Jessica Hinkson preps Sara as launchpad for a feature

Hinkson's C’mon Mort Productions' drama starts shooting Friday and is being developed as her debut feature.

Canadian filmmaker Jessica Hinkson is set to roll on a short that will serve as a proof of concept for her debut feature as a writer and director.

Principal photography on Sara, written and directed by Hinkson (pictured top left), will begin Friday (March 3) in Toronto with plans to finish production by mid-May, according to a news release. Produced by Toronto-based C’mon Mort Productions’ Ashleigh Rains with Naiyelli Romero Agüero, the drama is in the early stages of being developed into Hinkson’s first feature film as writer and director.

That feature, Concrete Marshmallow, was selected as part of Stowe Story Labs’ 10th annual Stowe Narrative Lab, held in tandem with the Vermont Film and Music Festival in 2022, and is in development with C’mon Mort Productions, a spokesperson tells Playback Daily.

Theo Dumont, Daniel Sol and Daniel Sheldon are executive producers on Sara, which has a buget of $60,000 and financing from private investors. The filmmaking team will apply for fiscal sponsorship from Stowe Story Labs when they are in post-production, says the spokesperson.

Concrete Marshmallow is expected to have a budget of $3 million once it’s ready to go into production.

Sara is about a woman who confronts her greatest fear with the comfort of strangers. The cast includes Samora Smallwood (pictured top right; Star Trek: Discovery, The Kings of Napa) as the titular character, as well as Naomi Snieckus (pictured bottom right; Mr. D) and Prince Amponsah (pictured bottom left; Station Eleven).

Hinkson won the Women In Film Screenplay Award for her Sara script at the HollyShorts Film Festival in 2021. The prize includes a world premiere status at the HollyShorts Film Festival, taking place at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood from Aug. 10 to 19.

Concrete Marshmallow is described as “not so loosely based on Hinkson’s life and the deep connection between unresolved trauma and illness.” The protagonist appears to have it all on the outside, but on the inside is grappling with toxic dysfunction and burnout.

Photos courtesy of GAT PR