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Shooting for the stars

Adam Johnson
Northern News Services

Hay River (Mar 20/06) - "I think there was always the hope of going on to something big, even from the very start," said Kelvin Redvers.

He is a young Hay River filmmaker who recently won Best Director and Best Film from Western Canada at the recent NSI National Exposure Amateur Movie Contest. The awards were for his short film The Violent Comedy. It was his second time at the podium in two years, after winning Best Screenplay for his film Unsensical.

Nostalgia knows no age boundaries, even for a 19-year-old just starting film school. Of course, not every student starts out with two national award-winning films under his or her belt.

"When they called my name for Best Director, I could hardly believe it," Redvers said of his shock at winning... again.

As Redvers looks back, however, it's easy to see where things got started. He said he began with the family camcorder, making movies with his friends.

"Eventually, I found out that I really love doing this kind of stuff," he said. "And I guess I wasn't too bad at it either."

At the urging of his father, Redvers applied for a territorial grant, which was all it took to push him in the right direction. Soon, he was making promotional videos for Hay River companies and aboriginal organizations, honing his abilities for future projects.

"Through doing that, I had the equipment and the cash to make the narratives that interested me the most," he said. "I'm a story kind of guy."

The most recent story, The Violent Comedy, is a satirical take on an abusive relationship between two friends. "There are some definite dominance issues," he said of the main characters, played in the film by himself and his friend, Tyler Provincial.

Redvers said he was trying to push boundaries as much as possible, while still presenting an interesting and entertaining story. While some viewers found it offensive, Redvers said, many others found it enlightening.

"One women who had been in an abusive relationship said she found it like therapy to watch," he said. "That's what a filmmaker shoots for, to connect with someone on a deeper level."

In the present, Redvers is a first-year film student at Simon Fraser University, getting ready for the end-of-year crunch.

In the future, he hopes his education and his awards get him where he wants to be: on the silver screen.

"I want to be a writer/director, making the sorts of films people want to see in the theatre," he said.

Redvers said he has the most respect for directors who maintain creative control over their projects. In that regard, he said a lot of his inspiration comes from filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino. "But for humour, The Simpsons have probably been the biggest influence," Redvers is quick to point out.

Despite his recent success and lofty goals, Redvers insists he couldn't have done it alone.

His friends helped with camera work, acting and scoring for his films. "Without them, I'd be nobody," he said.