Soulful thriller wraps

Winnipeg – The feature Mr. Soul, from writer/director/producer Jeremy Torrie (Cowboys and Indians: The J.J. Harper Story), wrapped on Nov. 10 after a month in the ‘Peg.

Based on the novel by Warren Goulding, it is about a serial killer who targets aboriginal women, and stars Gordon Tootoosis (Hank Williams First Nation), Mike Butters (Saw) and John Kapelos (The River King). Michael Marshall (Lucid) and Michael Drabot (The Saddest Music in the World) shared DOP duties.

Torrie and coproducer Tanya Brunel (Cool Jobs) invested in the $1.1-million film, with help from Manitoba Film & Sound, the National Film Board, CAVCO, CanWest Western Independent Producers Fund, APTN and SCN. They are seeking a distributor for a theatrical release. Dustin Dinoff

Campers unite for Summerhood

Halifax – Director Jacob Medjuck looked to his past for his first feature, a comedy based on his experiences at nearby Camp Kadimah, where he spent 16 summers. The bulk of Summerhood shot at the actual camp and wrapped early this month after a 31-day shoot.

‘I took all the stories from that age, took out all the dirty words and put it into a screenplay,’ says Medjuck. ‘We did ‘camp as jail.”

Medjuck, a former stand-up comic and animator, also produced and wrote the story about four pubescent boys at camp. Summerhood is a coproduction between Dartmouth, NS-based Portara Pictures and Halifax’s Make Out Films.

Portara’s Paul McNeill (Little Claus & Big Claus) produces. The film was financed by alumni of Kadimah, several of whom now work for Dimension Films, Miramax, DreamWorks and MTV, says Medjuck.

‘Our script got studio-level development’ because of its association with the camp, he says, ‘so when we were ready to go to camera it was very punchy and very quick.’

Summerhood stars Medjuck, Christopher MacDonald (Requiem for a Dream), Lucian Maisel (Fast Track), David McLean (The River King) and Joe Flaherty. Post has been split among shops in Halifax, Vancouver and Toronto. The producers are seeking a distributor. Dustin Dinoff

U.S. buys Horloge remake rights

Montreal – American producer Graham Ludlow (Rich Deceiver) has bought the remake rights to the feature Horloge Biologique from producer Go Films and international sales agent Seville International.

The French-language comedy/drama, about thirysomething men weighing the pros and cons of fatherhood, has taken in more than $4.3 million in Quebec for distrib Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm, and will be rewritten for U.S. audiences by former Undressed scribes David A. Lee and Quebecer Daniel Vaillancourt. Vaillancourt championed the project to Ludlow.

Before turning to the remake, Ludlow will produce the Rob Hedden (Clockstoppers) feature The Condemned for WWE Films, starring former wrestling champion Stone Cold Steve Austin. Dustin Dinoff