Truly independent spirits in every sense of the word, Backroads Films collaborators writer/director Terry O’Brien and dop Christopher Ball not only wrote, financed and shot Stolen Heart, but they are distributing it as well.

After production was completed in November, the feature film attracted the interest of distributor Norstar Releasing, but in the midst of negotiations between Backroads and the distributors, Norstar was taken over by Alliance.

Still interested in the film, Norstar principals started a new company, Landed Eagle Entertainment, and took on Stolen Hearts. But with a contractual agreement stating that they could not handle any Canadian theatrical releases, O’Brien decided to tackle national distribution himself, which he says turned out well in the end.

‘Nobody else would give it the attention we are giving it,’ O’Brien says. ‘Another distributor had 20 to 30 films to think about. We only have one and we are getting a lot of success doing it.’

Stolen Hearts began its run June 12-25 at Toronto’s Cineplex Odeon Carlton Cinema. Next, it will unspool at The World Exchange Plaza in Ottawa July 3-9, followed by a one-week showing in Calgary July 17-23.

To get people into the theater, O’Brien and friends printed and distributed around 4,000 flyers to members of the Directors Guild of Canada, iatse and wift, targeting everyone in the film industry in the three cities.

‘We targeted the film community because they are really sympathetic to independent filmmaking in Canada and they recognize what kind of a struggle it is,’ O’Brien explains. ‘We had a lot of support from the Toronto film community in getting the film made, so a lot of people are aware of it and saw it grow from nothing.’

Budget for publicity is $8,000, and according to O’Brien, they are in the process of working out a print campaign which will entail a small bit of advertising.

On the international front, Landed Eagle is in the process of closing some theatrical and television deals with Germany, Italy and South America.

Stolen Hearts premiered at the Sao Paulo International Film Festival in Brazil, and then played at the Victoria Independent Film Festival in March, where it picked up an award for best Canadian feature film. Next, it was off to Bermuda for the International Film Festival, and at the end of June, it will show at the St. Petersburg Russia International Festival, followed by the Figueira Da Foz International fest in Portugal.

The movie, tagged as a ‘dysfunctional thriller,’ is a comedy of errors which O’Brien says is a fairly commercial mainstream story about the not-so-simple task of planning a kidnapping.

It was shot by Ball over 36 days in January and February ’97 using short ends of film stock collected from various Toronto shoots, which saved the filmmakers over $60,000 on the film which was made for under $200,000.

Lensed with no government money, the film stars Lisa Ryder (Newsroom), Randy Hughson (Shoemaker), Gary Farmer (Dead Man), Christopher Healey (Dieppe), James Gatto (Blackout), Shirley McQueen (from Toronto rock radio station Q107) and Meghan Toll, a 15-year-old making her feature film debut. Stolen Hearts also features music by Canadian bands The Skydiggers, Monkey Trail and Slowpoke.