Independent Ladner filmmaker Jason Mills is gearing up for the world premiere of his latest project.
Beyond The Line, his ninth film, will be shown on June 4 at the Cinematheque Theatre in Vancouver before a world-wide release on June 28.
Beyond The Line tells the story of a British soldier, shot down from his plane over enemy territory during the Second World War, who is saved by an American soldier. The soldiers must then work together as they face their common enemy to make it back to friendly territory.
“From my last film to this film it is now at another level – a professional level,” said Mills, who directed, wrote and produced the film. “Even though the other films were released everywhere, this one will go big. It’s very exciting.”
Mills started production two years ago. Filming took place in Ladner, Tsawwassen and Harrison Mills. All the actors are local as is the film crew.
“The movie takes place at the end of the war, so it’s about the German soldiers who didn’t surrender and are still fighting and our two main characters have to fight their way home,” he said. “I love this genre and love war movies. Saving Private Ryan is one of my favourite movies, so I drew a lot of influence and inspiration from that.
“That movie really draws you in. Obviously you don’t have the same budget that they did, but I did all of the costumes and we have some great CGI and I wanted to have a great authentic feel and we have all of that.”
Mills said he is excited for the premiere and then the world-wide release.
“I went to the American Film Market in Los Angeles. I took two of my movies and I just wanted to see what was out there,” Mills said. “I dropped the trailer for Beyond The Line with Vision Films and I didn’t think anything would come of it, but immediately they wanted to get involved, which is really rare for an independent filmmaker like myself.
“They ended up emailing me like six times, so I went back in there, we had a good meeting and we ended up coming to a deal. It’s exciting. I’ve been doing this for 10 years. I create films in a real unique way, which is getting noticed.”
While working on his own projects, Mills continues to give back to his craft by teaching the next generation of filmmakers at the Delta Film Academy.
He also has another documentary called Big Foot Girls set for release that has garnered interest from Netflix.
“It’s exciting. I get to help these kids at the academy and now these amazing things are happening for my projects,” he said.
The premiere for Beyond The Line is set for 6:30 p.m. on June 4. Tickets are $12, available at www.theCinematheque.ca or https://www.facebook.com/MPBeyondtheLine/. The theatre is located at 1131 Howe St. in Vancouver.
