When P.E.I. actress Sophia Bell was sitting in the audience at the recent FIN Atlantic International Film Festival.award ceremony, she was not expecting to hear her name called.
Feeling surprised, she walked up to the podium where she was presented with the Joan Orenstein award for outstanding performance by an actress her role as Laura in the P.E.I. film, “Sunnyside”.
The film will be shown at the Charlottetown Film Festival, Oct. 25-27, at City Cinema in Charlottetown.
“I had no idea that I was going to win. I was just so dumbfounded and so grateful because there are so many amazing actors there,” says the 17-year-old who lives in Charlottetown.
Taking the award in her hands, she read the citation and then she started to cry.
“The fact that I won that award is such an honour. I felt I was standing in for everyone because I loved the film so much.”
Directed by Jenna MacMillan and written by Blain Waters, the dramatic, short film is the story of Bats, a social worker, played by Bryde MacLean, who is tasked with bringing Laura, a hardened teenager, to Sunnyside, a facility that deals with tough cases, after Laura hurt a girl at her group home. As Bats’ marriage falls apart, and Laura attempts to escape, the two come to understand personal and revelatory details about each other’s lives.
“There’s a roller coaster of emotion in the film, when Laura finds out that her social worker is leaving. And it breaks her heart because she’s the only person who has ever really cared for Laura.”
It’s the first time that Bell has ever been in a film. She credits her grandmother, Sharlene MacLean, for helping her run her lines and Marlane O’Brien for her coaching efforts.
Bell also did research on children who lived in foster care.
“I took in the character. I really became Laura.”
Just the facts
What: FIN Atlantic International Film Festival.
When and where: Sept. 17-24, Halifax, N.S.
Winners: For a full list, go to https://www.finfestival.ca/2019-fin-aiff-awards.
