ST. JOHN'S, N.L. -- Cody Westman first stumbled onto a film set in Montreal after reading an ad for extra work.
The music school graduate had just moved to the city, but soon found his language skills left him unemployable.
"I thought 1/8I 3/8 could live in Montreal and not speak French, you know, which is not the case," Westman recalls in an interview.
Westman fell in love with film sets. After years as a background actor, and a brief stint in Vancouver's film industry, he's found himself on the other side of the country, and on the other side of the camera.
The St. John's-based director is flying to France to show his short film "Casey" at the Cannes Film Festival, which begins Tuesday, as part of .
Casey is one of 22 films selected to screen at Canada's short film pavilion during the festival. Westman and his co-producer Jenny Hawley are heading to Europe armed with copies of the film to hand out to interested buyers.
The gothic-influenced short follows a day in the life of a young girl living with an overprotective mother. After an encounter with some well-dressed bullies, Casey's reality starts to unravel.
The film was written, filmed, and produced in St. John's, but Westman says the story could be take place anywhere.
"The only hint of Newfoundland in that story was a couple of the kids' accents and that's it. I wanted 1/8it 3/8 to be sort of almost timeless in a way," Westman says. "I didn't want to stereotype anything, and you kind of want it to read anywhere."
The story might not be specific to the place it was filmed, but the province certainly played a role in Westman picking up the camera, and in funding his work.
Westman moved from B.C. to St. John's to be closer to his wife's family. After a few months of working in restaurants and playing local shows, he decided to take his passion for filmmaking one step further. He bought a camera online, and taught himself to shoot from watching YouTube tutorials.
His first documentary "Erin's Pub," about an historical St. John's bar was picked up to play on Air Canada flights in 2015. He hasn't stopped shooting since.
"I've had so many jobs in my life and I'm finally able to do this for a living, so I feel very grateful about it," he says.
While Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal often double for American cities in film productions, Westman says Newfoundland and Labrador has developed its own class of creative filmmakers.
"Out here is totally different because we're so isolated and everything," says Westman. "There's just a lot of talent here and there's also a lot of funding here too. There's a lot of support."
Westman says he feels fortunate for the funding he's received from the City of St. John's, Telefilm, and the Newfoundland Independent Film Makers Co-Op since starting his directorial career.
Filming in Newfoundland and Labrador comes with its challenges. Westman and his crew filmed "Casey" late last April in what Westman describes as "long johns weather." The year before, he filmed another short during the same time of year, in 50 centimetres of snow.
"It can be very challenging to make films here, 100 per cent. Shooting anything outside, the wind is nuts," Westman says. "I think this place creates some tough filmmakers."
But Westman is toughing it out for the time being. He's looking forward to his trip to Cannes and screening "Casey," which is currently being re-written as a feature by a local screenwriter.
He's not worried about potentially feeling star-struck at the international festival after years of extra work on films with legends like Eddie Murphy and Sylvester Stallone.
And Westman says his time in the pits has informed his directorial style. Watching young actors nervously audition for Casey reminded him of his own early days in the industry.
"It's funny because I've been there so many times trying to go out for commercials in Vancouver, Montreal, and I just remember being really nervous," Westman recalls. "And I'm sitting there now in this other chair, on the other side of the table saying 'It's OK! Let's just have fun."'
