See You Tomorrow - A Short Film
When it comes to youth today, mental health is coming to light more than ever. In my film, See You Tomorrow, we share the story of one girl, Alexa, and her struggles with mental health. The goal is to inspire people to support mental health in their communities and remind those who struggle with mental health issues to talk about it. Talking will help and it is a very important aspect of healing.
See You Tomorrow is the story of 16-year-old Alexa Dunnet. Alexa, who lives alone with her older brother Bruce, the only adult figure in her life, is suffering from depression and anxiety. As her brother drifts away from being the kind person he once was to Alexa, she hurts more and more. Alexa meets a boy her age named Luke Kiley who is intrigued by her personality and has what he feels is a strong connection to her. Luke must try to help Alexa overcome her difficulties before it is too late, by showing her that talking is the best thing she could do for herself.
Director's Notes
by Jack Kukolic
See You Tomorrow was a fantastic challenge for both myself and the rest of the crew. The rough draft of the script was first penned a few months before the shoot date. The intent of the film was to take everything learned from my previous short from the summer prior, Hit by Happiness, and improve in every aspect. The final draft was set just days before we began shooting after many long hours of meeting and rehearsal with our team of dedicated lead actors, Paige Kapinski, Jason Trinidad and Gaetano Peritore. We shot the film in the heat of mid-August. As per the usual standards of student short films shot on summer break, we shot the entire film in just three days between people’s vacations, and others heading off the university. Everyone involved made the amazing effort to make the shooting schedule fit around their busy schedules in order to make the film a success.
Over the three days of filming, we shot in a variety of locations across Oakville, Ontario. Our main location being a house we were given the opportunity to use. As well as our three other locations, the Italian restaurant Mangia Mangia, Joshua’s Creek Trail and the Oakville Harbour. We were on a tight schedule and limited light each day so we really had to make the best of what we had. Our actors put in their all in each take they did for the camera and it made the shoots run unbelievably smooth with minimal bumps throughout the entire process. Our crew also played a crucial role in the smooth days of shooting, ready to help with anything I needed them to assist with. Shootout to our BTS photographer and actor Gaetano Peritore who managed to show up to the first day as a photographer, even after his car broke down and was stuck in a shop.
See You Tomorrow was an awesome learning experience for both I as the writer, director and editor of the film as well as our actors who ranged from working on film sets prior, to never stepping in front of a camera before and only being involved in live theatre performances. The cast and crew were all local from Oakville, Mississauga and Brampton and they were the people who made this film possible. I cannot thank them enough. They poured in hours of their summer to make this film a reality both for themselves and to help add to the awareness of mental health in youth all over the world.
See You Tomorrow is currently scheduled to premiere in Ontario, Canada in June 2020. We plan to show it at multiple film festivals both within and outside of Canada in the following year and the possibility of some small screening events at local theatres.