A local filmmaker is branching out to create an indie film of her own design, and it’s earned her a local and long-standing arts award.
Tracy Strnad was the recipient of the 27th-annual Robert G. Kemp Arts Award, a $5,000 grant given in memory of Robert Kemp by the Blue Mountain Foundation of the Arts.
This will be Strnad’s first foray into feature-length narrative film. She’s part of Mountain Goat Film Company, and has directed a feature-length documentary called King for a Day, about the Collingwood Elvis Festival.
“I think it’s amazing … I couldn’t believe I was selected,” said Strnad on receiving the grant. “As a young woman and as a director … it means so much and makes me feel really confident about the arts community in this area … that we’re in this together and I feel very blessed to be a part of this.”
The film’s working title is Labour Day, and it will be a coming-of-age story about a young, female protagonist. The filming will be done in the Georgian Bay region, and Strnad is working with the Rochelle Reynolds of Collingwood-based Quarter Century Theatre on character development.
Strnad is finishing the script now, and hopes to complete all the filming in August.
“I’ve been involved in the film world here, locally, for almost a decade in different respects,” she said. “All artists want to take on more and more as they grow. This was the next big step in my career - to be able to write and direct my own film. Creatively, I will have control over what will be my vision for the film … The opportunity has presented itself and I’m excited to embrace the challenge.”
Strnad said the story will be about how different people of different generations deal with emotional pain and ‘tough’ points in their lives.
Strnad’s husband, Tom Strnad, also of Mountain Goat Film Company will be in charge of cinematography and editing.
She hopes to have the film ready for entry into festivals by the fall, with a local screening by 2020 at the latest.
“It’s an ambitious turnaround time,” said Strnad. “It’s not going to be easy, but it’s going to be fun.”
She said she will also include a training component for local youth by hiring them to be part of the production team.
Strnad won the Kemp award with a proposal she submitted, and the BMFA announced publicly today she was the winner. There will be a formal award presentation at the AGM for the BMFA in November.
Robert G. Kemp was an artist who painted in the Georgian Triangle. He’s known for his respect of what he referred to as a “regional” artist, suggesting it’s the artists who have stayed in their own backyards who have often become some of the finest of all time.
His paintings and drawings of rural Ontario were put into a book and published by the BMFA.
Each recipient’s proposal is judged based on artistic background of the applicant, artistic merit of the project, benefit to the Georgian Triangle community, and originality.
Past winners have included Willi Wildman, Celebration Children’s Choir, Gaslight Tours, Collingwood Art Crawl, and Magic of Children in the Arts.
