'It's like a Christmas miracle': How a Port Moody family's project became a holiday movie

Most families looking for a holiday season activity to do together might go to a tree lot to pick out their Christmas tree for the living room, or build a gingerbread house.

The Ortiz family from Port Moody made a movie.

Their production, Saving Christmas, is now available on digital platforms like iTunes, Vimeo, Amazon and Google Play as well as cable providers, Bell, Rogers and Shaw.

How it got there is “like a Christmas miracle” in itself, says Luiza Ortiz, one of the film’s writers.

The idea started as a fanciful notion by her dad, Marcelo, who works as a digital animator in the film industry. He said he’d always been curious about the craft of live-action filmmaking since he first saw Star Wars as a child growing up in Brazil.

“I threw out the idea to the family to make a movie,” Marcelo said. “It would be doable.”

His wife, Beatriz, was receptive.

Their son, Ricardo, is an actor and she’d accompanied him to sets when he was younger so she knew her way around the business and had forged numerous contacts who could help guide them in the right direction.

And Luiza had taken a couple of elective courses in screenwriting while studying English literature and political science at UBC.

The family batted around ideas. They considered a drama or horror film but their budget was small and the bulk of the filming had to be done in and around their Ioco Road home.

A small, heartfelt Christmas story seemed the best fit for the family’s skills, budget and Marcelo’s ambitions.

Pre-production involved months of script rewrites, casting 25 actors, scouting locations in Port Moody and Maple Ridge, arranging for equipment and permits, along with assembling a crew of about 50 people — most of them extended family, friends in the industry as well as students from Vancouver Film School and Capilano University.

Marcelo said what anyone lacked in experience or in-depth knowledge, they more than made up for with passion and enthusiasm.

“We had such a phenomenal crew,” said Luiza.

Three weeks of filming was scheduled in December 2022.

Beatriz said that’s usually a quiet time for the film industry locally so pro members of their crew could be readily available.

But a snowstorm almost derailed the first two of 15 shooting days.

Other setbacks also popped up. 

Securing insurance for the production took longer than expected.

A scene in a grocery store had to be rewritten when an actual grocery store couldn’t be arranged at a price the production could afford.

“It was a little bit crazy,” said Marcelo.

“Problems will come every day and you have to stay positive to find solutions.”

“There’s no time to complain,” added Beatriz.

But, said Luiza, the speed bumps created a kind of “brothers-in-arms” vibe on the set, pulled everyone closer together to find a way to see the project through to its conclusion.

“It really forced us to be creative,” she said. “That made the movie better.”

Post production of the film took the better part of a year. 

Marcelo used YouTube videos to learn the software required to craft 24 terabytes of digital footage into the 104-minute film. A friend did the colour correction. Another mixed the sound and an old friend from Brazil composed the sound track.

Getting the film done was only half the battle though. Ensuring it gets seen presented another challenge.

Marcelo researched distributors on the Internet Movie Database Pro (IMDB) website. He sent out dozens of emails, talked to about 50 companies, delivered several copies of the movie. Many inquiries went nowhere. But there were offers and an executive producer finalized a deal with California-based Vision Films.

Saving Christmas premiered two weeks ago at Vancouver Film School.

It was the first time much of the cast and crew were together again in almost two years.

Marcelo said his heart filled with pride to see the fruits of their little family project projected on a big screen.

“It looks like more than we expected,” he said of the film.

“Everybody put a little love into it.”

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