The film, described as a chilling story about Sophie, a supernatural girl who lures predatory men into her home through dating apps. It\u00a0stars Penetanguishene native Emma Charlebois\u00a0and Vaughan\u2019s Jordan Kaminski, and was filmed in one day in June in his grandmother’s Painswick-area\u00a0garage and living room.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Barrie location was very important to me, and is very important to my company. Ontario Creates, which I have been working with, gives a 10 per cent regional bonus to studios that are outside of Toronto. It\u2019s really important, I think, to be inspired that you don\u2019t have to be in Toronto to start a film company,”\u00a0Popovich said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After attending Vancouver Film School\u00a0and living out west for more than a decade, Popovich returned to Ontario, eventually making his way back to Barrie in 2022.<\/p>\n
With film work\u00a0being scarce, the 33-year-old Innisdale Secondary School graduate started by directing a play last year for Theatre by the Bay, but has recently moved from backstage to behind the camera to film Brain Freezer, which he describes as a \u201cpsychological slasher.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\nBarrie filmmaker Kyle Popovich.| Image supplied
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\u201cIndependent film, horrors, is pretty much the genre you can do that fans will show up. You don\u2019t really need star actors. You can come up with a good idea and that can take you as far as you need to go,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no blood and gore, no nudity \u2014\u00a0only the upchucking of a Slushie.<\/p>\n
“However, I can come up with an intense way of not being gory or graphic I think may be a future of horror that gets it back to being family friendly,”\u00a0Popovich added.<\/p>\n
With the Ontario Create program encouraging the industry to spread its wings geographically, Popovich said he believes it is an exciting time for local creators to collaborate, not only with one another, but with the government, as he has done with Ontario Creates.<\/p>\n
\u201cBarrie has been expanding. There is economic growth here \u2026 and visually, the Barrie lakeshore is absolutely gorgeous. I have been able to shoot it several times for music videos\u00a0and people often think it\u2019s Toronto,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s a good start, not for comparing ourselves, but showing we can have the same culture visually.\u201d<\/p>\n
The only thing really missing in the city, compared to Toronto, is simply the film community,\u00a0said Popovich, adding producing in Barrie is more of a community affair, rather than a business arrangement, as it is in Toronto.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything is really set up similarly. Everything you want from the big city, you can get in Barrie. I would argue it\u2019s actually easier. It\u2019s a lot less steps that you have to hurdle through to get productions made,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to shoot at a coffee shop here and they were thrilled. I wanted to shoot at a coffee shop in Toronto, and they wanted thousands of dollars.”<\/p>\n
Popovich hopes to launch a local meet-up group, where people can get together, talk about film\u00a0and get to know other locals in the industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are at least 200 people here who are in need of work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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