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Penticton  

Keeping it reel in Valley

A movie filmed in the Okanagan last summer will be making its festival debut at the Montreal World Film Festival this weekend, but the future of the festival remains in limbo.

Kate Twa, who lives in Vancouver, wrote the script for The Orchard while in Arizona in May 2015, but she always had the Okanagan in mind, despite never really spending much time here.

She came to the Okanagan last summer with co-creator Ronan Reinhart to scout out places to shoot, and quickly fell in love with the area. By August, filming had begun in Peachland and Naramata.

“It was so surprising to see how many people wanted to help and how happy they were that the Okanagan was being shot as the Okanagan and not as some distant American landscape.

“We were treated really well.”

Several local landmarks are featured prominently in the film.

“I rewrote the script to include actual places in the Okanagan, like Andy's Animal Farm and the lavender farm and all of those places I rewrote based on who we met and what we saw,” Twa said. “Which was kind of cool because it became even more authentic.”

The film is about a Los Angeles talent agent who inherits a small peach orchard in the Okanagan. He travels north expecting to make a quick sale on the land, but begins to fall for the area and the people who live there.

Twa enjoyed her time in the Okanagan so much last summer that she's recently bought a place in Naramata.

“I didn't know that there was a place that was kind of like heaven,” she said. “My neighbours have vineyards; is there anything better in the world?”

Twa flies to Montreal Thursday for the debut of the film at the Montreal World Film Festival, despite the festival experiencing some turbulent times as of late.

Cineplex pulled out of the fest last week, citing a number of concerns with the financials and operation of it, leaving the festival with far fewer screens then hoped.

“It's gotten messy,” Twa said. “We do know that we're screening for sure this weekend ... we just have no idea what to expect.”

Twa was told in July that their movie would be shown at the festival, but that was put in jeopardy when Cineplex pulled out. She was just told Wednesday that that the festival would in fact be screening The Orchard, just once, compared to the three screenings she was promised in July.

Montreal is only the start for The Orchard though.

“We'll be a travelling caravan if we have to,” Twa said. “We're so excited for people to see it.”

In addition to future festival screenings, Twa is trying to get a screening organized in the Okanagan.



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