Mother and son featured in The Land of Rock and Gold
- Linda Mikolayenko | January 04, 2016
The Land of Rock and Gold, a new feature film being produced in Saskatchewan, is a true collaborative venture.
Janine Windolph and Daniel Redenbach are the co-producers, co-writers and co-directors. In addition to working with each other’s strengths, Windolph and Redenbach have taken advantage of the resources in La Ronge, Windolph’s hometown.
“We’ve been able to make the film possible because we’ve had a lot of community support and a lot of community donations,” said Windolph, noting that the production has a micro budget, primarily funded by Telefilm Canada and Creative Saskatchewan.
Local businesses, organizations and individuals were generous in providing access to their venues for shooting. As well, some of the outdoor scenes were filmed at Lynx Creek, near Stanley Mission.
“In the city you have access to a sound studio, but you can’t recreate the beauty that is on the land here,” said Windolph, thankful that they had mild winter weather for those days.
The movie is about a mother and her journey into searching for her missing boyfriend, says Windolph. “Through it, she starts to look at her connection to her son and herself, and she goes on this learning journey that takes her full circle to finding herself and what it means to be a mother and what that looks like without her partner.”
In the fall, the directors put out a “no experience necessary” casting call in La Ronge for the role of the mother (Rochelle), and her son, as well as several other roles. Charity Bradfield brought her son, Dimitri McLeod, to a workshop to audition for the role of the young boy.
“I know he’s a little performer; he likes to perform at home,” said Bradfield. “To get him to participate, I started to do some of the activities.”
Bradfield, who normally works as a cashier/buyer at Robertson Trading Ltd., caught the attention of Windolph who wondered why she wasn’t trying out for the role of the mother. The 32-year-old Bradfield explained that the casting call asked for someone between the ages of 20 and 29, but when Windolph told her that was not an issue, she agreed to read some lines.
“We were very lucky,” said Windolph. “I just can’t imagine anyone else being Rochelle.”
Bradfield admits to being caught off guard when she got the part, but was excited for the opportunity to act in a movie, with her son, and alongside professional actors.
“The very first day that we filmed, I was so nervous,” she said, “but after we did the first scene, I was comfortable. I’m surprised with myself. I really didn’t think I would be capable of doing it.”
Windolph acknowledges that Bradfield added a valuable dimension to the production. “We had Charity have input on her own character, which gives it a nice blend of a collaborative energy. She transcended what I had originally seen the character as, which is a really good thing.”
While Bradfield was grateful to be able to get time off work for her role, the directors tried to be respectful of seven-year-old McLeod’s school schedule as much as possible, and even filmed a scene with his Grade 2 class at Pre-Cam Community School.
“All his classmates were super-excited,” said Bradfield.
The film wrapped up shooting in La Ronge in December, and is now in the editing phase. The producers are hoping to hold a preliminary screening in La Ronge in April, which will give them time to make adjustments before sending it out on the festival circuit. The plan is also to run a crowdfunding campaign to support post-production expenses.