Million-Dollar Movie Production Headed to Saint John in 2024

SAINT JOHN — The Port City will provide the backdrop for a million-dollar movie production next spring. With a working title of Unseen, the film, written by Haligonian Taylor Olson, will be shot in Saint John in early 2024 after getting the go-ahead for financial support from Telefilm Canada last week.

“We have a great team that we’ve assembled already,” says the film’s co-producer, Sandy Hunter.

A Nova Scotia/New Brunswick co-production, Unseen is being made by Hunter and Steve Foster of Saint John’s Hemmings Films, as well as Britt Kerr, who runs Brass Door Productions in Halifax.

Telefilm Canada announced funding for the $1.2 million production on June 5. The film is one of 32 productions the organization has committed to funding in the 2023-2024 fiscal year worth a total of $19.4 million. There will be 25 English language productions and seven French.

Unseen is about a man named Gideon who, after a bad financial decision, loses his marriage which eventually leads to him living in his van.

“He keeps this secret from his family and friends and tries to keep up the façade,” says Hunter, a former Apple TV Canada executive. “He doesn’t want anyone to know. Then the pandemic hits and things spiral.”

Hunter says the film has moments of lightness and redemption but that Unseen is “a movie about houselessness, kind of this invisible houselessness epidemic that is growing across Canada,” as played out by Gideon and his daughter who find themselves in this situation.

Co-producer Foster agrees that houselessness is a growing problem across the country.

“One of the main things the movie sheds light on is the complexity of houselessness,” Foster says. He notes that in his work with non-profits in the Saint John region he’s seen people with master’s degrees and good jobs find themselves in tough situations. “I’d like to hope more people knew that it wasn’t always about addiction and substance abuse. It can happen to anyone. Anyone can fall through the cracks.”

Hunter and Foster say they’ve been working for more than a year to get the project off the ground after seeing Olson’s 2020 film Bone Cage, a drama juxtaposing the main character’s job working a clear cut and his desire to nurture his family and save the animals his job displaces.

Expect the city itself to play a large role in the production. Saint Johners will easily be able to recognize many of the anticipated filming locations.

“Gideon, our main character is an elite swim coach. We’ve secured the Aquatic Centre in Saint John as a location, which will be a key place where a lot of action happens,” Hunter says.

“Obviously, there’s the beautiful uptown…but imagine where you might need to park your van when you’re living rough. Maybe out at McAllister place somewhere, in one of those parking lots.”

Hunter says Saint John’s industrial roots will provide a familiar backdrop for many small, working-class cities across Canada.

“There are a lot of mill towns and factory towns of 100,000 across this country, and the statistics we’ve looked at with regard to the houselessness epidemic, a lot of it is affecting small to mid-sized cities. It’s not just the Torontos and the Winnipegs and the Vancouvers.”

The decision to be a co-production between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia was one of financial necessity Hunter and Foster say.

“We knew we were going to be working with Nova Scotia on this project,” Hunter says. “And looking at some of the resources that are not available in our province, it made sense to work with the more established market out of Halifax.”

Foster explains that New Brunswick’s cap of $1.5 million in support for feature films and $2 million cap per organization pales in comparison to Nova Scotia’s project cap of $10 million, siphoning potential business away from the province, particularly for big-budget projects.

“It’s a very steep hill for us to climb as producers locally. There’s literally no other province in Canada that hasn’t increased their film and television incentive program this year, save for New Brunswick and that makes our job so much more difficult.”

Still Foster is hopeful about the direction the industry is going in the province, as well as about the growing understanding the New Brunswick government has about the need to support the burgeoning film and television industry.

The film is being distributed by Vortex Media, and will have a theatrical release. It will also be available on the streaming service, Crave.

Alex Graham is a Huddle reporter in Saint John. Send her your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].