Aaron James Sorensen faced a dilemma during the pandemic.
The Alberta filmmaker regularly works in Los Angeles. But the pandemic made it too difficult to travel between the two countries, so he found himself looking for things to do in his home province.
The former teacher took a substitute job north of Edmonton, where he found the inspiration for his latest movie project.
“There was a kid who was dragging his guitar back and forth to classes. After he found out that I was something of a guitar player and a movie maker he was bugging me constantly for guitar lessons. So I was inspired by a grade seven student from Wabasca, Alberta,” Sorensen said.
His interaction with the student became a short story called Guitar Lessons. It was an unusual venture for Sorensen who doesn’t consider himself a short story writer. But shortly after he finished it, he was approached by the community of High Level about the possibility of shooting a movie in the area. He pitched Guitar Lessons.
“$300,000 was the budget for our film, which is a lot of money for the town of High Level to raise. But it’s a drop in the bucket when it comes to making movies. So, we made a tiny little movie, largely with a community cast and crew who hadn’t done this before,” Sorensen revealed.
Guitar Lessons, the movie, chronicles the relationship that develops between a 50 year old oilfield contractor who had turned his back on the music industry, and a 15 year old Metis boy who starts bugging him for lessons because he’s trying to learn how to play the instrument he inherited from his estranged father. Kaden Noskiye plays the student. Sorensen approached his friend Corb Lund to take on the role of the cantankerous oilfield contractor.
“He stuck his neck out a bit for us to take this role. But he liked the script and he trusted me, and against some of his management’s better judgement he decided to do it. And we’re so glad he did,” Sorensen said of the long-time Alberta musician and Juno award winner. “He did a great job.”
Sorensen said Lund had limited acting experience before in small projects where he would take on roles like “Cop #3.”
Word-of-mouth buzz keeps building for the film. It plays at Leduc Cinemas this weekend, along with several other independent theatres in the prairies. Sorensen was recently contacted by Landmark, and there’s talk of screenings in that chain after Christmas.
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