Lights, camera, accolades! A rising star and Moose Jaw resident will be representing her hometown as the aspiring young film producer, Amelia Mitchell, recently learned that her short film has been nominated for Best Canadian Short Film at the Change the Script film festival in Hamilton, Ont.
The festival will be held on Wednesday, July 31, and Mitchell will soon be flying out to receive her award and meet other talented producers in the opening act of her new career in film.
Mitchell submitted her film in the emerging filmmaker category, but the film ended up being compared with all of the festival’s entries which came as quite the surprise.
“I was kind of expecting to be competing just on a student level,” she said. “So, to have it picked for best Canadian short film was like on a whole other level. That was really special.”
The feeling of being selected was, as she described it, “very flattering” but also “shocking.”
Mitchell was born in Prelate, Sask., — a village with a 2021 population of 116 residents — and moved to Moose Jaw with her family when she was five years old.
In her fourth year at the University of Regina, Mitchell created the short film “Stay Here” for a class she was taking. The film was then handed back to her with the liberty to do whatever she wanted with it.
“So, you could post it online, or let it sit on the shelf,” she said. “But I decided to submit it to as many festivals as I could.”
Stay Here is based around a troubled young man whose infatuation with a coworker spirals out of control after she introduces him to a dangerous coping mechanism. The film explores the feeling of being lost in his stage of life and touches on the information overload commonplace in the modern world.
“The main character is in a similar situation to a lot of people who are in their early 20s and trying to find their place in the world,” she explained.
The film’s protagonist works a thankless minimum wage job and has recently moved to a new city away from home.
“I think (this situation) is honestly a Saskatchewan thing, because a lot of people move to Regina or Saskatoon away from their parents,” she said.
“He also struggles with mental health, and I feel like that’s just a situation that a lot of people from my generation right now can relate to.”
Although Mitchell had help with filming, the sound score, and welcomed on a few additional actors, she wrote, directed, and edited the film herself.
Her inspiration came from her own experiences, but she also explored the struggles of her generation in a broader sense including the anxieties and struggles of the times.
“When I was pitching the idea (for the film), someone told me they’ve had similar experiences,” she recalled. “So, it’s a little bit autobiographical, but does include… a broad kind of universal experience.”
Mitchell plans to pursue a career in film and intends to produce another film in the province within the next couple of years.
“I mean, I don’t want to say (when) for sure… but I always have ideas (for film content),” she said.
The upcoming awards ceremony will help Mitchell get her career started will definitely have a positive impact on her future.
“It’s helping to give me a little more confidence,” she said. “When you make something in school, that’s one thing to show it to your class… But… when it gets screened at a festival, that’s like crossing into the professional world…
“Having public screenings is really important to your career because it lets you point at something and say, ‘Hey, these people thought my film was pretty good too.’”
Mitchell said she’s looking forward to meeting the other award winners and being surrounded by a group of like-minded creators.
Her film isn’t currently available for viewing, but anyone interested in learning more can expect to hear more from her in the upcoming years.
To learn more about Change the Script, visit FilmFreeway.com/ChangeTheScript.
