9 May 2016: Following an extraordinary winter shoot, which saw cast and crew taking on the challenge of filming in freezing conditions in Northern British Columbia, shooting recommences on Never Steady, Never Still, the debut feature from award-winning filmmaker Kathleen Hepburn. The first day of photography is May 20th in historic Fort St James, BC.
“Soda Pictures UK has a long track record in working with local up and coming talent and we are thrilled to replicate this with filmmaker Kathleen Hepburn on our first Canadian acquisition for Soda Pictures Canada,” says Edward Fletcher, Managing Director for Soda Pictures, which has recently picked up the feature for Canada and UK distribution. With the concept short scooping six Leo Award nominations along with nods from TIFF and VIFF in 2015, and the stunning images from their winter shoot in hand, producers James Brown and Tyler Hagan, are also in discussion with sales agents ahead of the 69th Cannes Film Festival.
Starring Shirley Henderson (Trainspotting, Filth) Théodore Pellerin (Les Demons, Endorphine), Mary Galloway (Fire Song, Ariel Unravelling), Nicholas Campbell (Da Vinci’s Inquest, Naked Lunch) and Lorne Cardinal (Insomnia, Wolf Canyon), Never Steady, Never Still is a striking and emotional tour de force exploring the complexities of a mother-son relationship. Judy (Henderson) is struggling to take control of her life in the face of advanced Parkinson’s disease, while her son Jamie (Pellerin) is battling his sexual and emotional identity amid the violence of Alberta’s oil field work camps.
Written and directed by Hepburn, with Carol Whiteman executive producing, Brown’s Christie Street Creative, and Hagan’s Experimental Forest Films producing, Never Steady, Never Still is made possible with the financial participation of Telefilm Canada’s Canada Feature Film Fund, Bell Media’s Harold Greenburg Fund, and the Women In the Director’s Chair Feature Film Award, a $120,000 in kind prize presented to a Canadian woman director to complete her first or second feature film. The script also won Best Screenplay at the 2014 Vancouver International Women in Film Festival. Hepburn is an alumna of SFU, WIDC and most recently the CFC Writer’s Lab. Her work is subtly powerful and uniquely cinematic.
For further press information please contact Nicola Pender or Saffeya Shebli:
nicola@thunderbird.tv / saffeya@sodapictures.com
About Soda Pictures
Soda Pictures is an Anglo-Canadian film distributor of art house, independent and world cinema. Established in London in 2002 by Eve Gabereau and Edward Fletcher, the company releases 25+ films a year and has a library of over 300 films from all corners of the world. In September 2014, it was announced that Soda Pictures was acquired by the Canadian production company Thunderbird Films in order to join a greater media group, build a theatrical film division in Canada and expand their existing business in the UK and Ireland. They launched the new venture at Toronto International Film Festival with the World Premiere of Lone Scherfig’s The Riot Club.
About Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC.ca)
Founded in 1997 by an initial collaboration among ACTRA, The Banff Centre and Women In Film & Television Vancouver, Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) is an internationally respected Canadian professional development offering, specially designed to advance the skills, careers and screen projects of mid-career women directors through intensive workshops, out reach initiatives, and awards. WIDC is operated by a national non-profit society, Creative Women Workshops Association with major support from Telefilm Canada, William F. White Intl., with the participation of the Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des Arts du Canada, Panavision Canada, Tattersall Sound & Picture, SIM Digital, Clairmont Camera Film and Digital, Deluxe Entertainment Group / Encore, Technicolor, North Shore Studios, The Bridge Studios, Vancouver Film Studios, The Research House, Front Row Insurance, Actra Fraternal Benefit Society, UBCP/ACTRA, ACTRA Alberta, IATSE 669, Independent Production Fund, Creative BC, BC Arts Council, and TELUS Optik Local. Festival collaborators include the Vancouver International Women In Film Festival, Female Eye Film Festival, St John’s International Women’s Film Festival and the Whistler Film Festival.
About Experimental Forest Films
Experimental Forest is the collaborative home of film and video works by Kathleen Hepburn and Tyler Hagan. Working through cinema to tell stories firmly rooted in their environment, Experimental Forest is a namesake and a reminder. It represents our connection to the land and a history of the place we call home. Projects include NEVER STEADY, NEVER STILL and IN THE SIMILKAMEEN (NFB Interactive).
About Christie Street Creative
Christie Street Creative is a British Columbia based production company established in 2014 by producer James Brown. CSC has produced 2 short films to date , THE FUTURE PERFECT (Robert Baker, Zachary Quinto) directed by Nicholas Citton, and NEVER STEADY, NEVER STILL (Dylan Playfair, Tina Hedman) directed by Kathleen Hepburn. Brown’s producing credits include, BAD CITY (Dustin Milligan, Amanda Crew), NO CLUE (Brent Butt, Amy Smart), DOWN RIVER (Helen Shaver, Gabrielle Miller), SISTERS&BROTHERS (Cory Monteith, Dustin Milligan) and MOUNTAIN MEN (Chase Crawford, Tyler Labine), In development is the next feature from Simon Davidson (THE ODDS) projecting a fall 2016 shoot date.