitely wanted to be a production designer. It's like taking a nature bath.

Love that Mother Nature wanted to participate! It’s about time she got a credit hero. Does a favourite scene or moment in the film stick out to you?

AMF: I can't give you a favourite scene. Just there was so much heart brought to every moment, by the cast and the crew. So much magic.

How harmonious! On that note, is there anything we can really do as individuals to effect change, help each other and save this planet?

AMF: Yes, there is, because we are not individuals, we are all part of Nature, of one body, we are a giant organism that lives all over the world. We are like differentiated cells, and the global body needs all of us to do our part to keep living. Every cell counts.

Excellent analogy. Which segues nicely into our next question. Can you describe your process for writing the script? And shed some light on how you developed the characters in the film?

AMF: Writers are channellers and actors. Besides life experience and research for world-building, I am just all the characters. We sit down and we talk to each other, and listen, and ask questions and have opinions. Yes, I try to revisit all the screenplay story structure best practices, but the script has its own process that you can kind of sculpt. And then the edit is another sculpt. And then you end up with the best match of what you have.

I spent some time teaching 17 yr old high school students filmmaking in Powell River. That gave me a big part of my world. Once you think of a character, they just start talking to you. Some more than others. So, you listen to that.

So after you’ve listened to all your characters on the page, how did you go about casting the actors to bring them to life?

Keira Jang, Actor, photographed by Brian Van Wyk

AMF: I wrote Ellie especially with Sandra Oh in mind. She is always fabulous, and does a deep dive into each character she portrays. She's funny and she breaks your heart at the same time. I found Joel Oulette when someone pointed me towards his performance in "Trickster", which I thought was amazing. It took me a few years to get this film made and in that time Joel had changed the most, physically, but he actually grew into the character. I had written it for his physicality, his outer show of strength juxtaposed to his actual vulnerability and his philosophical nature. I found Keira Jang through a Canada-wide open call. I saw so many fantastic female actors, so many different Kiahs. Keira's audition had a sense of becoming that I loved, if that makes any sense. She just was her.

Going back to us being part of one giant organism, how would you describe your directing style?

Cheryl Marion, Production Designer, photogaphed by Brian Van Wyk

AMF: Filmmaking is such a collaboration, obviously. And different team members have different processes. I think of myself as a host, and what do I have to provide/be to make my guests comfortable so that they can have a good time and be open and playful and vulnerable as they need to be. Actors are amazing. They give you everything. And it is their face up there on the screen. It is an incredible trust they are giving you. I hope that I do not add to the stress that is on-camera performance on a tight schedule! I have a very clear vision of what I want, but you've got to go with where the day and the players will take you.

No one wants to be responsible for adding stress! What would you say was the most important lesson you've learned from making this film?

AMF: Life is precious. Death does not have to be scary. The world is beautiful. Filmmaking can be magic.

Lovely insight, I hope you’ll take all that into your next projects. Speaking of, are there any upcoming projects you're excited about?

AMF: So many! I am working on an animated feature, Shanghai Follies, based on my animated doc "The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam" about my vaudevillian, acrobatic mixed-race family. Also I have "Gift Horse", another film about ethics where people find free money in public spaces, "Orca", where Climate Change collides with a lonely female novelist's plans, and "Mice Men" which riffs off of "Of Mice and Men" and explores the challenge of caring relationships of men through a female lens.

Thanks for sharing Ann Marie! We’ll keep an eye out for your new work. Now, we’ll turn it over to Composer Brent Belke to give us some insight on building the film’s world through music.

To kick things off, how did you approach the score for this film Brent?

Brent Belke, Composer, photographed by Brian Van Wyk

Brent Belke (BB): From the heart, mostly. Sometimes, it was the rhythm of the image, the way the drama unfolds, the silent spots in the film.

And, how would you describe your musical style?

BB: By the time I came on board, Ann Marie had a vision of the musical landscape she wanted and I think space was the most important aspect. The world of this film isn't a space age future but a quiet organic world with space for nature and the characters' journeys. This space allows the viewer to be engaged with the film viscerally.

As we’ve discussed, collaboration is such a huge aspect of filmmaking, how did you collaborate with Ann Marie to bring the vision to life?

BB: It started with sitting in a room together watching the film and discussing the film and the music. Compared to most spotting sessions there was more talk of general concepts of the film itself and how the music could support it.

Can you share what your favourite piece of music that you composed for this film is?

BB: My fave is the boat ceremony cue. There is a lot going on in this scene... end of life, Kiah's growth and the priceless natural world. Peggy Lee, my favourite musician, is the featured cello player. Her playing is always so grounded, precise and raw.

Sounds beautiful! Thanks for chatting with us Brent. Now we’d love to chat to Justin Li about his approach to storytelling as the editor of the film. How would you describe your approach?

Justin Li (JL): With Can I Get A Witness? we strove to ground the narrative from Kiah's point of view. Her experience is the driving force and guide for the audience as we discover this world. We did our best not to explicitly say what is happening and what her occupation is because she knows those things, but the emotion of the situations that she is experiencing for the first time are what we hoped audiences would be able to walk away with after viewing each scene.

When approaching the film, how did you determine the pacing?

JL: With this film, I let a lot of the direction and performance from on set help to dictate the initial pacing, particularly since we wanted to lean quite naturalistic. This is a "sci-fi" film that should feel like anything but. It takes place in the not so distant future and the world should feel mostly familiar to us so it was intentional that we kept things fairly linear and toned down in order to allow the audience to melt into the world and the experience we were weaving.

For you, what is the most challenging aspect of the editing process, and how do you handle it?

JL: Time. It's always time. You could have weeks, months or years, but you'll always use all of it and wish you had more. We just do the best with what's allotted and you do everything you can to leave no stone unturned. Most often with editing, you just have to treat it like triage. You identify the most important, or sometimes most problematic, areas and work down from there. Thankfully, when a story is working, and you have great performances, it allows you to sweat the small stuff a little more and you can worry about "should I trim this 1 Frame or 2?" instead of "should this scene go up here, here, here or the trash?"

We’ve had a theme of one giant organism in this chat, how closely did you work with Ann Marie during the editing process?

JL: Extremely! Ann Marie is a wonderful, passionate collaborator and a kind host. I set up my system in her home and we would work together on a daily basis going through the film again and again, discussing every decision. She'd been a part of this story for much longer than I had and it was important to discuss and identify the story she wanted to tell, and then to execute the best and truest version of that possible.

We imagine tone is no easy feat with a film set in the near future, can you speak to how you navigated it during the edit?

JL: Tone is always tricky, particularly with this kind of subject matter. You don't want to lean into it too heavily because then it's a slog or can feel manipulative; and you don't want to take it too lightly and be disrespectful of the subject of grief and loss. What helped with Can Get a Witness? is that this is a world that has already come to accept this reality. We could be lighter in areas because to nearly all of the characters, this was just how things are and it's only through the audience's real life lens that anything seems off. I appreciated so much the neutral stance the script, direction and characters took with the subject matter as it allowed for myself and hopefully anyone else watching to come to their own conclusions regarding loss and acceptance. We wanted to present ideas, not judgements.

Thanks Justin! We’re very much looking forward to watching the film and seeing how it comes to life on the big screen.