A Case Study
Narrative | Dramatic Features
Film Name: Hekademia
Genre: Sci-Fi
Date: May 2020
Director: Gloria Mercer
Producer: Gloria Mercer, Andy Wong, Aidan West
Writer: Gloria Mercer
Cinematographer: Devan Scott
Production: Spring and Summer of 2019.
Budget: $40K (Canadian)
Financing: The Canada Council for the Arts, and National Film Board of Canada
Shooting Format: Arri Alexa Mini
Screening Format: Digital
World Premiere: NewFest: The New York LGBT Film Festival, and Hollyshorts Film Festival
Awards: Best Sci-Fi at the Hollyshorts Film Festival
Website: @hekademiafilm
I conceptualized Hekademia about three years ago. I took a university class where I learned about philosophical approaches to education in the 20th century. Educators and philosophers were trying to eliminate things like power structures from the classroom and to prioritize the needs of the group over the facilitator. I found this really fascinating and also thought it would be interesting to see how this would manifest in the twentieth century, with rapid new technological expansion. Virtual reality, for example, seemed like the perfect tool for trying to create a level playing field. I really like social science fiction — films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, or Ex Machina — that use a heightened reality to explore human psychology. This concept of an idyllic educational institution felt like a natural fit for the genre.
The Official Trailer for Hekademia directed by Gloria Mercer
It was really important to me that the film be focalized around the perspectives of women. I decided that a teenage girl felt like a really great way to dive into the subject because adolescence is a stage where so many big life events are happening. I also think we’ve seen what a heartbreaking and compelling relationship youth have with the climate crisis. Since Hekademia is set in the near future, it’s building on and exaggerating that same relationship. Marion, the lead character of the film, is mourning a world that she never really knew, while at the same time getting to attend a school that is an artificial preservation of that world.
I tend to explore feelings of loneliness and disconnect in my films; characters who don’t quite feel like they belong, or that they don’t have anyone they can really talk to. So while Hekademia is a high concept, at its heart it is a film about a lonely teenager who wants to make a connection. She finds she can’t talk to her mom, because whatever grief is pressing on Marion is pressing on her mom, too. They share a stifled silence, which pushes Marion to look elsewhere for connection — into her school, and her new friend. And for me, it’s those feelings that are at the heart of the story.
indieactivity: How is your film relevant to our current moment?
Gloria Mercer (GM): It has been surreal watching how much Hekademia has become relevant to the unfolding circumstances of the pandemic. It’s a film about isolation and loneliness, and Marion is literally stuck in her apartment yearning for connection and freedom. That in itself was such a surprising parallel, but beyond that, the film deals with the virtual high school experience, which of course is exactly the situation that so many teenagers find themselves in today, albeit more so via Zoom and not so much virtual reality. So it has become unexpectedly and perhaps unfortunately poignant, but I think it just speaks to how rapidly and drastically our modes of communication are shifting.
In Hekademia, I didn’t want to approach the subject matter in a judgemental way or to place blame on Marion for finding an authentic connection in a synthetic experience. Rather, I wanted to approach it empathetically, and explore how loneliness makes us behave. I get put off by films that take a moralistic approach. And now that the last eight months have been spent largely interacting over the computer, I empathize even more with Marion’s experience.
Why was it important to you to work with a cast and crew of predominantly women?
Gloria Mercer (GM): This film features an all-women cast, and over half our crew behind the camera were women. From a story perspective, all my films feature flawed female characters. And in the genre of sci-fi specifically, I wanted to focalize the female relationship to technology. A lot of social science fiction tends to incorporate a heterosexual romance in the plot. For this film, I just wanted the relationships to be between women. I also find my films tend to explore the theme of motherhood a lot. Hekademia focuses on Marion’s dual relationships; her stifled relationship with her mother, and her budding friendship with Cassidy.
I also think it’s really important to foster the talent of female filmmakers and technicians. As a producer, even on an independent film, you hold a lot of power and the potential to create opportunities for people. In Vancouver, we are lucky to be a film city, so there is no shortage of talented crew here.
Tell us about the festival run?
Gloria Mercer (GM): We are at the beginning of our film festival run, and Hollyshorts was Hekademia’s west coast premiere. We’ve had a really positive experience so far, despite the pandemic pushing festivals online. I’ve met a lot of really cool filmmakers and watched some great films. Hekademia has had a really positive reception, which has been very gratifying. Film Threat gave us a really thoughtful review that touched on a lot of the themes I was hoping would come through in the film. It’s been a lovely experience having the project I’ve worked on for so long resonate with people.
We recently won Best Sci-Fi at Hollyshorts, which included a distribution deal with Dust. We will be continuing our festival run over the next year, before eventually having an online release there.
Give the full Official Synopsis for your film?
Gloria Mercer (GM): In the near future, Marion is an isolated teenage girl living in a high rise above the city and dreaming of the forest. Inside a lonely apartment, she struggles to overcome her stifled relationship with her mother. She enrolls in a virtual reality high school, where she befriends another student named Cassidy. But as Marion spends more time at school, and grows closer to Cassidy, she starts to wonder how much is real and how much is part of the simulation.
Development & Financing?
Gloria Mercer (GM): The story was an original idea that I conceived several years ago, and one that percolated for a while before I felt ready to film it. I brought producers Andy Wong and Aidan West on board, and we developed the idea and sought partnerships from Keslow Camera and William F. White International, two prominent rental houses in Vancouver. They generously pledged to support the project. I submitted grant applications to both the Canada Council for the Arts and the National Film Board of Canada. The unexpected consequence of writing dense grant applications is that it forces you to really get to know your film and to question why you want to make it, which was a very helpful experience. We were lucky to receive funding from both funders, and as such, I had a lot of artistic freedom in making this film.
Production?
GM: We started pre-production in early 2019, with a few months to go before filming. We had really specific locations to find; inside the virtual reality, it was important to me that there be very little sign of civilization. I spent a lot of time walking around farms and forests in British Columbia with my producers and (occasionally my dad) looking for the perfect place. We also needed time to design and build a lot of elements, like our costumes and props. The costumes were designed by the talented Odessa Bennett and Soroush Matoor, with specialty costume construction done by Caroline Cheng.
Deborah Burns did our production design, with help from Art Director Robin McCartan. Joyce Woods, a talented Vancouver artist who happens to be my mother, created the virtual reality platform, and her paintings also hang on the walls inside Marion’s house. My cinematographer, Devan Scott, and I spent many hours conceptualizing the look of the film, discussing how we would integrate different visual elements, and how we would treat the two different worlds. Meanwhile, my producers Andy Wong and Aidan West helped build a stellar crew and fine-tune the script.
We put out an open casting call, which is how we found our leads, Emma Soothill (Marion) and Serena Crouse (Cassidy). I wanted to find actors who really were young because I think it adds an authenticity to the film that might not be there if they were played by older actors. Emma and Serena were consummate professionals and shone in their read together. I had worked with Lissa Neptuno on a previous project, and when she read for the role of Joanne, Marion’s mom, I knew she was right for the part. By April of 2019, we had assembled our cast and rehearsed in the weeks leading up to filming.
Principal photography took place in May 2019. We ended up shooting at a beautiful farm in Chilliwack, BC, and at another property on the Fraser River, then we moved to downtown Vancouver for all the apartment scenes. We spent 5 days total in production.
After spending some time in the editing room, we decided to do some additional filming in August of 2019. We locked the picture shortly after in September. Our post-production lasted into the Spring of 2020. My lead visual effects artist Bogdan Kondriuk built the look of the virtual reality elements. During this time I also worked with our composer Tegan Wahlgren and our sound designer Will Ross to build our soundscape. Devan Scott doubled as our colorist, which was actually quite the process because he designed two very distinct looks for each world within the film, and we also employed day for night to build on the otherworldliness inside Marion’s school, Hekademia.
We also brought on Kaylah Zander to play the role of Rita, the disembodied voice who acts as Marion’s teaching assistant. Kaylah brought playful energy that mixed beautifully with Rita’s robotic edge.
By May of 2020, we had completed all elements and the film was ready for festival submissions. We began our festival run in the fall of 2020 with an East Coast premiere at NewFest: The New York LGBT Film Festival, followed up by our West Coast premiere at Hollyshorts Film Festival. We recently were awarded Best Sci-Fi at Hollyshorts. We look forward to continuing our festival run.
Festival Preparation & Strategy?
GM: We approached the Winnipeg Film Group and Video Out distribution, both of whom now have non-exclusive distribution rights to Hekademia. Together, we devised a festival submission plan.
The Release?
GM: As of right now, the film has only been screened at film festivals. However, we recently secured distribution with CBC through their Canadian Reflections program, so we will have our streaming premiere in December on CBC Gem.
Advice from the Filmmaker?
GM: My advice to new filmmakers is to budget time and money for additional shooting. Things go wrong during production, and new ideas emerge in post-production. Even though it can seem like a monumental task or even a failure to have to gather the team again and reshoot something, or shoot something new, I’ve found it always makes my films better and is worth it in the end.
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