Canadian writer-director Kelly Fyffe-Marshall finally gets her chance to walk the red carpet at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.
Fyffe-Marshallwho grew up in Mississauga, makes his feature film debut with ‘When morning comes’ and this will be his first face-to-face film premiere at the festival.
“I am super excited to be back in Toronto, in my hometown, sharing this beautiful story,” Fyffe-Marshall told CP24.com.
In 2020, Fyffe-Marshall’s short film ‘Black Bodies’, which focused on racism and police brutality, premiered at TIFF, but the festival was only showing films online due to public health restrictions on in-person gatherings. .
‘Black Bodies’ won TIFF’s inaugural Changemaker Award and the Canadian Screen Award for Best Live Action Short Drama.
Now, Fyffe-Marshall is preparing to present his new feature film, which tells the story of a Jamaican boy facing his widowed mother’s decision to move to Canada.
Fyffe-Marshall took some time to talk to CP24.com about her new film, what it means to be recognized at TIFF and overcome obstacles as a black woman in Canadian cinema.
Q: First of all, can you tell us why you choose a career in film?
A: It was something I always wanted to be in, the industry I always wanted to be in. It came from being in Rick Hansen (High School), when we used to do the commercials on TV. . And then it grew to go to the cooperative and then I went to Seneca in York for television production. And then once I graduated, there was a recession. They weren’t really hiring people and they definitely weren’t hiring black women. So I started doing my thing and that was, I’m trained in television, that was my transition from television to film. And then I started making my own movies, and it grew from there.
Q: How was the process of creating your production company, Sunflower Studios?
A: I ended up hooking up with a fellow filmmaker who is now my business partner in production…we met as volunteer PAs. And she wanted to produce and I wanted to direct, so we teamed up. And we did our first short film, which is ‘Haven’ and it went to South by Southwest in 2018. And then we built our company and added more people. We still have our company and then we started another company called Sunflower Studios, which is Tamar Bird, my producing partner, and that includes Sasha Leigh Henry and Iva Golubovic, and now we’re all Sunflower Studios.
Q: What has been the biggest hurdle you have had to overcome so far as a filmmaker?
A: I think the biggest obstacle for me is doing business creatively. It is a very difficult thing. For me, I’m just a creative being and once you add business to it, things change a little bit and navigating the business side of the film has been a challenge for me.
Q: How important is it to you to tell stories with black characters?
A: I think my job as a film director and as a writer and a filmmaker is to highlight the things that I want to say. I always say that cinema is my activism. And so I can tell the stories I want to tell. When it came to ‘Black Bodies,’ it was about telling the story of how black people are treated in the world and how we have to interact in the world. And he also talked about police violence and racism. And so, with this movie, I’m talking about sacrifice and immigration. So I try to find stories that I don’t see on TV that are reflected in the way I experience the world.
Q: How does your personal experience as a black woman influence the stories you tell?
A: I think a lot of times, especially with the layers of who I am, the whole world lives at this intersection, right? And so the layers of who I am and the intersections of where I reside in Canada… I think I have this very specific story, but a lot of people can relate. People can relate to the immigration part. People can relate to being a black woman. People can relate to being ostracized, they can relate to being part of a community. I also have a different perspective of Canada because I got to that age, I was able to look at Canada differently and look at people’s stories and say ‘Wow, how come you don’t see this immigration story? Or how come we don’t see this person’s story here?’ You know, I think TV now is becoming representative of what’s really going on or what my Canada looks like, but when I was younger, TV didn’t represent the Canada that I knew. And that to me, it threw me off a little bit and that was something that I wanted to add to the structure.
Q: Your movie ‘When Morning Comes’ will debut at TIFF this year. Can you tell us about it?
A: ‘When Morning Comes’ is a movie about a little boy named Jamal who turns 10 and learns from his widowed mother that he is being sent to live in Canada for a better life. And that’s how my love letter to Jamaica exploring what sacrifice is like… and just my love letter to what the real Jamaican is.
Q: How does ‘When Morning Comes’ relate to your own experience of immigrating to Canada from England as a child?
A: Yes, it relates to my personal experience and the different memories I had growing up in Jamaica. When we were kids and we had certain memories that stay with us, they feel a lot like this big time when they were probably very young. So I thought about all those great moments that, to me, were like my Jamaican experience, and that’s what I wanted to turn this movie around. But I also talk about immigration from a child’s perspective, which is very much what I was going through.
Q: Can you give an example of one of those memories you had as a child that could be reflected in the film?
A: Yes, I had a great-uncle and his name was Mr. Campbell. And he used to put us in the back of his truck and drive. So there’s a scene where his best friend’s dad, which is Mr. Campbell, has them in the back of the truck and they’re driving around eating mangoes. So that’s a very fond memory that he had as a child.
Q: You went to Jamaica to shoot this movie. How was that experience?
A: I mean, it was amazing. As I always say, it was the most difficult and beautiful thing I’ve ever done. It’s always difficult to go to another country… I don’t know Jamaica from the aspect of filming. And then we’re also at the end of what the pandemic is or whatever it becomes now. So obviously filming during a pandemic is tough, and it was also a micro-budget talent to watch. And that also makes it a bit difficult, but, you know, being home and being able to be in these spaces and places and navigate Jamaica in this way, I definitely found a new love for home. And I was able to take my friends with me and they were able to have other experiences of being able to connect the ancestry with our land. And that was a really beautiful moment.
Q: How does it feel to be back at TIFF with a feature film debut?
A: Yes, it feels good. The first time we were at TIFF was during the pandemic, so it wasn’t one person. And so much of the success of ‘Black Bodies’ was all online. And being in person is going to be a great experience. I couldn’t see ‘Black Bodies’ on a big screen because it was all during the pandemic. One of the things I really like as a director is seeing the audience take in the movie. And that’s been something that I really enjoy. And so, I’m so excited to be back in Toronto, back in the hometown, sharing this beautiful story, sharing this real Jamaica. I get to have my family present, which is going to be really beautiful. And I’m, you know, excited to ride the wave of emotion.
Q: What do you want the audience to take away after seeing ‘When Morning Comes?’
A: I want people to take away a new love for Jamaica… I want people to also think about the sacrifices that immigrants have to go through. We always think about the immigrants who come here and have to start over and start over. But we never thought about what those moments before were when they had to make this big decision to move. Perhaps to turn their lives upside down, to move on from whatever they have known, their family, to go for this better life and we never think about what that struggle and sacrifice is. So I think there’s just more thought process and empathy around what people who are migrating and refugees have to go through.
Q: You’ve been hiring mostly black people on and off set. How important is it to you to use a black cast and crew?
A: When I started in this industry, I was always the only black person in the room. I was always confused with hair and makeup. And even now as a director, because I’m usually the youngest person in the room, being the person in the director’s chair, I’m always booked for big sets, so I’ve never had this problem, but I know people will look and be like ‘Oh wow, she’s the director. So it’s important to me and also why we created the production company, Sunflower Studios, was for true inclusivity. We wanted to make sure that we could run our sets in a way that could reflect, we could be the example of how we want our sets to look. And that was something that was really important to us. And also a lot of things that I hear are like, “Oh, you know, the BIPOC people don’t have enough experience or we don’t know where they are.” And so this was a skill for us to be like here they are, and here’s their experience and look what they can do, look what they can be a part of.
Q: What does your family say about all your achievements in film?
A: Filmmaking is a very strange career, especially if you are from a Caribbean family. It’s so non-linear and you can’t really explain to your family what’s going on. Like, all these little wins, like, ‘I got an email from this person,’ and they’re like, ‘Okay.’ And it’s really nice to have the kind of success that I’ve had and to be able to share with my family that has really supported me in this career change. Saying ‘I want to be a director’ is kind of a very vague statement that you make when you don’t know where your finances come from and all this stuff. And so, I’m happy that it’s paying off in this way because they enjoy these moments with me, because they also had to sacrifice a lot so that I didn’t go down the traditional route to get a job.
Q: Do you have any other projects underway? What can we expect from you next?
A: Actually, I’m about to work on a TV show called ‘Bria Mack Gets A Life.’ In fact, I’ll be in preparation while TIFF happens. It’s going to be a beautiful moment because it’s the same team I work with. And so my producer on this project, her name is Sasha Leigh Henry, her show that she created, was greenlit by Bell/Crave. She is the showrunner and directs two episodes. I direct four episodes. And then my producing partner Tamar Bird is the producer on the project. And then we can come back again in a different setting and do a TV show, very excited about that.
Q: How do you think your future in cinema will be?
A: I mean right now it’s going to be TV and film, and I just want to grow an organization that can help other filmmakers thrive. And, you know, I always say that the next step in everyone’s career in Canada, where they get to my level, is to leave and go to the United States. So, for me, it is very important to stay. It is very important for me to stay and grow the industry that we have here. And that’s the goal is to stay here as long as possible. And build and make my films in Canada and grow the industry that we have here.