When she first got behind a camera at age 16, Karen Chapman knew she wanted to tell stories. Years later, her debut feature, Village Keeper, follows a single mother who confronts her traumatic past while cleansing her Toronto neighbourhood of fresh crime scenes.
As the film plays at VIFF 2024, Karen spoke to FILMHOUNDS about paying tribute to our mothers and finding her breakout star in the most unlikely place.
Village Keeper is a frank, grounded depiction of an African-Canadian family’s struggle to overcome intergenerational trauma. Where did the idea for the script come from?
I hadn’t seen anything like it, frankly, and I wanted to create something to fill that void, something that felt familiar. I’ve never written anything before and I couldn’t understand how people did it, but at the time I needed to write and my initial idea evolved into the story. I just wanted to focus on the mothers in my life as I had seen my own mother navigate life’s trials with so much resilience and humour. When watching our mothers you realise they are the real unsung heroes in our lives and our communities.
Like Beverly-Jean, the film slowly comes to terms with haunting memories of domestic abuse. What was it like to write a character like that?
Cathartic. It was really nice to write a character that has a lot of complexities. Oftentimes we’re not experiencing just one emotion but many all at once. And what does that look like? Sometimes it could look like someone just being angry, but really, it’s not just that. It was just a really cool opportunity for me to explore the evolution of a character in small, subtle ways. It’s a really wonderful character study.
The film is localised in a single Toronto neighbourhood. Why did you choose to set the story there?
We shot it all on location. I’d been thinking a lot about community and wealth and the home, and what does it mean to have a home in a wealthy neighbourhood as opposed to one that’s not? What is the quality of life and who gets to decide? [Bong Joon-ho’s] Parasite really stayed with me and all its themes and analysis of class and the class divide. I could not really find a film like that in Canada. We leave our homes and go out into the city and the city changes as we do, so what does that look and feel like? I really wanted to play with the dualities of class and home.
Maxine Simpson, who plays Grandma, has exactly one IMDb credit: Village Keeper. Where on earth did you find her and where did that performance come from?
Maxine is a retired ICU nurse. She’d never picked up a script before in her life but she did it because I asked her to. She’s a family friend and funnily enough when I was writing the character I always had her and my mum in mind. She’s just a very warm person and her warmness is familiar. Everyone is attracted to her and wants to be around her because she’s so non-judgmental and compassionate and funny. When I was creating this village keeper, I wanted it to be someone that everybody wanted to know, and that’s Maxine, that’s who she is. It was a challenge on set at times. She cried on the very first day and it was a lot, with the camera and people watching her. When you have to automatically perform it’s a very difficult job and it was difficult for her to adjust at first, but then she just did it.
Olunike [Adeliyi] was a really grounding force because she was able to quickly teach her things to get her more comfortable in her body and on camera, and that really set the tone. And our crew was very welcoming, they encouraged Maxine and created a safe space for her and she just blossomed. I just knew she could do it and it was inspiring to watch. To pull it off in that way was something I was really proud of. I knew she could adapt anywhere very easily, and not just adapt, but thrive. It was important to me that people felt safe and overall the vibe was really easy going and one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had professionally. To go to work with these people, it was like we were a bunch of vagabonds who had never made a film before, but we all had so much heart and we all understood the story and wanted to do it justice.
Village Keeper is your debut feature. How did you get into filmmaking?
I’ve always known that I wanted to tell stories and found that documentaries were inexpensive, and so I started making documentaries at 16 because they were a way for me to use a camera. I slowly started making more shorts and definitely gained my legs and my confidence and an understanding of my eye through making documentaries. Writing a script for the first time felt completely alien but when I realised it was possible I knew that’s what I had to do. I like to do challenging things and that was a real challenge.
What was it like to shoot your first feature? Did you have a favourite moment on set?
There were so many. Every morning in our safety meeting we did deep breathing exercises and played silly games that didn’t take more than 10 minutes, but it created this bond between the cast and crew, which was needed because we had to be so fast and shoot the film in 12 days. We had so few resources and high expectations of what was in the frame. We had to form a bond immediately and it worked, and it was a really wonderful opportunity for me to run a floor and to see if I could do it. We created a community on that set and I’m really proud of it.
What are you making next?
I’d like to challenge myself by doing things I’ve never done before, so I’m working on a thriller next. I can’t say too much about it, but it’s exciting. Again, it’s something I’ve never done before, but I still hope to see myself reflected somewhere in there. By just switching up genres, I feel like the sky’s the limit.
Are there any films you’re excited for or filmmakers you’d like to shoutout at VIFF ’24?
40 Acres, R.T.’s (Thorne) film definitely shook. I’m always trumpeting Canadian filmmakers because I know how hard it is to make films here. The caliber of films is so good this year and it’s exciting to see. I went to Emily Carr and I worked in Vancouver for four years, and finding a community here has been such an unexpected joy at this point in my career. I’m really proud to champion other filmmakers and we’re all doing all kinds of things. It’s an exciting time right now in Canadian cinema.
Village Keeper is currently playing at VIFF 2024