“It is something really, really impressive, and it helps the local crew base.”
That is according to Norm Coyne, the founder of Northern FanCon and the writer of Conquest, a short film shot at the convention that is about to have its world premiere.
The movie was created by the combined talents of industry professionals who were guests at FanCon and local actors, costume designers, makeup artists, and more.
A release from Barker Street Cinema, the film studio behind Conquest, named the following industry talents as key contributors:
- Tina Teoli, former head of make-up department for The Flash and The Good Doctor
- Allisa Swanson, costume designer for The 100 and Firefly Lane
- Evil Ted Smith, art department for The Fifth Element
- Marc Bernardin, Writer’s Guild award winner for Castle Rock and a supervising producer of Picard.
- Mark Meer of the blockbuster video game series Mass Effect and Ming Chen of AMC’s Comic Book Men.
“It is about an incompetent, intergalactic conqueror who crash lands at a Comicon and must subdue the locals before his merciless counterparts,” Coyne explained. “It is a story of colonization in a very different way – not as overt.”
“There is a very distinct pedigree to this project and I am super excited to see where it goes from here,” he said. “The fact that each of these local, Prince George filmmakers is now on IMDB with their dream job counterparts, it is super profound.”
While filming at the convention had its unique challenges, Coyne said the FanCon attendees “really enjoy fun, interesting, and bizarre experiences. Both the convention and attendees really became part of the show.”
Conquest’s festival run is about to begin, though the world premiere release has not been announced yet.
Down the road, Coyne said Barker Street Cinema will be hosting a screening night, showing projects they have been involved with and films made in northern BC.
Conquest can be expected to be a part of that lineup.
“Things like this don’t happen without support,” Coyne said, encouraging locals who want to get involved with any element of film to put themselves out there.
For more information on Conquest, click here.