Film students accepted into awards festival

By Mark Pavilons

Some local film students haven't let the current situation slow down their enthusiasm.
“Deeper than Blue” a short documentary made by a group of six students, including local Schomberg filmmakers Nicole and Sara Hayward, has been accepted into four film festivals around North America.
“Deeper than Blue” explores a shadowed medical crisis that affects mothers called postpartum depression. Told through Amanda Munday's heartbreaking and empowering story of her experience with postpartum depression following the birth of her daughter Fiona.
The film was made by six students during their second year of the Humber Film and Television Production Program. At the beginning of the semester, in September 2019, the idea for the film was pitched by director Devon Robertson and cinematographer Emily Mahu. Once pitched, the film was voted to be one of the fourteen films that would be shot over four days in October.
Already a part of the Gen Z Film Festival in Toronto, the film continues to be selected by more festivals and will be shown at the Hamilton Youth Film Festival on Sept. 11.
For the first time ever, The MHSA (Mental Health and Suicide Awareness) Film Festival in Colorado, USA, will livestream “Deeper Than Blue” from the comfort of your home on Saturday, May 30. They want you to join them, in a safe place, to start the conversation about how we can break the silence around the epidemic of suicide and break the stigma around mental health. You can get tickets for free or donation on their website https://www.bccevolution.org/annual-film-festival.
Nicole said the film was shot in four days. Amanda, being a very busy woman, found it a challenging to fit the students in to her schedule to film B-Roll shots (additional footage after the interview). The joys of filming was getting the opportunity to meet Amanda and her beautiful family.
“It was also fun to get to work with our talented team. It is very interesting to see how much the film changed from the initial idea, to filming and then seeing the final cut.”
Sara added that the fact that we had so many locations and so little time made it very difficult as camera operator to get the exact shots that they needed.
“One of the many joys filming ‘Deeper Than Blue,' other than getting to hear Amanda's story in person, was learning along side our amazing Deeper Than Crew about the process of documentary film making.”
Sara said she hopes that people see how important it is to talk about mental health and see how much of a struggle it is to go through something like postpartum depression.
Nicole hopes the film helps anyone who may be going through something or knows someone going through someone to find the right answers to getting the help they need.
You can get tickets for free or donation on their website https://www.bccevolution.org/annual-film-festival. There is a Q& A part of the festival to so people can ask questions and a vote for the audiences favorite film so please vote if you enjoy it.
Nicole said she's interested in directing and screenwriting and is hoping to crowd-fund her short film “Heliophilia.”
“Sara and I are also beginning to write a song cycle to submit to the Sheridan Musical Theatre Project. I hope to be able write and direct more stories showing women and other minorities as complex and strong individuals.”
Aside from wanting to make the world a better place, Sara is currently writing a screenplay called “Portraits,” a three-part trilogy.
“I am interested in continuing a career in screenwriting as well as directing and production design. My goal is to tell stories that are honest and inspire people the way I have been inspired.”
For more information about the film visit the website https://deeperthanbluefilm.wixsite.com/dtbl
For more information, please contact Nicole at haywatts@yahoo.com