Britflicks (BF) talks with director of WINTER RIDGE, Dom Lenoir (DL)
BritFlicks talks with Dom Lenoir about his film WINTER RIDGE.
Dom Lenoir comments on his film. "WINTER RIDGE is a psychological thriller about a Detective who is on the hunt for a serial killer whilst struggling with his wife in a coma. The film deals with degenerative diseases and grief and borders between a high energy thriller and dramatic moments.".
BF) Tell us about the Winter Ridge?
(DL) Winter Ridge is a psychological thriller about a Detective who is on the hunt for a serial killer whilst struggling with his wife in a coma. The film deals with degenerative diseases and grief and borders between a high energy thriller and dramatic moments.
(BF) There’s some beautiful shots, where was it filmed?
(DL) In Lynton and Lynmouth in north Devon by Exmoor national park. The landscape around there is just stunning and so dramatic, it feels more like the wild untamed scenery you might expect in Scandinavia or Canada than England. The town were amazing, shout out to Diana Mitchell and the whole community for making it possible.
(BF) How long did the shoot take?
(DL) 17 days.
(BF) Making a film on a tight budget isn’t easy, what were your biggest challenges?
(DL) Making a film in 17 days! We had over 25 locations and often had to deliver 8 pages a day including some complicated stunt setups with absolutely no leeway for reshoots with most of the cast. We had to be really inventive to still get the production values we wanted and to create a cinematic feel.
(BF) Winter Ridge has picked up a few awards along the way, that must be pleasing?
(DL) 11 to date. We are really proud to have won so many best film awards especially as this is crossing multiple genres, and multiple budget ranges, and out of hundreds of applicants per festival. We never really planned to do a run and it just came because we wanted the film to get some recognition for everyones hard work and we are really pleased how well it has been received – especially in the USA.
(BF) Can you tell us about how the finance was raised?
(DL) Mostly private investors through Camelot, and the rest was raised by family and friends. It was a really big effort as this was our first collaboration on a feature and it was an ambitious project to get off the ground.
(BF) How did you go about the casting process?
(DL) It was a combination of people we knew well who could deliver what we wanted, a few names through connections we had, as well as some new faces through our casting Director Polly Hootkins.
(BF) Were there any stand out moments during production?
(DL) It was all fantastic but I think generally the best thing about the film was the atmosphere we built. We created a really hardworking and fun set that a lot of the crew said was there most enjoyable one. I love the dramatic stuff so the end scene was definitely a highlight but one of my favourite scenes is definitely in the warehouse. We had a really short time to do a big emotional scene as well as a huge effort from Production Designer Niina Topp and Cinematographer Joao da Silva to create this Blade Runner like labrynth. It was pretty much half a day and a lot of teamwork to create a standout scene.
(BF) How do we get to see the film?
(DL) WINTER RIDGE hit cinemas in the UK in September 2018, and is available now on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital. We had an Oscar© winning sound design team Sound 24 doing our music and the visuals and score are really tailored for an epic 5.1 experience, so it was great that we secured a Cinema release.
(BF) How easy was it to get a distribution deal?
(DL) In the end we have done a lot of it ourselves, we have a sales agent who joined later on in the process to sell territories worldwide and in Europe but we secured a USA deal with the largest independent distributor in the world Gravitas ventures. We also put together this cinema run entirely ourselves and we are hitting around 20 screens now!
(BF) Dom Lenoir thanks for taking time out to talk with Britflicks.
(DL) Thanks for having us, would like to thank Matt Hookings, Nancy Bressolles, Chris Hardman who are the other producers, as well as our amazing crew who really went above and beyond on the shoot to make our impossible schedule work.
It also wouldn't be possible without our amazing cast include Matt Hookings, Michael McKell, Hannah Waddingham, Alan Ford, Ian Pirie, Justin McDonald and Noeleen Comiskey.
