A short film capturing lost of memory and loved ones
The short film, “On the Edge of Yesterday” was filmed in Chesterville at the home of Kirk Knapp who wrote, directed and produced the film for a weekly film festival in Ottawa. Left to right are the cast, Christine and Tyler Knapp and Patrick Mulligan. Courtesy photo

CHESTERVILLE – Dundas County has no shortage of creative writers, musicians and filmmakers.

Kirk Knapp is one Chesterville resident who continues to work on his movie productions despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

He has entered his short film called, “On the Edge of Yesterday” into the Weekly Film Challenge in Ottawa.

His production company, called Big Block Productions created the short film in just one day.

“The festival is an online festival that runs weekly,” said Knapp who wrote, produced and directed the film.

The winner of each preceding week chooses the theme for the following week. This is their 18th week running.

Participants have one week to produce a short film only a few minutes long.

After submitting, people can vote online for their favourite.

“It’s just a way for filmmakers in the Ottawa area to stay involved after our industry [was] shut down due to Covid-19,” said Knapp.

A short movie running just over 4 minutes takes a team to put together.

The film looks at memory and loss and to do it Knapp enlisted the help of some of his industry friends.

The music was composed by Matthew Harper, a musician who sent his finished music for the film to Knapp from England where he lives.

There were three people in the cast: Tyler Knapp, Kirks brother, Patrick Mulligan and Christine Knapp.

The audio was looked after by Stephen Lorne while the boom operator was Timon Incze. Kirk looked after the camera work and Jennifer Knapp worked on the film as its production assistant.

The story begins with two men talking at a table while a child eats.

One man is asking the other if he can borrow his booster seat. “The booster seat reminded him of his daughter,” said Knapp. “That is why the booster seat was there.”

Knapp has been making short films and entering them in film festivals, when he has the time, since 2014.

He said he was introduced to the Ottawa film industry where he worked as a production assistant and then on to set dressing for several years, but he never abandoned his filmmaking vision. Along the way he was involved in the production of a few Hallmark movies in Ottawa and was involved in the Mel Gibson movie “Fatman” here in Chesterville.

The pandemic caused an industry slowdown “Everything was put on hold,” said Knapp.

He said the film was a perfect opportunity to dust off his cinematic and production skills, getting ready for when the pandemic loosens its grip on movie making.

He said the festival is great for letting people know you are still active.

“A lot of the people I brought on were friends and people I have worked with before,” said Knapp.

All the editing was done at his home in Chesterville. He tried to keep his production crew as small as possible due to COVID-19 regulations. With everyone’s help he was able to finish the film in one day.

Knapp trained at Algonquin College in television broadcasting.

Click the video below to view the film.