To help film director recovering from bone graft surgery make an important upcoming SHORT FILM - a precursor (and aid to) our first feature length!
TITLE: Dogs of Mercy Park
LOGLINE: A series of opportune moments and odd connections happen when an enigmatic stranger passes through a city park on an autumn afternoon.
PROJECT TYPE: Short Film
GENRE: Thriller / Drama in the giallo style with bizarre, comedic moments
FILM DATES: Autumn 2025 (late Oct)
POST PRODUCTION: Autumn/Winter 2025
STARRING: Sean Jones
DIRECTED BY: J.Christian Hamilton (host of Dementia13 Radio, 89.5fm Toronto)
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Osman Forcé
First AD Grace MacInerney
Second AD Lorena Reyes
Production Designer Roxy MacDonald
Art Director Sarah Beal
We’ve gone to festival & won awards; now hoping to blossom and take it up a notch!
Parts of this story and its characters will pave the way for our feature length - a seminal step in the career of emerging filmmakers. Your help will allow us to take this step and it’s so greatly appreciated!
The director recently broke her arm, having a subsequent bone graft so what a difference your contribution will make!
CHARACTERS
Dangerous antagonists, delightful oddballs, a herd of heroes and the perennial trickster - a 12 foot inflatable pig custom-made to order that has recently arrived (and phew - already paid for).
Excerpts from script re our favorite prop:
In the foreground, a gigantic inflatable form, at least three metres in width tumbles past. Half toy, half balloon, the tumbling, floating, inflatable pig has a jaunty red striped
hat, tipped to the side and too small for its fat head
(later)…..
Inflatable pig is on its back in the grass, still for the first time. Across its immense stomach, a child with vacant eyes and slack jaw is reclining comfortably. The child's legs
spread askew distort giant pig's face so its cartoon smile is grotesque
THEMES
These days it feels as though the world is tearing itself apart with violence and social division.
We aim to do our part as artists, oiling troubled waters with our (thrilling!) film, entertaining through creepy tense action punctuated by moments of JOY!
At its core, Dogs of Mercy Park explores the notion of light in darkness, hope and camaraderie.
This is our first time working with the actor’s union, ACTRA and some of this will go towards the actors fees, the rest to production & post-production costs.
THANK YOU FROM THE WHOLE CAST & CREW!!!