Slamdance Film Festival 2020 – The 410
Hard-boiled noir meets hipster chill in this tale of familial strife and vigilante justice. Desperate to bail her father out of jail, Suri (Indian, blonde and bougie) comes face-to-face with the criminal underworld that operates inside her seemingly quiet suburban community.
Interview with Writer Supinder Wraich and Director Renuka Jeyapalan
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Around 2014/ 2015 I began to notice a reccurring narrative in the Indo-Canadian community where South Asian truck drivers were arrested at several borders for attempting to traffic narcotics.
My dad used to be a truck driver. Truck drivers are away from their families days/weeks at a time. They have the private, lonely existences that even their own families have very little insight into.
That subject matter caught my imagination.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
It's a crime drama about a niche narcotics syndicate: Punjabi truck drivers that until now you'd probably never heard about. And it's a story about a troubled relationship between a father and a daughter, which most of us can relate to.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Everything comes from a personal place. As a South Asian woman, my relationship with my own father has had its ups and downs. He's not a drug dealer, but he's definitely in this movie.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
Yes, I started writing alone and then along the way had access to lawyers, convicted criminals, police officers, and the more I learned, the more the story developed.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
Varied. Some love the series as a South Asian, crime thriller. Others from the South Asian community hate it for airing our dirty laundry.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
Yes. I was surprised by a major attack on twitter toward me, from the South Asian community. There are some religious tones to the show, that certain members of the Sikh community were not happy with. To me, as a storyteller, it challenged me to make sure that in subsequent episodes I get more specific about the aspects of religion/ patriarchy that I aim to tackle through the series.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
Currently, the project is only available within Canada. I want more people to be aware of this story & that incredibly interesting and fresh stories within the crime/ thriller genre can be found in many diverse communities outside what we usually see in popular culture.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Yes. All of them. In all seriousness, we have a major distributor in Canada through the CBC, but we are looking for a US partner.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I want to change the way South Asian women are seen in the media. Our protagonist is one of the first South Asian Anti-heroes I've encountered. As a South Asian actress, the scope of roles available to me has been limited. I want South Asian women to see themselves here as bold, messy & complicated.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Can you be a good person and a bad daughter? Or a bad daughter, and a good person?
Would you like to add anything else?
Thanks for allowing me to the opportunity to chat about my show!
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Renuka Jeyapalan just directed an episode of Ginny & Georgia, an upcoming Netflix original series & is in post-production on her first feature film, Sex With The Perfect Stranger.
Supinder Wraich just wrapped recurring roles on Jason Priestley's series, Private Eyes, & Amazon's The Expanse. She is currently in development with the CBC on season 2 of The 410.
Interview: January 2020
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
The 410
Hard-boiled noir meets hipster chill in this tale of familial strife and vigilante justice. Desperate to bail her father out of jail, Suri (Indian, blonde and bougie) comes face-to-face with the criminal underworld that operates inside her seemingly quiet suburban community.
Director: Renuka Jeyapalan
Producer: Matt Power
Writer: Supinder Wraich
About the writer, director and producer:
RENUKA JEYAPALAM is a Toronto-based writer/director and graduate of the Canadian Film Centre’s Director’s Lab. Her Genie-nominated short film Big Girl (2005) screened at the Berlinale, Tribeca Film Festival, and TIFF, where it was awarded Best Short Film. Her other short films include Arranged (2014), which she made for TMN, Movie Central, and the Harold Greenberg Fund, A Bicycle Lesson (2016), a finalist on CBC’s Short Film Face-Off, and Life Support (2019) which premiered at TIFF. She has directed episodes of Murdoch Mysteries, Kim’s Convenience, Workin Moms, The 410, and Ginny & Georgia, an upcoming Netflix original series. She was also one of three directors on the Telefilm funded feature Ordinary Days (2017). Renuka was the winner of the WIFT-T Kodak New Vision Mentorship Award (2010) and has completed the TIFF Studio Incubator (2016), Bell Media Diversity Screenwriter’s Program (2016), and the CBC Development Workshop for Diverse Creators (2016). Currently, she is in post-production on her first feature film, Sex With The Perfect Stranger. She has an Honours Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from the University of Toronto.
SUPINDER WRAICH is an actor and filmmaker born near New Delhi raised in Toronto and currently living in Los Angeles. As the lead actor of the CTV Emmy Award-winning series Guidestones, Supinder earned a Canadian Screen Award (2015) for her performance. She has appeared in numerous film and television productions including CTV’s Degrassi TNG FX’s The Strain, and ABC's The Good Doctor. Supinder is a recent participant in Women in Film’s Mentorship program (2020), under the guidance of Judy Henderson - Disney Channel & Mai Ling Matthews - Media Res Studios. Currently, Supinder is writing the 2nd season of her CBC Gem series: The 410, produced in association with Telefilm and shooting Global TV’s Private Eyes & Amazon’s The Expanse. A graduate of the Canadian Film Centre’s Actor’s Conservatory, she holds a BA in Communications from Ottawa University and is also a Sheridan College, Advanced Film & Television program alumni.
MATT POWER is a Partner and Executive Producer at Mad Ruk Entertainment Before that, Matt was a paperboy in Paradise, Newfoundland. Much like his paper route, his work experiences in-between have all been endeavors to bring people information and entertainment. His role at Mad Ruk encompasses creating work for world-class brands such as Nike, Roots, Budweiser, Lincoln, Google, Jameson Whisky and Netflix. As well as acclaimed music videos for The Weeknd, Future, Ed Sheeran, Calvin Harris, French Montana, Wiz Khalifa, Miguel, Alessia Cara, Daniel Caesar and Jessie Reyez. Mad Ruk has collectively amassed over 1 billion views on YouTube with numerous awards & nominations such as MTV Awards, Much Music Video Awards, UK Video Music Awards, Juno Awards, Prism Prizes, Vimeo Staff Picks with Top Video of the year, and Billboard + Rolling Stones Magazine Top videos of the year.
Key cast: Supinder Wraich, Jade Hassouné, Cas Anvar, Hamza Haq Balinder Johal
Looking for: film festival directors, buyers, distributors
Facebook: The 410
Twitter: @The 410
Instagram: @the410_series
Hashtags used: #the410, #slamdance2020
Website: CBC Gem
Other: IMDb
Made in association with: CBC Gem, Telefilm Canada, Mad Ruk Entertainment
Funders: CBC Gem, Telefilm Canada
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? On CBC Gem in Canada, and currently looking for a US distributor