By Emily Stewart
Following their achievements from Cry of Silence, with more to celebrate from the hit film, St. Marys based AKoolFilm Company has more projects on docket.
The film Cry of Silence had its run at the internationally renowned Cannes Film festival from May 14-25. The audience at the annual film festival in Cannes, France, responded positively to the film.
"Everything was great,” said Allen Kool, executive producer and founder of AKoolFilm Company. “There was a lot of good reaction from the screenings, so we're very hopeful we'll be signing a few more deals in the near future."
Lead actress of Cry of Silence Charlot Daysh won several accolades for her role as Maggie Klassen and was interviewed by E-Talk. The interview aired in a May 27 episode of the hit Canadian entertainment talk show.
The film, created in St. Marys, also won around 80 awards from around the world and got the green light to distribute theatrically in Latin America under the House of Film. Hollywood Suite also has the film available to stream.
"Cry of Silence has done really, really well for a relatively low-budget Canadian film,” Kool said.
He credits the team behind the film including screenwriter, executive producer and Kool’s wife, Robin E. Crozier Kool, associate producer Yaseen Lachporia, and executive producer Michael A. Charbon for the success of Cry of Silence.
“It's because of my team that we're doing so well and that we're here,” he said.
Award-winning producer and founding board member of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television Robert Weirtheimer joined AKoolFilm Company, in addition to John Holosko, in taking on the new director-of-photography role. Holosko is known for his work in Suicide Squad and the Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys TV series.
AKoolFilm Company has several projects on the way, including action film Broken Bond starring Tazito Garcia (Trust, Trigger), Dean McDermott (Open Range, Hudson and Rex) and Bernice Liu (The Legend is Born: IP Man, The Hitman Never Dies, and a TV series with Country Girl Productions called Trickle and Flow). Garcia and McDermott are also involved, as well as Sugith Varugheese (Kim’s Convenience, Transplant) and Saad Siddiqui (FBI, SEAL Team).
The film production company is currently working on a TV series called Noose: The Hangman’s Tale featuring true stories of executions. The first season will focus on executions in Canada between 1867 and 1930, and will be filming in St. Marys, Sarnia, Goderich and London’s Fanshawe Pioneer Village.
"It's a really big project for our company, but everybody is all excited about it,” Kool said.
Kool and Crozier Kool moved from Toronto to London before moving to St. Marys to downsize, as Crozier Kool said that films can be made anywhere in the world. The Town of St. Marys has been supportive, with more than 100 residents participating in AKoolFilm Company’s last film and the company using local accommodations and food outlets to ensure the cast and crew were fed and had a place to stay.
“They've opened their arms to us,” Kool said of St. Marys. “They've been extremely helpful on all the films that we've made here."
Filming in small towns like St. Marys also offers viewers different landscapes from that of Los Angeles and New York City. Filmmakers seek new places to film all over southwestern Ontario.
“Southwestern Ontario has a tremendous number of fantastic locations that people haven't seen and experienced. That's one of the things that we want to bring into our films and TV shows,” Kool said. “We've done filming on the rivers here, on the farmers' fields and the lakes and the roads and the gravel pits and all kinds of stuff. Sure, they exist everywhere, but the communities of St. Marys and Stratford and Goderich and Bayfield and those kinds of things, they have a tremendous amount to offer in terms of visual additives."
AKoolFilm Company will have paper sign-up forms available all across southwestern Ontario for those looking to become part of the company’s projects. There is also online sign up available by visiting www.akoolfilm.com.