Doing it all: Michelle Nolden talks Lakeshorts Festival, Free Range Children . . . and the support system that enables her success
The Lakeshorts International Short Film Festival celebrates a milestone anniversary tonight. It began as a passion project by actor Michelle Nolden and her husband, producer Chris Scarka. They had two goals: to celebrate the rich artistic life of their Lakeshore/South Etobicoke community and to bring their love for film to their neighbours. After being disrupted by the COVID pandemic in 2020, the festival makes an anticipated and triumphant return with a gala screening on April 23 at the Assembly Hall.
Now experienced festival organizers, Nolden and Szarka also launched the Grand River International Short Film Festival late last year. The inaugural edition of this brand-new festival in Paris, Ontario (where the couple moved with their three sons a couple of years ago) was a sold-out success. With a mission that parallels that of Lakeshorts, the festival strives to showcase the best short films from the Brant County area . . . while bringing the world to Brant County.
Always enterprising, Nolden also created, wrote and directed Free Range Children, a reality series that premiered on Bell FibeTV last fall. The autobiographical series follows the exploits of Nolden, Szarka and their three sons as they embrace four hens (Edith, Gertie, Penelope and Mabel) as part of their family, and navigate the joys and intricacies of chicken farming in the backyard of their 8-acre property.
Beyond these major projects and the omnipresent busy-ness of being a mother, Nolden also remains a prolific actor who enjoys a prominent presence in film and television. She recently joined the cast of Heartland as Jessica Cooke, a new character introduced at the end of Season 14. Cooke is the former hard-nosed boss of Lou Fleming (Michelle Morgan), and she came to the Heartland Ranch to honour a new lease on life after surviving cancer . . . and found love with Lou’s Dad, Tim (Chris Potter). The two characters were married in a Season 15 episode which aired recently .
Her other credits on TV alone include five seasons as series regular Dr. Dawn Bell on the critically acclaimed CTV drama Saving Hope (for which she won a Canadian Screen Award for her performance); five seasons in the recurring role of U.S. attorney Robin Brooks on the CBS series Num3ers; and recurring roles on CBC’s Burden of Truth, Tiny Pretty Things, Northern Rescue and October Factions. She also recurred as an arms dealer in Designated Survivor, as the U.S. President in the hit series Nikita, and as the Crown Attorney in The Republic of Doyle.
Though her resume would be the envy of many, Nolden remains grounded, warm and humble – and above all grateful for her opportunities and personal life. Despite having a full calendar during the busy lead-up to the The Lakeshorts International Short Film Festival gala, Nolden spoke with SesayArts Magazine about the origin of the festival, advocacy for Canadian film arts, and her experience of exchanging city for country living while balancing her roles as mother, wife and actor.
SM: How exciting that the Lakeshorts International Short Film Festival that you co-founded with your husband Chris is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Congratulations! Do you want to speak about what led you and your husband to create a festival? (It sounds like a daunting undertaking, yet here it is, celebrating a milestone anniversary.)
MN: The year before the festival started, I was sitting on the programming committee for Lakeshore Arts (LSA), the not-for-profit arts organization that services Etobicoke Lakeshore. They were running a fabulous program called My Neighbour Is An Artist, where different artists within the community would host their neighbours and showcase their art. Chris and I decided it would be great to host a night of short films. The neighbourhood was full of studios and film people, and it felt like we were living in the Burbank of Canada. The night was a huge success, and Chris and I were excited at the possibilities. Chris worked his magic and brought on incredible sponsors from the community and the industry, which allowed us to put on a fabulous event and provide in-kind and cash awards to the filmmakers.
SM: How has the festival evolved or changed over the past decade?
MN: From the very beginning, we wanted the screenings to truly celebrate the films and the cast and crew involved in making it happen. We wanted it to be grassroots and community-driven, and it has remained so. It has become a pretty well-oiled machine, so we don’t mess with some things, but we always mix it up with different live opening performances, local restaurants, and the curation of the films themselves. We’ve tried various screenings and venues, but the Gala is pretty tried and true. After the first year, we began the Lakeshorts Future Filmmakers Initiative (LFFI), where the festival mentors area youth interested in cinema. Every year it is a little different depending on the needs and responses of the youth within the community. We are proud to say that one of Chris’s best editors, first found his love of film in the LFFI a decade ago!
SM: What would you like audiences to know about the films that you’ve programmed for this year’s festival, what audiences can expect, and anything else that you would like to share?
MN: We are proud that we have a focus on Canadian film in the Cinespace Gala 10th Anniversary celebration. Supporting and giving back to homegrown talent has always been our motive. Our actual anniversary of 10- yrs was 2020, but Covid delayed everything, so this season has been the culmination of two seasons. The films are very diverse in genre, perspective, length, tone and subject matter.
SM: I am intrigued by Free Range Children, both as a reality series and as a project that your entire family participated in. Do you want to speak a little about this? Will there be a second season?
MN: Free Range Children was such a fun experience for our family. Like everyone else, we were stuck at home through Covid and looking for ways to keep ourselves entertained. Before the pandemic hit, we had just left the city to move to Paris, Ontario, and the downtime allowed us to embrace everything about country living – including backyard chickens. We immediately fell in love with them. When we pitched the idea to Bell FibeTV we actually brought one of our hens to the boardroom table via zoom. I think that was Mabel – she sealed the deal! Unfortunately, a second season might not be in the cards with life, work, and kids’ activities back to the new normal.
SM: With a thriving career such as yours, people might be surprised to know that you live in Paris, Ontario, not Toronto or Vancouver. Why did you choose to live and raise your family there, near your hometown of Brantford?
MN: In 2017 my Dad passed unexpectedly, and the pull to return and be close to family was immense. Initially, we didn’t sell our home in Toronto because we weren’t sure that this 180 turn to country life would work. But the pandemic helped slow us down enough to appreciate having space and connecting to nature. (We also have bees and planted a small orchard of fruit trees.) I have always been an avid gardener and lover of all things home and DIY, so having the canvas of 8 acres and a century home was a dream for me.
It all worked very serendipitously because as the pandemic waged on, I didn’t have to travel to and from the city for auditions as everything was done via video or zoom. The jobs that I landed were in other provinces, and so the only actual commuting was the drive to the airport. That part of the business has changed so much in the last few years. Being in a major city is no longer a necessity.
SM: On the subject of family and work, I marvel at how you “do it all”. Balancing the responsibilities of work and home is always tenuous. How do you maintain a healthy balance so that you can look after yourself and your family while also doing work of high quality?
MN: Luckily I have a great husband and support system that I am incredibly grateful for, but truthfully, I don’t always manage it well. The acting life is feast or famine, and often in the famine stages, I take on things to keep me busy and fulfilled and then it gets busy and I find myself stretched too thin. I’ve been doing it for years, and you’d think I’d learn one of these days:) I am better when I’m busy, though. People always say if you want something done, give it to a busy person, and that certainly holds true for me.
SM: Having worked with so many people over the years, has anyone given you advice (professional or personal) or influenced you in a way that carries special weight for you?
MN: I feel so lucky to have worked with the level and variety of actors I have. I am constantly learning and am always amazed at how everyone’s process is so different and how that process changes as we grow older and add life experience to the mix. My parents were probably my greatest influencers, and they were good, kind and contributing people always. If I can look back on my life as they did theirs, I will be a very happy woman. There is a saying on their gravestone from Carl Jung that reads “the privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are”. So I try to live by what I trust and not by what I fear.
SM: The final word is yours. What question didn’t I ask you that you wish I had (and what is the answer)?
MN: Those were lovely questions. Thank you.
And tickets are still available for the Gala on April 23rd!!!!!
Find information and tickets on lakeshorts.ca.
© Arpita Ghosal, SesayArts Magazine, 2022
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