Lights, camera, laughter — Kettle Point Productions will roll out the red carpet this Saturday, August 22 for the long-awaited premiere of its new Indigenous comedy series, Rez Cops.
Writer and Director Leigh George said the entire six part series will be shown at the Kettle Point Pow Wow Grounds, or in the gymnasium at Hillside School if it rains.
"We were talking to one of our relatives about their experiences working with the police, and we found that their stories were so funny that we thought 'wow, this could actually work as a story,'" George said.
But, the idea faded until a producer friend tipped them off to an international media event in Alberta, prompting them to shoot their first sketch within 24 hours.
"We grabbed my nephews and talked them into improving a little comedy sketch that we called Rez Cops," George said. "Three months later, the Banff [World Media Festival] calls up and said 'hey, you got selected to pitch your project here in Banff.' So, we went out there and pitched it around and eventually Ontario Arts Council decided to give us a grant to produce the pilot."
George said it quickly turned into a community project, with local residents acting in the series and businesses providing financial support.
They also secured a Creative County Grant from the County of Lambton.
"Everyone wanted to be a part of it. Chief and council said, 'yeah, absolutely, you can use our office as your police precinct,'" he said.
George said they were just going to post the series online.
"That was the original intent, for YouTube, but we have had an invitation from APTN (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network) to apply to put it on their streaming platform which is called APTN+. So, we're not exactly sure where it's going to live right now," he said.
George said the series was filmed last summer.
"We had actors from Walpole Island, Serpent River [First Nation], and lots and lots of people from Kettle Point to help bring this vision to fruition," he said. "We did all the post [production] ourselves. We did our own sound design, our own graphic design."
He said the event begins at 6:30 p.m. with food vendors and live entertainment.
"We're hoping for good weather," said George. "We have Odawa Wiingushk coming down from Manitoulin [Island], we have Brothers Wilde, but the big one is we have Mr. Sauga who has a very unique hip hop/blues sound, and I'm just looking forward to it."
The premiere is planned to start at around 9 p.m.
