The choice of being immortal over having children explored in new short film

The fact that Amanda Wandler has made a film about immortality shouldn’t come as a surprise.

“I'm a really big fan of science fiction,” said Wandler, a Secwépemc filmmaker.

“I consume a lot of science fiction films and TV shows. I think I was watching a film about living forever. And then I thought to myself, ‘what would happen if you had to choose between having a child and living forever’?”

Wandler delves into the question with her film W7éyle (Moon's Wife), which will be shown at the Crazy8s gala on March 29 in Vancouver.

The gala will feature a total of six short movies created by emerging filmmakers. The Crazy8s Film Society provided funding to the filmmakers to produce their works.

The key is they had to shoot and edit their film in a total of eight days.

Wandler’s 14-minute short is about a Secwépemc woman, played by Grace Dove, who has her love and beliefs tested when her partner, played by William Belleau, discovers a pill for immortality. Belleau was in Martin Scorsese directed film Killers of the Flower Moon and more recently acted in Ari Astor’s film Eddington.

Belleau is also Secwépemc, which adds to the authenticity of the film, said Wandler. Film composer Jeremy Kneeshaw is also Secwépemc.

Taking the immortality pill prevents one from having children. And since those who take the pill will live forever, they will never be reunited with their ancestors.

“We get three days to film it and then five days for post-production,” Wandler said. “We get $50,000 of in-kind sponsorship for equipment and such.”

Filmmakers in this year’s Crazy8s event also received $2,000 each in cash.

“I also provided some of my own funds for the short film because I felt like I really wanted to make it the best that I could possibly make it,” Wandler said. “I am really proud of the result that we achieved though in those eight days.”

Wandler said she often thinks about her own mortality.

“If I had that choice, I don't think that I would want to live forever because I do believe that there is an afterlife,” she said. “There is something after the life that we have here on the earth. So, choosing to live forever, I wouldn't want that as I would never be able to live in that afterlife.”

Wandler is thrilled that Dove, who is also Secwépemc, is the lead for her film. The two had never met before working together on this project.

“I think there's less than 10,000 of us in this Nation,” Wandler said. “So, she was definitely top of my choice because the story of W7éyle is a Secwépemc story. So, I really wanted to make it authentic being that this character believed this story and it has a deep connection to the culture.”

A casting director organized for Dove to be part of the film.

“I was really surprised and I'm really happy because she’s an amazing actor and I'm really proud that she was able to work on this film,” Wandler said. “It ended up being amazing.”

Dove’s previous credits include being the lead in the film and mini-series Bones of Crows, a 2022 production about a Cree woman who survived residential school and went on to become a code talker for the Canadian Air Force during World War II.

Dove has also had roles in a handful of TV series, including Alaska Daily, The Order and Resident Alien.

As for Wandler, she graduated from the University of British Columbia’s law school in 2015.

“I learned a lot about the laws that are created for Aboriginal people and how those sort of laws affected Indigenous people, specifically in Canada,” she said. “So, I learned a lot about the history, and I think it allowed me to be able to… think more critically about things.”

Wandler then worked at the British Columbia Lottery Corporation for seven years and briefly for BC Transit before going back to school, at Thompson Rivers University, to take some creative writing courses.

“Film is definitely my number one interest,” she said of her current career. “But I do like other forms of storytelling, like theatre, short stories and novels.”

The Crazy8s Film Society was created in 1999 by members of the Directors Guild of Canada – BC to foster support for emerging filmmakers, who  would not have access to other funding for short films.

Information on the March 29 screenings is available at https://crazy8s.film/#info

Local Journalism Initiative Reporters are supported by a financial contribution made by the Government of Canada.