Make a film through coordination, not budget.

Kingston Films started as a group of high-school friends deciding to make films seriously — a self-organized production company with real roles instead of a loose collective. Jonathan was president and I was treasurer. When he and Renan wrote and directed True Heart, the ambition immediately outgrew the resources: a period short film with professional expectations and almost no budget.

My contribution was the production layer that let the film exist. I helped run castings, negotiated permissions with the town of Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval, managed traffic around the locations, recruited and looked after extras, watched the funds, and coordinated the days on site. By the time the shoot came, I was studying in Canada, so I travelled back to help run the production on the ground.

This chapter is early and small next to the rest of my work, and I present it that way. What it shows is simple: before anyone paid me to coordinate anything, I could help a town and a large unpaid team of crew, actors, and extras mobilize around a project with almost no budget and carry it through to completion. The film went on to win 5 awards and collect 17 nominations on the international festival circuit.