(Photo supplied by James Reckseidler)

By Ian Gustafson

Drama Thriller

Locally shot film, The Ties That Bind to be screened at Carnival Cinemas in December

Nov 26, 2024 | 12:36 PM

Central Albertans chomping at the bit to head to the theatres to see a locally made film will soon get that chance.

From Dec. 6 to 13 at Carnival Cinemas in Red Deer, there will be multiple screenings at 7 p.m. of The Ties That Bind, directed and produced by James Reckseidler.

“We want central Alberta films buffs or just interested audiences to come out and watch a film what was shot in our area,” Reckseidler said.

“We hope that it can delight a lot of people and we can create further interest in the film.”

Cast and crew will be in attendance on opening night in Red Deer and on Dec. 8 they’ll do a historical retrospective screening to talk about the time period.

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They’re close to the end of their theatrical release but are hoping the support could help them potentially reach global audiences in some form.

(Photo supplied by James Reckseidler)

The drama thriller by Reckseidler Films takes place in Delburne in the 1930s centred around the dynamic of three brothers during the depression, one of them who’s an elected politician.

He gets an underage girl pregnant in Edmonton who blackmails him for $10,000. He runs home to Delburne to try to get his brother, who works at a bank, to help him out but money is a bit of a problem during that time.

The politician learns a little bit more about the family dynamic at home and eventually the family’s loyalty gets ripped apart when there’s an unexpected death and a scandal looming over them.

“We like to call it a bit of an unexpected rollercoaster ride,” he said. “It sets up like a drama for sure and then there’s a thrill ride with a twist at the end.”

Reckseidler, who grew up in Delburne with two brothers, said his upbringing inspired certain aspects of the storyline.

“The moral compass swung a lot in my upbringing so I started to explore that idea. What being an intertwined brothers of three was like and then just being a bit of a history buff I just found the 30s in Alberta interesting,” he said.

“As it all kind of evolved, one of the things that was fascinating to me was the idea that Alberta was the only jurisdiction in the world that actually tried an aggressive plan through social economics to try to kick start the economy.”

(Photo supplied by James Reckseidler)

The movie features an all-Alberta cast and crew starring Lonni Olson, Ryan Northcott, and Christopher Duthie.

With a budget of $1 million they filmed the movie in February of 2022 in Delburne and premiered the movie at the Calgary International Film Festival in 2023 and in October earlier this year, the movie was shown at the Central Alberta Film Festival, where they won a Peoples Choice Award.

Reckseidler was also awarded the best director in Alberta at the Alberta Motion Picture Industries Association awards.

“We’re feeling really good about the couple of awards that are starting to come to the film as we look to sell it out to the world and try to get it onto the major platforms.”