A Fredericton filmmaker is celebrating the release of a feature-length film as well as funding for two future projects.
Robert Gray’s feature-length movie Entropic, based on a story from his award-winning short story collection, was filmed in Fredericton, and hit streaming services like Apple+ and Amazon Prime in January.
Gray’s production company Frictive Pictures has also learned its received Telefilm funding for its next two films.
Next, they’ll work on films from Gray’s partners at Frictive, Jon Dewar and Matt Rogers.
“The three of us have a similar way of doing things, a way of non-ego filmmaking, where you just try to learn as much as possible,” Gray said. “We have a lot of common in that way. We’re attracted to some of the same kind of stories.”
The trio put together Frictive as Gray worked on Entropic, and now he’ll take his turn producing their films.
Entropic is about a man who is asked to help the most beautiful man he knows escape ‘the burden of others’ desires.’ The film has queer themes, and Gray says it’s a thriller ‘but not in the way where anybody gets murdered.’
Making a film with queer themes in a smaller market like New Brunswick was a bit of a challenge for Gray, as he had to show a little bit more of his private self publicly.
“I was a little anxious, because I wasn’t sure how people would embrace this kind of a strange story,” he said. “In my family, and where I grew up, they get my weirdness and my queerness to some extent. I don’t have to think about it that much. But it did make me a little bit hesitant.”
The film is set in a big city, which also presented challenges when shooting in Fredericton.
“We convinced the government offices to hang fake cologne and underwear ads in the windows so it looked like a major department store in a big city,” Gray said. “But I don’t know how we got the offices to let us climb over their desks and hang stuff in the window.”
Despite filming in New Brunswick, he doesn’t think there are many recognizable locations due to the film largely taking place inside a warehouse.
However, locals may recognize some familiar faces. He estimates more than 60 people wound up making it into the final feature.
“It’s the people that are the landscape you see up on the scene,” Gray explained. “Crash Barton from the radio, and you’re going to see John Ball from the Barracks plays, and so and so from the market.”
You can find links to stream Entropic here.
