Location was all-important for the Leo-nominated rollercoaster, a film that also-nominated director Scott Smith describes as an ‘exploration of adolescence set in an amusement park,’ and that follows five teenagers from a group home on a day when two of them have made a pact to commit suicide.

The story had its genesis in the filmmaker’s ‘ongoing fascination with teenage suicide pacts. I saw the amusement park as a metaphorical landscape for lost childhood, and the two of those seemed to fit.’

The script had its partial inspiration in a real-life event that the teenage characters talk about in the film concerning three boys who drove from Montreal to Vancouver in order to rent a garage and kill themselves. ‘I’m very fascinated by the bond created by this premeditated act. They spent five days in a car together, and for three people to find strength in each other for what is a very lonely act, to have that bond of brotherhood….’

The setting fit the story, Smith says, which he further describes as an exploration of ‘the volatility of adolescence as it related to lost childhood. It gave me a chance to explore what the appeal of it is. To me [suicide is] an escape, as is the amusement park.’

The amusement park, Vancouver’s Pacific National Exhibition during the off-season, also had the added advantage of confining filming to one location, thereby cleverly cutting down on expenses.

Of the film’s many nominations, Smith is magnanimous: ‘I’m most happy for the actors, the dop and the editor. I’m happy for them, because it’s one of the few rare opportunities for their work to get noticed and appreciated.’