Film shot in Timmins to be screened at Sundance Film Festival

A film shot in Timmins last winter will be screened during the largest independent film festival in the U.S. 'My Animal' was filmed in its entirety in Timmins, Ont. and will move to the world stage at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah in January.

“The fact that ‘My Animal’ was selected for Sundance is a perfect northern success story,” said Justin Cutler, Ontario film commissioner for Ontario Creates.

“I think that’s a testament to the great crew, the support and the resources available through Timmins."

The film is about a teenage hockey goalie who falls for a figure skater, but as the relationship grows, the goalie is forced to control the animal within her.

"It just shows that movies can be made anywhere. You know we may be a small town but that doesn’t stop it from producing a really great movie," said Noella Rinaldo, director of community economic development for the Timmins Economic Development Corporation (TEDC).

The 'My Animal' production filmed for ten weeks, benefiting local businesses such as hotels, restaurants, dry cleaners and others.

“It was a nice size production for us, so it’s definitely more than a million dollars and the local people that were hired. I think it’s very important to remember," Rinaldo said.

A new calculator is in development to assist municipalities in predicting the economic benefits that film productions bring to a city.

“The Ontario Creates tool is something we’ve been looking at for almost a year and being new at this, it’s really important for us to show council and our TEDC board exactly what the economic spin-offs are, so we’re almost there," said Rinaldo.

“The economic imprint is a $2.88 billion industry that creates about 48,000 jobs in the province and communities like Timmins receive that direct economic impact when productions land," added Cutler.

The Sundance Film Festival takes place Jan. 19 to Jan. 29 in Utah and online. 'My Animal' is one of 99 films from around the world that will be showcased, putting northern Ontario on the indie-film stage map.