WILD SMOKE
CAST
Brandon Macpherson - Actor - Hunter
Brandon Macpherson was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. After finding his passion for acting, at the Walter Alza acting studio, the summer before his last year at Queen's University, he used his final year to do as many student films as possible and soak up the atmosphere of the drama and film department at Queen's. Brandon is now pursuing acting full time in Toronto, training at the Armstrong Acting Studio and has completed over twenty-five short films and music videos. This coming March Brandon will begin filming as the lead in the feature film "Wild Smoke", as well as simultaneously filming a principle role in the feature film 'Wash Up".
Hanna Brynn - Actor - Clarissa
Hanna Brynn was born and raised in St. Catharines, Ontario. In high school she developed an interest in theatre and film and pursued this interest upon arriving at university. She is currently a Stage and Screen student at Queen’s University and plans to immerse herself into the film industry upon completion of her degree.
She has worked in many different aspects of theatre and film productions, and is currently a director for an annual show entitled “Down There”. Her past film experience includes the lead role in a short film, Anna in Pieces, and many projects that she has directed and filmed herself. She is currently acting in two other short films. Hanna is incredibly excited to be working on her first full-length film and to delve into the irresistible world of Wild Smoke.
Erik Bayley - Actor - Clavin / Head Editor
Erik Bayley is a fourth year film major at Queen’s University with experience acting in numerous short films for Little Dark Productions. Outside of this, his knowledge of drama comes mainly from his work behind the camera and as director on projects with the Toronto Film Camp and entries for the Focus Film Festival. He joined the cast of Wild Smoke as Clavin, in order to push his boundaries and learn from the stars at his side.
Erik has gravitated towards the position of head editor on the crew of Wild Smoke because of its practical ambition as well as its challenging visuals. His experience with the genre should prove an asset in the editing room.
Raffi Atamian- Actor - Crank
Raffi's a thoughtful man with a heart of gold. A quiet youth, Raffi discovered acting as a young man and has quickly become a rising star in many short films. He's excited to bring his considerable energy and talent to bringing Crank to life in this thrilling script.
Devlin Vox- Actor - Rheiner
Actor by day, death metal musician by night, Devlin came to acting through his good friend Raffi. He's excited to bring the guiding hand of Rheiner to the bombastic upheaval of the script.
Scott Thomas- Actor - Spencer
Born and raised in Ottawa, Scott always felt a passion for film and theater and a desire to perform. Starting at the age of seven, he began studying at the Ottawa School of Speech and Drama. After eight years with the OSSD, Scott left to focus on High School theatre. Over four years, he earned an Ottawa Capital Cappies nomination for best featured actor as well as two Sears Festival awards for his production of Check Please. After graduating high school, Scott was selected as an acting apprentice for Odyssey Theater’s production of Carlo Goldoni’s The Fan. Upon coming to Queen’s University in Kingston, Scott began to act in student films alongside theatrical productions.
CREW
Robert Gow - Director
Robert Gow is the writer and director of the upcoming crime film ‘Wild Smoke’. He has been directing short films ever since he was a teenager, working extensively with the Queen’s Film Production Club (QFPC) and Little Dark Productions. He has an established director-actor relationship with Brandon Macpherson, the star of Wild Smoke. Robert needed an actor to fill in last minute for a short film, and Brandon was available. The two have been working together ever since. Robert is an avid cinephile, watching a new film every day. He hopes to continue writing and directing films in the future.
Sarah - Producer
Sarah was born in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. She took interest in the Arts in an early age through pursuing dance, theatre and film. Upon moving to Ontario, she attended Robert Bateman High School for their International Baccalaureate program. While there, she was a lead actress in two SEARS shows during her Freshman and Sophomore years. In her Junior and Senior years, she had won both an award of merit and an award of excellence in Directing and finished high school with the top IB mark in Theatre as well as the preforming arts scholarship. Outside of her academics, Sarah pursued a love of film by working on shows such as Degrassi, Flash Point, and Alpha’s thought out her high school years. Sarah is currently finishing her forth year in a Theatre and History program at Queen’s University
While attending Queen’s University, Sarah has continued to pursue her Film and Theatre career. In the last three and a half years she has worked on a total of 49 productions. She has been the producer of 11 films in the last year and intends to make Wild Smoke her 12th. Sarah is incredibly excited to be taking on this large scale project which challenges all the abilities that she has cultivated thus far.
Lori Emily Brown - First Assistant Director
My name is Lori Emily Brown and I am currently in my Second Year studying Film.
Previously I have worked as a director, writer, first assistant director, producer and editor on my own short films, short films for university and collaborative short films with Cinemagic Film Festival, National Youth Film School and British Film Institute.
My crew position on Wild Smoke is First Assistant Director.
What I love the most about Wild Smoke are the many different characters and differing personalities that develop throughout the script. I also love the action scenes because I think they will be really fun to film!
Ciaran James Meyer - Director of Photography
Ciaran James Meyer is an aspiring film-maker and cinematographer currently based out of Toronto, Ontario and Kingston, Ontario.
His work over the last several years has included a large body of short films, including two that were screened at the Kingston Film Festival in the Local Shorts category, another that was selected for the second annual Film Days Today Film Festival, and four award-winning entries to the Focus Film Festival.
Ciaran was integral in the founding and establishment of the Queen's Film Production Club in 2012, serving as founding co-president for two years before passing the organization off to new leadership. Under his guidance, the young Club produced more than ten funded short films in two years. Find some of their work here. He remains a senior advisor to the Club.
Currently, Ciaran is working on his independent production company, Little Dark Productions, and is in pre-production as Director of Photography on upcoming feature film "Wild Smoke." He is very excited for this upcoming project and the challenges which it will present.
Katrina Brazzell - Art Director
My name is Katrina Brazzell, and I am an Economics major finishing up my fourth year at Queen’s. While I have a lot of experience acting in and producing theater in High School, I only became involved in film about a year ago by acting in Please Donate, a project completed for the Focus Film Festival. This year I have been busy Art Directing and doing makeup for a variety of projects including Oh, The Places you’ll Go, Wasteland, and, Jargon, the recipient of the Focus Film Grant.
For Wild Smoke, I am the Art Director, and while a project of this magnitude presents a variety of challenges for the art department, I am confident that by combining the skills and experience of all of the members of the department we will be able to bring this project from concept to reality. I can’t wait to start filming so that we can see how the words of the script can be transformed to a dynamic scene on the screen.
Joe Craib - Gaffer
Joe was raised in the small town of Tottenham, Ontario. He became interested in being a filmmaker from a young age. In high school, he found a passion in writing as well as in Drama which provided him with his first outlet for directing and writing performance art. He is currently in his third year of a Film Studies degree at Queen’s University and has been involved with the burgeoning film community there from day one. Through class, the Queen’s Film Production Club and independently, he has worked as a director, writer, Director of photography, grip and more on nearly two dozen of his own and his peer’s projects. He first became interested in lighting as the gaffer of short film “Laika, Come Home” in 2013, where he met many of the incredible people he continues to work with – “Wild Smoke” included. In short, he loves film.
Joe became interested in “Wild Smoke” because of its ambition and wanting to a part of one of the biggest productions in the Queen’s and Kingston community’s history.
Erin Prysiazny - Graphic Design
Matthew Horvat - Camera Department
Alex Rochon - Continuity/ Editor
Connor Mcveen - VFX