White Rock's Jason R. Goode isn't exactly Numb – which happens to be the title of his first feature film as director – but he does confess he's more than a little stunned right now by the high profile his independent Canadian feature is achieving.
Barely a year after it was shot – in remote B.C. locations near Vernon, Enderby, Lumby Kelowna and Echo Lake – Numb has already been a closing selection at the Whistler Film Festival and the Busan International Film Festival in Korea.
When he spoke to Peace Arch News this week, Goode had just been informed that the thriller has won a prestigious placement in the Beijing International Film Festival at the end of April.
The movie, which was co-financed by Superchannel, will also have a view-on-demand window starting in April, as well as regular Superchannel play starting in August.
Even more importantly for a director who – like any other – would like his work to connect with theatre audiences, he's amazed that the film is beginning a limited theatrical release across Canada today (Friday), as part of distributor A71 Entertainment's innovative Canadian Indie Film Series through the Landmark Cinemas chain.
Starting this weekend it's on screen in New Westminster (for showtimes, visit www.landmarkcinemas.com/new-westminster), as well as other Landmark theatres in Nanaimo, Kelowna, Winnipeg, Ottawa/Kanata, Whitby, Ont. and Toronto (the Regina opening will be on March 11, with other cities to follow).
"This never happens, right?" said Goode, who credits A-71 – a new player in the field, formed only three years ago – for cracking a code that has bedeviled Canadian filmmakers for decades.
Instead of following the usual route of trying to secure playdates for a film market by market, releases picked up by A-71 are receiving showcases across the chain, with an option for each screen to book a longer run for the movies, Goode explained.
"Landmark runs them the first Wednesday of each month and each theatre has the chance to keep them for a week – we opened in 16 cities and eight of them will be keeping it for a week," he said.
"This is all a big shock to me," he said. "I'm a personal trainer – a kinesiologist. I'm a stay-at-home dad" (he and his wife Christie have three elementary age daughters).
A Peninsula-raised former White Rock Elementary, Jessie Lee Elementary and Earl Marriott Secondary student, Goode, who has a graduate degree in theology from Vancouver's Regent College, also studied at Trinity Western University, where he played volleyball.
After a sojourn working as a volleyball coach at a college in Saskatchewan, he came back to the West Coast to attend Regent, and he and Christie ultimately settled in White Rock, where his parents still live.
"I'd always wanted to be involved in film, but I had no idea how to do that," he said, adding that he feels fortunate to have attended Regent at a time when there were a number of students there interested in making film, and support for them to gain experience and technical training.
Like all overnight successes, he's paid a lot of dues to get where he is, making a series of shorts, including two award-winners, Late and The Planting, with his producing partner, Burnaby's Dylan Jenkinson, with whom he insists sharing a title card on Numb.
"We're a team – we do all our projects together," he said.
"He's saved me from so many mistakes I was about to make – he's always watching my back."
Numb stars British fan favourite Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica, Law & Order UK) and Stefanie von Pfetten, plus character actor Aleks Paunovic (in what Goode predicts will be a break-out performance), Marie Avgeropoulos and Colin Cunningham.
It's a hard-bitten tale of four people pitted against the elements – not to mention their own personal 'baggage' – in a winter treasure hunt in the B.C. wilderness. Financially distressed husband and wife Will and Dawn (Bamber and von Pfetten) have discovered a set of GPS coordinates that promise to lead to stolen gold coins. While it seems like a chance to solve their problems, they find they must team with a pair of mysterious hitchhikers to find the hoard.
Goode, also a Jessie-nominated stage director for a 2012 Pacific Theatre production of John Patrick Shanley's Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, estimates it took him and Jenkinson five years to put the production together for Numb, although the story by Andre Harden had almost immediate resonance when they read an early draft.
"It's a character-driven story and basically a four-hander," he said, adding that it was a relatable tale that seemed a natural for a first feature project.
"But once we got out in the bush I realized that there was some serious naivete on my part," said Goode, who said that they could only rely on eight to 10 hours of light each day for shooting over an 18-day shooting schedule – but that travelling to and from locations cut into that even more.
"When you're using up a lot of time, it's nerve wracking," he said, adding that many crew members approached him during the shoot – on some days temperatures were minus-15 – to say "you sure picked a tough one for your first."
He gives credit to cinematographer Jan Kiesser for making sure all the production values appear on the screen.
"He's one of the great cinematographers, known for his amazing landscapes. There are some shots he set up – I couldn't imagine they would look that way. It may be a small-budget Canadian independent film, but nobody's said it feels like that. We were able to take full advantage of the landscape."
And Goode doesn't deny that – like all good treasure hunt stories – the movie is something of a morality tale.
"I don't always like that term, but it's true that Numb is an exploration of pride. All four main characters have a unique version of pride that's driving them – it's in the DNA of the film, even though it main intent is to be an exciting, intense thriller.
His own theological background has a bearing on this, he admits.
"Theology to me is really storytelling – it's a map of reality," he said. "We're all trying to understand the larger story that we're all a part of."