Victoria’s youngest film star is getting ready to have her latest project shown at this year’s Victoria Film Festival (VFF).
Remy Marthaller is just 8-years-old and already has an impressive resume that includes guest appearances on the CW’s Supergirl series, Firefly Lane, The Night Agent and several Hallmark Christmas movies.
Most recently, she performed a leading role in an independent film called Seagrass, which is set to have its VFF premiere in early February.
The film is the feature-length directorial debut of Meredith Hama-Brown, a Vancouver-born, Nanaimo-raised actress, writer and director.
Seagrass follows a Japanese-Canadian woman coming to grips with her mother’s death. She brings her family to a couples counselling retreat as part of the process, but when her relationship with her husband begins to affect the children’s emotional security, things change for the family.
The film was shot exclusively on and around Vancouver Island with locations including Gabriola Island, Tofino and Ucluelet and uses predominantly local talent.
Marthaller plays the crucial role of one of the children in this film, Emmy.
“Emmy is a kind of scared person and when she goes to camp, she doesn’t feel like she belongs there,” Marthaller told Victoria Buzz.
“Everyone else is playing with each other, but Emmy doesn’t really knowa lot of the people. When she sees the other people play, she just feels really left out.”
The character of Emmy is the family’s youngest child, and in the film, Marthaller gets to act alongside another child who plays her older sister Stephanie as well as a number of other young actors.
Marthaller explained that her character likes her sister but Emmy often feels like she wants to run away.
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To prepare for the character, Marthaller says she asked lots of questions about her character’s motivation prior to filming as well as practiced the script in her off time by reading it before bed with her mother.
“Sometimes we sat on the side of the bed trying to think of something sad to make ourselves cry,” Marthaller told Victoria Buzz.
Marthaller says that she really enjoyed working with Hama-Brown who was really helpful in directing the scenes and helping her identify with the scene, while also giving her lots of freedom in how she played the character.
She and her family and friends got to go see the film premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival as well in September of last year.
There, Seagrass’s director won the coveted International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Prize and the film was also declared one of the best 10 Canadian films of the year.
Now, she is looking forward to bringing all her friends, family and even her teacher to the VFF premiere right here in her hometown of Victoria.
Looking ahead, Marthaller is getting excited for the release of another film she is in called The Island Between Tides as well as a short film, The Ornament.
‘Seagrass’ at Victoria Film Festival
- Where: Capitol 6 Theatres, 805 Yates Street
- When: Sunday, February 4th at 4 p.m.
- Tickets: Available online
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