Calgary Metis director Berkley Brady explores trauma in new horror film Dark Nature

Dark Nature was shot in K-Country, near the Canyon Creek Ice Caves, and in Calgary. (Photo courtesy PenderPR)

Berkley Brady's horror film and debut feature premiering next week owes a little bit of its style to snowboarding, the Calgary Metis filmmaker says.

Dark Nature opens Canada, including in Calgary, and in select cities in the U.S. May 19.

Brady moved to Calgary with her family in 1986 and it was here, she says in her website bio, that she discovered her greatest teenage passions: "books, snowboarding and flirting with moody boys in baggy pants."

All of which poses the question: did all that snowboarding somehow influence your film directing?

"I believe that the way we do one thing influences how we do other things," Brady said, in an email reply to a question from CTV News.

"Snowboarding taught me how to face my fears," she said. "In front of a group of people watching--fall on my face, get hurt, and back up and try it again.

"Snowboarding is also all about the individual style someone brings to the sport," she added, "and filmmaking is also about style and putting oneself out there for the love of it."

THE DARKEST CORNERS OF THE MIND

Dark Nature is described in press materials as a suspenseful and gory journey into the darkest corners of the mind. It tells the story of Joy (Hannah Emily Anderson, from Jigsaw), who, after escaping an abusive relationship, is talked by her best friend into attending a Rocky Mountain retreat for trauma survivor women led by an acclaimed doctor.

As they move deeper into the wilderness and their treatment, Joy starts to wonder if her violent ex is out there in the trees, or if there's something worse.

It's a contemporary survival horror story that was showcased as part of Cannes Film Festivals' Fantastic 7 and also featured at Fantasia in Montreal.

Brady says the story arose out of a collaboration between herself, her producer and a friend of hers.

"As I developed the idea, I incorporated my own experiences, that of my friend's, and explored the difficulty and complications inherent in addressing trauma," she said.

The film was shot, she says, "all around beautiful Treaty 7 territory; K-Country, near the Canyon Creek Ice Caves, and at a few locations around the city of Calgary."

STORYTELLING CHALLENGE

While she's directed a number of shorts and episodic television, Dark Nature is Brady's first full-length feature. She called it both a creative and personal challenge to work in a longer format.

"I was very glad to have experienced directing multiple shorts, TV episodes, and having had worked on other feature films before," she said. "In terms of directing, I approached each sequence like its own short, and part of what a director does is create a plan of how to link all those sequences together so that they make sense for the audience, long before we get to set.

"Planning is very important, even though plans are constantly changing in film. As a director, it's my job to know the intent of each scene and element we film," Brady said.

"In terms of sustaining the longer project, the most difficult thing for me is being away from all other parts of my life for the duration of the shoot," she added. "I missed spending time with my husband, my family, cooking healthy meals and exercising. Shooting a feature usually means you live and breathe that project until it's wrapped."

And if snowboarding as a teen rubbed off on her directorial choices, so did having the opportunity to live and learn in New York for six years, where Brady studied filmmaking at Columbia University.

"I had the great privilege of learning from some of the best filmmakers in the world. My cohort at Columbia pushed me very much as well and they still inspire me," she said. "New York is also a place where people go to be the best in the world; people there are unapologetically ambitious, and that was very freeing in a way.

"I'm very happy to be living back in Calgary and love it here," she added, "but I hope to always go back to New York and will also be grateful for my time there. To any young artists out there, I really encourage you to go to a big city for as long as you want to--it's really important to mix with people from other places and to be exposed to festivals, shows, museums and underground scenes."

Next up for Brady are two book adaptations in collaboration with Banger Films in Toronto: The Summer of Bitter and Sweet by Jen Ferguson, and Halfbreed by Maria Campbell."

And if she has any say in it, Brady will keep shooting films in western Canada.

"The more work I can make here in the west, the more I can keep hiring the amazing talent we have here," she said, "and hopefully help to make people see this place not only as a location, but as a place where stories are made as well."