Co-producers Janine Windolph and Daniel Redenbach scout locations for the film. Photo courtesy “Land of Rock and Gold,” Facebook.
The location choice for the feature film “Land of Rock and Gold” is no coincidence.
One of its producers, Janine Windolph, grew up in La Ronge.
The indie film is doing its big shoots in La Ronge throughout December, starting this week.
The story revolves around a woman trying to find her partner, who has gone missing, and that journey takes her into the woods. The film explores the woman’s relationship as well.
The main characters are First Nations, but not entirely. Windolph wrote the script with a fellow University of Regina grad, Daniel Redenbach.
She says the brought their identities — her as a Cree woman, and him as a non-First Nations man — to the table.
“I’m bringing my identity and my side, and Daniel’s bringing his side. And through our characters we see them go through these intricate relationships and kind of, they have their hiccups along the way but they come to an understanding at the end,” she said.
Windolph says the location is incredibly important.
“There’s just no way to recreate this in a studio. To me, it’s always been a wonderful playground and now it’s awesome to have the playground as the scene of our set,” she said.
The film intentionally uses untrained actors, which is meant to give it an authentic feel.
They’re casting local people and showing young people how feature films are made. Windolph says she hopes to open people up to a new way of storytelling.
“Hopefully with these seeds planted, there will be a ripple effect. Because storytelling is a very natural process here in the north. People are always telling stories around a fire, it’s just learning to tell in a new way, that’s the most exciting element,” she said.
“The Land of Rock and Gold” is funded by a number of grants, and funding from Creative Saskatchewan.
Windolph and Redenbach are looking to crowdfund the promotion and distribution.