Local filmmaker is swimming the dream

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This article was published 16/01/2013 (3715 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ryan Souter has already dipped his toes in the waters of filmmaking, but now he’s really making a splash.

The St. Vital resident, 33, recently debuted his latest film — Swimming The Dream — at the Park Theatre on Osborne Street.

The film — which Souter wrote, directed, produced and co-stars in — is a Winnipeg-made comedy about a mother and son that team that wants to create the world’s first synchronized swimming live action play.

“It’s about the relationships between a mother, who is a playwright, her son and his twin brother who go on an adventure to put on a synchronized swimming play,” Souter said, noting it’s his third film.

The PG-rated film also stars Manitoba stage actress Talia Pura and upcoming actors Toni Reimer, Karin Renafelt, Pamela Iveta and Ali Tataryn and the original music score is by local musicians Russell Chan and Lisa Saunders.

The self-taught filmmaker — who has a “passion for storytelling and screenwriting” — said the creative process is a constant evolution.

“With writing, at the end of the day, it’s about putting pen to paper. You win some, you lose some and you learn every time you do it. You have to keep going because it’s about self-improvement,” he said.

In the case of Swimming The Dream, it was also about patience and sacrifice, as the project took two years from start to finish, despite only shooting for a total of 16 days.

It was shot on location in St. Vital, St. James, Selkirk and Winnipeg Beach and production had to be postponed for eight months, as Souter struggled to finance the film. Wearing four different hats throughout the process also took its toll at times, he said.

“The biggest success is simply seeing this project through from beginning to end and not dropping the ball and quitting part way through. We finished what we started,” Souter said.

Saunders said composing her first full length feature film score was a valuable experience.

“The bulk of the work was started in post-production. Although he had some ideas about pacing and flow, Ryan gave us carte blanche to score the film,” said Saunders, who lives in St. Boniface.

“It was such an interesting experience, as much of my background has been writing pop, rock and indie music with bands, which is quite different to capturing the emotion of a movie scene.”

As for the future, Souter plans to go back into the editing room to “tweak this and that and clean it up” before looking at online markets and potentially submitting the movie to film festivals.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/SwimmingTheDream.

simon.fuller@canstarnews.com