Want a glimpse into the world of making films on a shoestring budget?

During the shoot for the Saskatoon-filmed short film Interpersonalities, there was a technical error that ruined all the footage from day one of their budgeted two days. Director Aiden Nakhai didn’t sleep that night — but the next day, he did what any filmmaker would do in his position: he led the cast and crew in starting from scratch, pulling off a 20 hour-plus marathon shoot.

“When we finally wrapped,” says Nakhai, “I was having breakfast with [editor Brad Merkle], and he fell asleep mid-speech.”

The film, produced by local company Hulo Films, is one of two Saskatchewan-made films that are premiering at The Broadway Theatre on September 18th. Interpersonalities will run with a feature-length film titled Surveillance, which was directed by David Lynch’s daughter, Jennifer Lynch, and stars Julia Ormond and Bill Pullman.

Interpersonalities is a psychological thriller about Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) — also known as Dissociative Identity Disorder — wherein more than one identity inhabits the mind of a person. Hollywood has made a lot of use of this concept (we’ll never forgive them for Raising Cain!), though scientifically MPD’s existence is hotly debated; many experts don’t think this disorder actually exists. So, does the film go the Hollywood route, or does it delve into the skepticism surrounding MPD?

“It’s hard to answer without giving anything away,” answers Nakhai. “Ultimately [the film] is about reality — what is real and what is imagined. But on a deeper level you can question these characters, their motivations and their relations to one another and find statements about therapy and mental health disorders. The idea is for two people who have watched this film to have different opinions as to what this film was about, and my goal was to film it in such a way so that multiple parties can have solid arguments as to which reality they think is real.”

The short got off the ground when producer Ryan Lockwood showed Nakhai some scripts written by Jason Young.

“Actually,” admits Nakhai, “when I first read the script for Interpersonalities I didn't get it. It took a few reads until I started to wrap my head around it and started to get the creative juices flowing, figuring out how to present this story to the best of my abilities using the film medium.”

As Nakhai continued to brainstorm, the producers got financing in place and began casting. Nakhai and producer Stephen Huzsar held casting sessions in Regina and Saskatoon, with entries coming from Vancouver to Winnipeg. They ultimately cast Winnipeg’s Cindy Marie Small in the female lead, and Jesse Froese as a younger character.

“Leading up to the making of the film,” says Nakhai, “my main concern was finding the actor to play the character Tyler, who is meant to be a 12-year-old-boy in the script. I was worried because I didn't want to hinge so much responsibility on the shoulders of a 12-year-old who would be so critical to this project, so I was hoping for someone who looked young but was actually older. We auditioned some great young talent in Regina but none of them fit — then luckily we found our actor, and in Saskatoon too.

“[Though older than 12, Froese] looked young and gave a great audition, but then I was hit with the news that he was involved with a high school play on the dates we were shooting. Somehow, I begged my way into him doing double duty and the actor managed to do both his play and filming on the same weekend.”

With a Canadian premiere at the Whistler Film Festival, the film went on to enjoy a successful ride on the festival circuit, with International Selections in Sao Paulo, Australia, and the US. Each time a local film, whether a feature or a short, has some degree of success, it reflects on the Saskatchewan film industry, says Nakhai, making it easier for others to get financing or attract projects from the United States.

“Just to make a film in Saskatchewan is a hard thing to do,” he says, “so anytime you can pull one off not only is it valuable in terms of experience for cast and crew, but hopefully it opens the doors for newer and bigger projects.”