Farpoint Films announced the completion of production of the original feature film, Wintertide, directed by John Barnard. Production started in December and wrapped after a holiday break with locations in Winnipeg and and rural Manitoba.
Wintertide, written by John Barnard and Carrie-May Siggins, is about an isolated northern city battling a plague of depression that transforms its victims into zombie-like automatons, when a woman discovers the key to immunity lies within her dreams.
This is the second feature film directed by Barnard, who previously wrote and directed the award-winning, Menorca (Whistler Film Fest 2016), and the music documentary, Bachman (Hot Docs 2018), on legendary singer/songwriter Randy Bachman.
“This screenplay was written long before the pandemic, and the idea of a community wrestling with a misunderstood illness and the stigma around mandatory medication really seems like it’ll resonate for audiences in the framework of a genre film,” said Barnard. “But we had no idea back then that this would turn out to be the case now.”
Wintertide stars newcomer Niamh Carolan (Elephant Sheets), an Irish immigrant to Canada in her first feature film.
“Niamh is an extraordinary talent that blew us away with her first read and she kept getting better,” said producer Tony Wosk. “She is someone to watch in the future and we couldn’t be happier to have her lead our production.”
Rounding out the cast are Solange Sookram (Tales From The Loop) and Jesse Nobess (The Perfect Match).
Wintertide is produced by Kyle Bornais (From The Vine), Tony Wosk (The Swearing Jar) and John Barnard of Farpoint Films with the participation of Manitoba Film & Music and Super Channel.
