Theatre-goers stayed tuned to the cinema screen right through the end credits, noting all of the local names listed.
For two months during the winter of 2022, film crews and actors descended on Timmins to make My Animal, the first feature film shot in the city.
Director Jacqueline Castel, actors Charles and Harrison Halpenny and producer Andrew Bronfman were back in Timmins last night (Sept. 25) for the local premiere of the film.
The screening launched the Timmins Film Society's 2023-24 season, with the roughly 100 tickets for the first theatre selling out in seven minutes. Two more theatres were added, with each of those selling out as well.
My Animal officially premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2023.
Bringing it back to Timmins was almost more emotional than its debut for Castel.
"The premiere is one thing, the first screening of your movie. Of course, that’s going to be really exciting for its own reasons. There are other types of screenings that end up holding a lot of value because of what it meant to making the film,” she said during an event after the screening.
Classified as a horror and romance film, My Animal is the story of Heather, an outcast teen who falls for newcomer Jonny. As their relationship develops, Heather's desires clash with her darkest secret and she has to contain the animal within.
People familiar with Timmins will recognize the scenery.
The Sportsplex, Airport Hotel, Dubien's, and Bozzer Park all play a part. The Guiho family home was one of the main locations.
It was all about location when it came down to choosing where to film.
Castel knew the film was going to be produced in Northern Ontario and was choosing between five or six cities.
"On lower-budget films you really have to focus in on places that already look how you envision them. So many of the places in Timmins were just dead on for what I wanted to do for the film. Then when we came here, I was really just blown away by how everyone in Timmins was just so helpful and willing to jump in and provide their cars, their homes, all sorts of different resources — snowplowing, all sorts of different things. I just felt really well taken care of when I was here,” she said.
The one thing she wasn't prepared for is how cold Timmins can get in February and March. The freezing temperatures added to the film's charm, though.
"It ... has a really magical look to it because there’s not a lot of places that really look like that or get snow like that, certainly not where I live — there’s not snow like that. There’s something really magical about it,” she said.
The first edit of the film was three hours, which means a lot of footage ended up on the cutting room floor.
“It’s one of those things where it’s heartbreaking because you love all the scenes that you shoot in a movie and you want to include them all," she said.
With the help of an editor, who wasn't involved in production, she made a lot of hard choices to anchor the movie's core elements.
She's not ruling out some of those scenes getting screen time at some point.
"There was a lot of things that got cut that I was really sad to see go. Maybe when the Blu-ray gets released it will be all the deleted scenes,” she said.
Film society launching new season
Having a movie filmed in town launch its season was also a first for the Timmins Film Society.
Chair Paul Charette said it's absolutely phenomenal to have My Animal screened locally and to have the director, as well as some of the actors and producer in town.
"When you see certain things on the screen, you’re always looking at it, ‘I’ve been to New York or I’ve been to L.A. or I’ve been to Chicago’ and you see the landmarks. Well for people in town, it’s cool to be able to look back and be like, ‘OK, that’s the overpass on Vipond Road or that’s the sideroad going by Cedar Meadows or that’s the Sportsplex.' One of the videos was the Timmins Rock playing, that was supposed to be the NHL team that they were watching,” he said.
As the credits rolled, he noted people involved were taking photos of their names on the screen.
The local premiere was Charette's first time watching the movie.
"It was very a very artsy movie. The cinematography was very good,” he said.
“You could tell certain scenes what was going on based on the background tone of the lighting, I found. I thought it was very good. It was very, very well done."
The Timmins Film Society screens movies once a month from September to May.
The schedule for up to December will be released soon, though the films coming later in the season may be a bit later.
“We have a lot of good films that we’re finalizing that haven’t come to Timmins at all and are getting a lot of buzz in terms of some of the award ceremonies that are coming up,” he said.
The Timmins Film Festival is also back this November.
While the last details are just being worked out, Charette said it runs Nov. 2-5. There will be one film shown on Thursday, Friday and Sunday, with two on screen on Saturday.
"There is a movie that we’re finishing off very light-hearted with a fun comedy. I can’t really say what’s going on, but I’ll give you a teaser … Ben Platt is in it, he’s from Dear Evan Hansen. A little sneak peek of the last movie, he’s in it,” he said.
