Canadian filmmaker makes her feature directorial debut with a Indie movie set in the Okanagan Valley currently filming in Penticton

Photo: Contributed

A Canadian filmmaker is showing off her love of Penticton by utilizing the landscape and the city in her first feature film, which will premiere on Crave next year.

Caitlyn Sponheimer is a Directors Guild of Canada nominee, Reykjavik Talent Lab alumna and Telefilm Canada and Canada Council for the Arts grant recipient.

She said her start in the industry began with acting, training in New York at Neighbourhood Playhouse.

"I kind of continued acting mostly and then I met Warren Sulatycky. I auditioned for him and he cast me in his first feature, April in Autumn, and then we just kept making films. And I started making my own shorts and now we're making a feature," she said.

Sponheimer was drawn back to Penticton for this film, which is set in a rundown, Okanagan Valley RV park during the summer of 2003.

"I grew up spending my summers in Penticton and I was just feeling this really intense nostalgia for it when I hadn't been back for so many years as an adult," she added.

"Penticton just means so much to me as a place. I feel like I kind of grew up here and had so many great experiences as a teen and a kid. And I just wanted to put it on screen and show people how beautiful it is and how beautiful it is in Canada."

Filming began on Monday for Wild Goat Surf, which is described as a "character-driven, coming-of-age story exploring the themes of parental loss, the power of friendship, and how our childhoods shape our future."

The main character Rell 'Goat' Barrel, is a twelve-year-old precocious tomboy who skateboards up and down the Okanagan Valley, dreaming of becoming a world-class surfer like her father even though she lives far away from the ocean.

While Sponheimer was writing the script, she said she became focused on weaving in the issues of the high poverty rate in B.C. and the struggles people living here face that those vacationing may not see.

"I came here to vacation. But it's kind of exploring the people that maybe I didn't realize were here and suffering, even though this is paradise to me... All of it is explored in a positive, celebrated way. Instead of kind of highlighting the struggles, it's highlighting how people deal with adversity.

"So I'm hoping it is positive and also lets us see into the lives of other people instead of kind of judging them before we know what happens."

Another area Sponheimer is focusing on in a positive light is queer storytelling.

"I think creating and having queer characters where their storyline isn't about their sexuality, and it's also not condemned, but celebrated, is really important. I think it'll be really important for young people to see that it can just be a lovely thing," she said.

"There will always be struggles, but it doesn't have to be negative, it can be really joyful."

Alongside writing and directing the film, Sponheimer is also a producer and will be acting in it.

"I'm always inspired by films, I love the indie film world. And I also watch big commercial films. But I think the inspiration comes from when you see a film that moves you and creates empathy, I think that's what makes me excited to be a storyteller."

The hard work of her crew is also a big inspiration, as everyone pulls long days in the heat and rain this week.

"The heat has been hard and there are always challenges. But we've got some beautiful stuff so far and the kids are amazing. The child actors are just so much fun to work with," Sponheimer said, thanking her executive producers Abubakar Salim, Dyllón Burnside, Warren Sulatycky and Robert Montcalm and producer Mike Johnston.

Wild Goat Surf will be filming in Penticton until Sept. 22 before heading to the coast for some final shots in Vancouver and Tofino.

"We'll be up in festivals ideally next spring. We have a quick turnaround and then Crave bought the film, so we will premiere on Crave around November 2023."