‘Firecrackers’ director Jasmin Mozaffari frames rural Canada as central character

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This article was published 27/03/2019 (2742 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO – “Firecrackers” director Jasmin Mozaffari knew telling a story about the grittier side of rural Canadian life would require shooting in places scarred by neglect.

Sprawling vacant fields, rundown houses and abandoned malls — each offered a deeper glimpse into the unforgiving world of two young women that conspire to escape their dilapidated small town.

“I always thought it was weird that Canadian films didn’t really look at those settings,” the 31-year-old director said of her feature-length debut, which opens Friday in Toronto and Vancouver before a wider rollout.

“I drove across Canada when I was in my early 20s, from Toronto to Vancouver and back, and… I was like, ‘Wow there are so many locations to be explored.'”

Canadian films typically favour slivers of urban life, the sprawling beauty of the Prairies or storylines that unspool on picturesque coasts. Mozaffari instead portrays gutted communities she describes as being “left behind by globalization.”

Those places aren’t necessarily beautiful, she contends, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less interesting.

The young women, Lou and Chantal, are introduced in a parking lot brawl as one of them throws punches at another teenage girl. Both are brash, defiant, and confident they’re about to ditch this world for a new independence in New York.

Those plans are quickly dashed when an ex-boyfriend hears about their escape plan, and the money they saved cleaning motel toilets ends up in someone else’s hands. Without an alternative escape plan, Lou and Chantal end up trapped amid the misogyny that’s defined their youth, and the people who are complicit in keeping them down.

“I felt like now is the time the story needed to be told and in a way that was unapologetic, bold and unrelenting, just like the characters in the film,” Mozaffari said.

“I am exploring topics that are darker, surrounding sexual assault and repression, that I feel are now such a bigger part of the conversation.”

Shot around Hamilton, London and St. Thomas, Ont., “Firecrackers” borrows from behaviour Mozaffari witnessed as a teenager. She grew up in nearby Barrie, Ont., where she remembers watching boys levy their power over girls.

Some of her female friends were “bold and unapologetic” in their ways, she said, though it rarely worked in their favour.

“I admired their bravery, but they were always punished for being proudly sexual, and they were punished for speaking their mind,” she said.

“I used that as a bit of a story template, in a way, to explore the things I felt about being a woman coming of age as a girl.”

Finding authenticity in the two lead actresses offered its own challenges.

After the film was financed by Telefilm’s Talent to Watch program, Mozaffari began canvassing Facebook and Instagram in search of people who might fit the parts.

She eventually landed on Michaela Kurimsky, whose monologue in Wintersleep’s “Amerika” music video made her an instant contender, while the confidence of Karena Evans also captured her attention in a video audition.

Both actresses were part of an improvisational audition that “weeded out people who were not ready to take chances and risks,” Mozaffari said. They were cast a year before the film went into production.

That gave them ample time to explore their roles in consultation with the director, said Evans in a recent interview.

“(Mozaffari) allowed for so many opportunities for us to learn about them, so when we got to set we could just forget about everything and play,” she said.

Social media tools, including Instagram and Tumblr accounts, were created in the likeness of the characters, giving the actresses an outlet to explore their personalities.

“To understand what it would be like to live in this rundown, boring town as a teenager, you turn to Instagram,” Evans said.

“Who are their Instagram influencers that would change the way they dress, the way they talk?”

Ahead of its release, “Firecrackers” has already received acclaim at the Toronto International Film Festival, and elevated awareness helped by the rising star of Evans, who directed four music videos for Drake last year.

Mozaffari hopes that leads to more curiosity, particularly from Canadian women interested in a story that she hopes resonates with their own lives.

“I want to keep creating films that challenge the way we think about women and people of colour’s experiences,” she said.

“My goal is to keep creating things that stem from an intersectional feminist point of view and put underrepresented stories on screen.”

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