The film was shot during the summer in Regina. (Submitted photo/Anand Ramayya)

By Derek Cornet

horror movie

La Ronge, Meadow Lake talent involved in new film shot in Regina

Sep 28, 2024 | 7:00 AM

Four former residents from La Ronge and an actress from Meadow Lake were involved in a horror-thriller feature film recently shot in Regina.

The movie, which is called #Vanlife and was written and directed by Métis filmmaker Trevor Cameron, is a road trip story about two young social influencers who are living in a van. They are travelling across the Great Plains when they get targeted by a cult and must fight for survival.

Along the way and through the process, they learn about themselves, as well as reconnect and discover their humanity.

Those with connections from La Ronge includes executive producer Doug Cuthand, producer Anand Ramayya, lead actor Joel Montgrand and supporting actor Leo Fafard, who also worked in several departments in the production of the film.

Meadow Lake’s Dakota Ray Hebert also has a role in the film.

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“There’s just this shared sort of pride that we ended up doing something we loved and now we are all getting to work together. We all have really strong memories of our hometown. We still identify as being from La Ronge,” Ramayya said.

“Dakota was awesome. She just killed it. She was a joy to work with. I know she is know for comedy. She is such a good actress. She did an amazing job.”

The film was shot on the largest volume LED wall in Canada. (Submitted photo/Anand Ramayya)

The film will be approximately 90 minutes in length and will be completed in February 2025. It was filmed at the John Hopkins Regina Soundstage between July 10 and Sept. 17.

#Vanlife will eventually be shown at film festivals and its creators are hoping it will have a limited theatrical release in Canada and wherever there is interest. Creators would like to see a company like Netflix or Amazon to purchase the film, which will also be featured on APTN.

“We had an amazing cast on it. The majority of our lead actors are Indigenous,” Ramayya added.

One unique aspect of the movie is 90 per cent of it was shot on the largest LED volume wall in Canada. The wall is two stories high and it has an interior space of 5,000 square feet.

“This was the second project in a slate of films being shot here and the first Indigenous film to be shot on a volume wall of this scale,” Ramayya mentioned.

“We dressed the entire set and recreated the world digitally and also physically. It gave the filmmaker the freedom to create what he wanted and for us to be able to shoot as we wanted in those different locations. We could create ominous dark clouds and rely on them being there because we control them.”

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com