Melaleuca
Winnipeg, Canada | Film Feature
Comedy, Drama
Melaleuca is a Manitoban-homegrown project that highlights the talents and weirdness of Canada's middle city. It's a comedic look at the challenges of finding new meaning during a global pandemic. We want people to connect with the film and to find some comfort in knowing that they aren't alone.
Green Light
This campaign raised C$15,535 for post-production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
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Melaleuca is a Manitoban-homegrown project that highlights the talents and weirdness of Canada's middle city. It's a comedic look at the challenges of finding new meaning during a global pandemic. We want people to connect with the film and to find some comfort in knowing that they aren't alone.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
You might see that we've already (somehow!) hit 100% of our funding goal. All we can say is: WHAT THE WHAT?! We are truly in awe of the amazing support this project has received from the community. So to everyone who has supported us or the project along the way, here is our resounding THANK YOU!
We're awe-struck, it's awe-stounding, so awe-some - you get the idea. We love you.
BUT...
We're not done yet! We're continuing to raise funds for the project because every single dollar will make its way directly on screen by way of our unbelievably talented local craftspeople. At this point, further funds will go towards our "stretch goal" of securing music rights to include in the film (paying musicians for their art? Sign us up!).
Again, we can't truly express how lucky we feel to have such a supportive community behind us. Art certainly isn't created in a vacuum, and this project is a testament to that fact.
Imagine for a moment that you live in a world where nothing makes sense, where the future is super uncertain, where the rules are constantly changing, where you’ve chosen a profession that gets categorized “non-essential” the second the shit hits the fan. Imagine… oh, wait a minute, that sounds eerily close to the world we’re living in. Okay, well what if you could escape inside a movie where someone else is dealing with an existential identity crisis as a way to tune out your own downward spiral for a couple hours? Sounds heavy??? Don’t worry, there are laughs along the way!
Melaleuca follows Misha, a writer who spends more time doomscrolling on Twitter than actually writing. She's languishing in a pandemic (totally imaginary, completely made up) and feels that she has no meaningful role in a world turned on its head. She and her doctor-husband Arnold (standup guy, maaaaybe a little annoyingly optimistic) decide to fuck off out of town for a bit and see if total isolation at a rundown cabin in the middle of nowhere shakes something loose in Misha (of course that's not how Arnold sells it, "What about the healing power of nature?!" he'd say). But things go from bad to extremely fucking bad when the pandemic (again, totally fictional) mainlines some hardcore steroids and morphs into a humanity-ending mega-strain. Speaking of strains, Arnold and Misha's relationship wasn't too hot to begin with, and this miiiiiight just be too much for the young quill-smith to handle. What Misha has to ask herself is this: "What role does art play in a world that's falling apart?" We happen to think it's still pretty goddamn essential, but you'll have to see for yourselves when the movie comes out...
Look, when we first conceived this movie, we never imagined we’d see a pandemic in our lifetime (how naive!), but over the years of developing the script during Covid, we found ourselves asking some pretty big questions about why we continue to create and make movies when everything seems so futile. And instead of falling into the trap of cynicism, we decided to make a movie that grappled with these questions, while offering some hope.
Our campaign is to raise $14,000 in 45 days!
We're currently in the post-production phase of the projec. What does that mean? That means that we've already shot the film and we're adding all the finishing touches, bells, whistles, and spit-shine, to make sure that this movie makes a splash on its release!
When it comes to making a movie, every dollar counts - all funds raised will go directly onscreen in post-production services which include:
- Pick-up shoots (sometimes you just need that one extra shot to make a sequence really sing!)
- Colour correction & VFX - a movie doesn't come out of the camera looking perfect. Somone has to slide those dials and get the contrast and colour temperature just right. And VFX can be everything from adding in foliage to putting a muzzle blast at the end of a gun.
- Foley (if you don't know what this is, look it up, you'll love it!), Music, Sound Mixing - bad sound can just cheapen an otherwise great movie. One of our writers went ahead and made an entire soundtrack of him humming, but we'd kind of prefer to get a professional to do the score (no offence, Josh).
All of these services go a long way in making raw footage from a camera into a finished movie on the big screen that sounds and looks cinematic.
Supporting the project is simple! Simply choose a donation amount that is right for you, and we'll give you a shoutout on our social media. We have a great set of perks for different donation levels to thank you for your generosity.
Also you can SHARE! this project on your own social media. Spreading the word is key to the success of our campaign, as well as supporting indepdendent film in Manitoba!
First and foremost, Melaleuca can only exist due to all of the tremendous work from our wonderful team. We had the absolute privilege of working with a very talented cast and crew and this film is a love-letter to all of their tremendous efforts in getting it made.
The past few years have presented a monumental shift that forced us all to reflect on how we find meaning in our our work, and our lives. Stories are how we make sense of the world, and Melaleuca is a story for this moment. It is a movie for all the people who are languishing, disoriented, lost, and/or feeling like they’re left without a sense of purpose. At its heart, it’s a movie about why stories matter.
Melaleuca is a feature film years in the making - from its original concept, through some script revisions (and then a few more), casting, scouting, budgeting, prep work, etc… It was a journey and a half until we felt ready to shoot it! Until the fictional pandemic we wrote about in our movie seemingly came to life… in real life. So, there were as another delay until we knew we could a) make it safely and b) make it right.
Our movie isn’t a global-scale pandemic movie like Contagion, 28 Days Later, World War Z, The Andromeda Strain, or… well, OK, there’s a lot - you get the point. Living through a real-life pandemic brought up a lot of unexpected thoughts, feelings, and question, and also confirmed that the story we had dreamed up might really connect with people who, like us, were looking for meaning in a severely uncertain time.
Winnipeggers are weird - but we mean that in a GREAT way. I mean, you have to be a little bit weird to keep living in a city colder than mars, right? But that weirdness has shaped an arts and film community that creates a lot of tremendous and thoughtful work that shines a light from our city to the outside world. Our dream is that Melaleuca can be a project - the first of many - that continues this contribution to Winnipeg’s amazing slate of offbeat and unique films. Let’s stay weird, Winnipeg, it looks good on us.
With the support of our homegrown Manitoba film community, we were able to shoot Melaleuca in the fall of 2021, and we honestly can’t wait to show you this movie. Here’s where we need your help - we are currently in the post-production adding the final touches to the film. We're asking for support to deliver the caliber of care this project deserves. We’re talking sound and picture editing, visual effects, color correction, soundtrack, and making a trailer, to name a few. The process is highly collaborative and one that, with your help, will result in a movie we are proud to share.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Post Sound
Costs C$5,000
Though sometimes overlooked, when it's done poorly, bad sound can REALLY take you out of a movie.
Post Picture
Costs C$6,000
Colouring, VFX, and pick-up shots can be the difference maker between a good movie and a great one.
Soundtrack
Costs C$3,000
If you got two ears and a heart, then you know how crucial music is.
Cash Pledge
Costs C$0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
The Director & Editor - Jeremy Guenette
Jeremy Guenette is the son of two basketball players. Because of his very disappointing (and limiting) height of only 6’4” - the shortest child in his family by at least one 2-liter of RC Cola on its side (it was the only unit of measurement the Guenette family used), he turned his focus to filmmaking. Jeremy has been directing, editing, and writing for nearly two decades. His feature directorial debut, Mia, was the first non-quebecois francophone film to be produced under Telefilm’s Talent to Watch program. An alumni of the Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF for short, or in the event you do live under a rock - and we mean that without any judgment, rocks are cool) Director’s Lab - Jeremy is a rising talent in the Canadian directing landscape.
He dreams of directing many more movies and also that his family will stop playing ‘keep away’ with him over his head. Please, he’s a grown man - let him win at least once.
The Writers - Chuck B & Josh Benoit
I'll be honest, we could write this in a traditional third-person voice like: "Josh and Chuck have been writing together for years now, combining their blood, sweat, tears, and brains on several collaborative projects, including-", but realistically, we're also writing this - we're the writers - so we do the writing. We also wrote that stuff about Jer above, and hoping that he won't notice. OK, but seriously now - Melaleuca is our debut feature film. We've been writing together for years now, combining our blood, sweat, tears, and our brains on several collaborative projects including short films, music videos, documentaries, and other feature screenplays. Our feature screenplay Moon Babies participated in the 2018 Berlin Film Festival's JETS Programme - we're not sure if that means anything tangible to you, but it does sound fancy, and fanciness counts for something, right?
The Cinematographer - Gabriel Levesque
A seasoned and grizzled Director of Photography, Gabriel Levesque brings his experience and equally grizzled eye to the project. Somehow, Gab has been filming moving images for over two decades, which is shocking because how can he be over 32? He's so young looking! Like, when did he start? 11? Regardless, Gab's talents and creative problem solving elevated Melaleuca's look and feel to new levels.
The Producers - 4Head Films
4Head Films is a (proudly) bilingual production company (also proudly) based out of Winnipeg, Manitoba. We’re a company combining the talents of directors, editors, producers, a cinematographer, writers, readers, competitive bridge-players, lovers, fighters, avid-gardeners, amateur arm-wrestlers, and professional friends (awwww).
Melaleuca marks the company’s debut english-language feature film.
The 4Head Films team is made up of Jeremy Guenette, Chuck B, Josh Benoit, and Gab Levesque
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
You might see that we've already (somehow!) hit 100% of our funding goal. All we can say is: WHAT THE WHAT?! We are truly in awe of the amazing support this project has received from the community. So to everyone who has supported us or the project along the way, here is our resounding THANK YOU!
We're awe-struck, it's awe-stounding, so awe-some - you get the idea. We love you.
BUT...
We're not done yet! We're continuing to raise funds for the project because every single dollar will make its way directly on screen by way of our unbelievably talented local craftspeople. At this point, further funds will go towards our "stretch goal" of securing music rights to include in the film (paying musicians for their art? Sign us up!).
Again, we can't truly express how lucky we feel to have such a supportive community behind us. Art certainly isn't created in a vacuum, and this project is a testament to that fact.
Imagine for a moment that you live in a world where nothing makes sense, where the future is super uncertain, where the rules are constantly changing, where you’ve chosen a profession that gets categorized “non-essential” the second the shit hits the fan. Imagine… oh, wait a minute, that sounds eerily close to the world we’re living in. Okay, well what if you could escape inside a movie where someone else is dealing with an existential identity crisis as a way to tune out your own downward spiral for a couple hours? Sounds heavy??? Don’t worry, there are laughs along the way!
Melaleuca follows Misha, a writer who spends more time doomscrolling on Twitter than actually writing. She's languishing in a pandemic (totally imaginary, completely made up) and feels that she has no meaningful role in a world turned on its head. She and her doctor-husband Arnold (standup guy, maaaaybe a little annoyingly optimistic) decide to fuck off out of town for a bit and see if total isolation at a rundown cabin in the middle of nowhere shakes something loose in Misha (of course that's not how Arnold sells it, "What about the healing power of nature?!" he'd say). But things go from bad to extremely fucking bad when the pandemic (again, totally fictional) mainlines some hardcore steroids and morphs into a humanity-ending mega-strain. Speaking of strains, Arnold and Misha's relationship wasn't too hot to begin with, and this miiiiiight just be too much for the young quill-smith to handle. What Misha has to ask herself is this: "What role does art play in a world that's falling apart?" We happen to think it's still pretty goddamn essential, but you'll have to see for yourselves when the movie comes out...
Look, when we first conceived this movie, we never imagined we’d see a pandemic in our lifetime (how naive!), but over the years of developing the script during Covid, we found ourselves asking some pretty big questions about why we continue to create and make movies when everything seems so futile. And instead of falling into the trap of cynicism, we decided to make a movie that grappled with these questions, while offering some hope.
Our campaign is to raise $14,000 in 45 days!
We're currently in the post-production phase of the projec. What does that mean? That means that we've already shot the film and we're adding all the finishing touches, bells, whistles, and spit-shine, to make sure that this movie makes a splash on its release!
When it comes to making a movie, every dollar counts - all funds raised will go directly onscreen in post-production services which include:
- Pick-up shoots (sometimes you just need that one extra shot to make a sequence really sing!)
- Colour correction & VFX - a movie doesn't come out of the camera looking perfect. Somone has to slide those dials and get the contrast and colour temperature just right. And VFX can be everything from adding in foliage to putting a muzzle blast at the end of a gun.
- Foley (if you don't know what this is, look it up, you'll love it!), Music, Sound Mixing - bad sound can just cheapen an otherwise great movie. One of our writers went ahead and made an entire soundtrack of him humming, but we'd kind of prefer to get a professional to do the score (no offence, Josh).
All of these services go a long way in making raw footage from a camera into a finished movie on the big screen that sounds and looks cinematic.
Supporting the project is simple! Simply choose a donation amount that is right for you, and we'll give you a shoutout on our social media. We have a great set of perks for different donation levels to thank you for your generosity.
Also you can SHARE! this project on your own social media. Spreading the word is key to the success of our campaign, as well as supporting indepdendent film in Manitoba!
First and foremost, Melaleuca can only exist due to all of the tremendous work from our wonderful team. We had the absolute privilege of working with a very talented cast and crew and this film is a love-letter to all of their tremendous efforts in getting it made.
The past few years have presented a monumental shift that forced us all to reflect on how we find meaning in our our work, and our lives. Stories are how we make sense of the world, and Melaleuca is a story for this moment. It is a movie for all the people who are languishing, disoriented, lost, and/or feeling like they’re left without a sense of purpose. At its heart, it’s a movie about why stories matter.
Melaleuca is a feature film years in the making - from its original concept, through some script revisions (and then a few more), casting, scouting, budgeting, prep work, etc… It was a journey and a half until we felt ready to shoot it! Until the fictional pandemic we wrote about in our movie seemingly came to life… in real life. So, there were as another delay until we knew we could a) make it safely and b) make it right.
Our movie isn’t a global-scale pandemic movie like Contagion, 28 Days Later, World War Z, The Andromeda Strain, or… well, OK, there’s a lot - you get the point. Living through a real-life pandemic brought up a lot of unexpected thoughts, feelings, and question, and also confirmed that the story we had dreamed up might really connect with people who, like us, were looking for meaning in a severely uncertain time.
Winnipeggers are weird - but we mean that in a GREAT way. I mean, you have to be a little bit weird to keep living in a city colder than mars, right? But that weirdness has shaped an arts and film community that creates a lot of tremendous and thoughtful work that shines a light from our city to the outside world. Our dream is that Melaleuca can be a project - the first of many - that continues this contribution to Winnipeg’s amazing slate of offbeat and unique films. Let’s stay weird, Winnipeg, it looks good on us.
With the support of our homegrown Manitoba film community, we were able to shoot Melaleuca in the fall of 2021, and we honestly can’t wait to show you this movie. Here’s where we need your help - we are currently in the post-production adding the final touches to the film. We're asking for support to deliver the caliber of care this project deserves. We’re talking sound and picture editing, visual effects, color correction, soundtrack, and making a trailer, to name a few. The process is highly collaborative and one that, with your help, will result in a movie we are proud to share.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Post Sound
Costs C$5,000
Though sometimes overlooked, when it's done poorly, bad sound can REALLY take you out of a movie.
Post Picture
Costs C$6,000
Colouring, VFX, and pick-up shots can be the difference maker between a good movie and a great one.
Soundtrack
Costs C$3,000
If you got two ears and a heart, then you know how crucial music is.
Cash Pledge
Costs C$0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
The Director & Editor - Jeremy Guenette
Jeremy Guenette is the son of two basketball players. Because of his very disappointing (and limiting) height of only 6’4” - the shortest child in his family by at least one 2-liter of RC Cola on its side (it was the only unit of measurement the Guenette family used), he turned his focus to filmmaking. Jeremy has been directing, editing, and writing for nearly two decades. His feature directorial debut, Mia, was the first non-quebecois francophone film to be produced under Telefilm’s Talent to Watch program. An alumni of the Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF for short, or in the event you do live under a rock - and we mean that without any judgment, rocks are cool) Director’s Lab - Jeremy is a rising talent in the Canadian directing landscape.
He dreams of directing many more movies and also that his family will stop playing ‘keep away’ with him over his head. Please, he’s a grown man - let him win at least once.
The Writers - Chuck B & Josh Benoit
I'll be honest, we could write this in a traditional third-person voice like: "Josh and Chuck have been writing together for years now, combining their blood, sweat, tears, and brains on several collaborative projects, including-", but realistically, we're also writing this - we're the writers - so we do the writing. We also wrote that stuff about Jer above, and hoping that he won't notice. OK, but seriously now - Melaleuca is our debut feature film. We've been writing together for years now, combining our blood, sweat, tears, and our brains on several collaborative projects including short films, music videos, documentaries, and other feature screenplays. Our feature screenplay Moon Babies participated in the 2018 Berlin Film Festival's JETS Programme - we're not sure if that means anything tangible to you, but it does sound fancy, and fanciness counts for something, right?
The Cinematographer - Gabriel Levesque
A seasoned and grizzled Director of Photography, Gabriel Levesque brings his experience and equally grizzled eye to the project. Somehow, Gab has been filming moving images for over two decades, which is shocking because how can he be over 32? He's so young looking! Like, when did he start? 11? Regardless, Gab's talents and creative problem solving elevated Melaleuca's look and feel to new levels.
The Producers - 4Head Films
4Head Films is a (proudly) bilingual production company (also proudly) based out of Winnipeg, Manitoba. We’re a company combining the talents of directors, editors, producers, a cinematographer, writers, readers, competitive bridge-players, lovers, fighters, avid-gardeners, amateur arm-wrestlers, and professional friends (awwww).
Melaleuca marks the company’s debut english-language feature film.
The 4Head Films team is made up of Jeremy Guenette, Chuck B, Josh Benoit, and Gab Levesque