Ladner resident and independent filmmaker Garnet Campbell has completed a feature-length film he says is already drawing some interest.
An instructor at the Delta school district’s film production academy, Campbell made his own 100-minute family film, Lost in the Wilderness, using Vancouver actors and a script written by André Harden.
Three years in the making and shot in Chilliwack, the film is about two families dealing with death and divorce, pressured to bond together during an outdoor vacation. The blended family has four would-be siblings that wander out of bounds on their ATVs in search of an lost relic. They soon find themselves lost in the woods and ill equipped to deal not only with the rugged terrain but the emotional pain they have brought with them.
The young people learn to work together and understand each other during their odyssey in the coming-of-age film, one Campbell says can’t get any better as far as the scenery.
“The term is blended families, which these days is becoming a little more common. Our story was about the parents trying to get the kids — they each have two kids from previous marriages — with the idea to connect and sort of bond. Of course, the kids hate each other and it’s not until they become lost that they have to start working their problems out.”
Campbell partnered with Kevin Pahl, another independent producer and filmmaker, to make the film.
“Because he (Pahl) spends every summer out in the mountains there, he said, ‘This is so beautiful. We just need a story to shoot here and the scenery is all set.”’
The film, which had a recent premiere in Delta, is currently available on Vimeo on Demand and will soon be on iTunes. Campbell said the film will also be available on the U.S. website ChristianCinema.com. A U.S. DVD distributor, meanwhile, has expressed interest in distributing the film to Christian retail bookstores later this year.
“We’ve had a lot of interest from distributors and because one of our actors is a former South African daytime television celebrity, we will have a release in South Africa as well,” Campbell added.
Campbell is a teacher in the film academy, but his project is not connected with the program.
