Common Chord has been about eight years in the making, but the locally produced family film about a young father‘s struggles to balance his burgeoning music career with raising his young daughter after his ex-girlfriend dies, finally makes its Lethbridge premiere, tonight at the Movie Mill.
Producer George Gallant is excited about bringing it home to Lethbridge.
“It has been a long, long process. We‘ve been working on it for eight years and there have been lots of different people involved. But we’ve been actively producing it for the past two years,” he summarized.
They shot the film in Lethbridge last June and have spent the past year editing it.
They have since submitted it to numerous film festivals in the United States and Canada.
Common Chord has already been screened around North America during its successful film festival run starting with the world premiere in September at the 2013 Calgary International Film Festival, then moving south to Atlanta at the Kingdomwood Christian film festival, and showing this week at the Hamilton Film Festival as well as the Alexandria Film Festival in Washington DC. The film takes a sensitive look at the importance of the family and the role a father plays in the life of a child.
“It has been part of a lot of smaller festivals. It‘s been cool. A lot of different people have given us their feedback. But response has been good. One of the cutest was at the Calgary film festival where this 12-year old girl was there as a reporter covering the event and she gave us a positive review,” he said.
It did especially well at the Christian film festival because of it’s family values focus.
But they are doing something special for tonight’s premiere — they are turning it into a fundraiser for the Family Centre.
“It’s a family film because it is all about family values — a father raising his daughter. And we were working closely with the Family Centre while doing background research,” he said.
Admission to the film is $50 for a couple.
There will also be a silent auction.
“We have some big ticket items like a violin bass like the type Paul McCartney uses. He even autographed it. And we also have a Titanic movie poster signed by the cast and a Star Wars poster signed by the cast and crew. We also have smaller items like toys for Christmas presents,” he continued.
“This is the only Lethbridge screening in the foreseeable future because we’re working on distribution deals and other things,” he said.
Doors open at 6 p.m. with the film beginning at 7 p.m. The film runs 90 minutes.
Additional information about the film can be found online:
Official Website – www.commonchordmovie.com
Internet Movie Database – www.imdb.com/title/tt2404197/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/commonchordmovie
— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
