Edmonton: Edmonton-based Panacea Entertainment has just wrapped principal photography on Catching the Chameleon, a one-hour documentary for Craig Media/A-Channel, written by Edmonton’s Scot Morison.

It is the first production from the new prodco, which Josh Miller, Panacea president and a former executive at Minds Eye Pictures, formed last August after Minds Eye closed its Alberta office in summer 2003. Miller executive produces, with his sister Lisa Miller producing.

Vancouver-based director Geoff Browne, who previously worked with Josh Miller on the doc Call it Karma, helms the account of small-town RCMP constable Andy Seidemann, who spent four years tracking down child molester Louis Barron. Barron is now permanently behind bars at the Prince Albert Correctional Facility in Saskatchewan.

Shooting started May 10 and wrapped June 5, with re-enactments shot in Edmonton and interviews collected from various locations across Western Canada. Delivery is scheduled for September.

The sensitive subject matter of the film was a concern for Josh Miller.

‘We knew we would be able to get access to law enforcement, but were concerned about interviewing the victims,’ he says. ‘But it is the story of a Mountie that got his man and it’s nice to be able to tell stories where the system works.’

In the end, several victims did agree to be interviewed, but as a result of a publication ban still in effect, they were shot in shadow.

Another challenge of the production was finding cast for the re-enactments who resembled the real people interviewed. Tim Post plays Seidemann, with doc filmmaker Vladimir Bondarenko portraying Barron.

Working with a healthy budget of just under $600,000 added considerable production values to the doc and allowed for extras such as aerial photography.

Catching the Chameleon will air on additional Craig channels such as Toronto1. Funding sources included the A-Channel Production Fund, Learning and Skills Television, the Canadian Television Fund’s LFP and EIP, CanWest Western Independent Producers Fund, Rogers Telefund and the Alberta Film Development Program.