Local feature film Y2Kameron is back for an encore tonight, Saturday only, showing at 9:15 pm at Broadway Cinemas in Tillsonburg.
“I wasn’t planning on a doing a showing this year, but I’m turning 40 on Sunday, so I’m kind of doing it as a birthday thing for myself,” said Adam Glass of OTG Productions (Off The Glass) , writer, director, executive producer and actor in the self-funded indie comedy.
“I just figured I’d give it one more shot and if I get a big enough turnout Saturday night, and it seems like it might warrant another showing, then I’m more than happy to do another one. The theater has been really good working with me.”
You can watch the trailer at http://y2kameron.com/ . Tickets are $15.
“I did 100 different roles on the actual film because we didn’t have the budget to fill everything,” said Glass, who noted his unrated film was made for an 18-plus audience (language).
The story follows Kameron, the main character, and his friends in the dialup Y2K era of September 1999 until March 2000, and the majority of the volunteer cast is from Tillsonburg, including Grant Campbell, Jason Leighfield, Hailey McAra, Steve Martin, Lance MacKenzie and Matt Ungar.
Principal photography for the 82-minute feature was completed by hired professionals in Tillsonburg back in 2014, primarily in an indoor studio Glass created at 230 Lisgar Avenue (currently the Tillsonburg Dental Centre). Recognizable film locations include the Kinsmen Memorial Arena – both inside and outside – and one of the scenes was shot at My Bar & Grill.
“Some bigger productions got shut down during the pandemic and it gave me an ‘in’ to some higher-end Toronto-type post-production houses that normally wouldn’t work on films like mine.”
Post-production was completed in late 2021 and it premiered in 2022 with three screenings in Tillsonburg, including a private showing, and one in London, with great audience response.
“It is a comedy, and in my head I was thinking, ‘If I can get one laugh out of the crowd, I can feel like I’ve accomplished something.’ There were definitely a few people who were crying, they were laughing so hard. So that felt pretty good.”
The next step is distribution. Glass has been submitting the film to festivals and is independently cold-calling distribution companies.
“Ideally, I’d like to do a theatrical run, even it’s just indie theaters in a small showing. I don’t need to do a wide release.”
The project had all started on a whim, said Glass, who went into it without having a film-making education or background.
“This was kind of just me with a passion for film-making and being in a place in my life where I just wanted to take a stab at something.”
As they were filming, Glass rewrote the back half of the film based on factors like ‘locations not being available,’ or just changing their minds on what they could – or could not – shoot.
“I honestly think the back half of the film, that was kind of written and shot as we were going, is probably the best of it. It’s when the actors were a lot more comfortable being on set, being their characters, and we had worked with the crew a few weeks at that point. We had a good report.”
Considering the limited budget and experience, Glass said the final result was impressive.
“I’m kind of blown away by how it well it ended up working out.”
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