BEYOND THE FRAME | MAY 2026

Sundowning rolls camera. Blue Box opens at #1 on Prime. The market is listening.

We watched Ruthless Bastards at the Rio earlier this spring.

A film we helped build. We worked on this production during the writers (WGA) and actors (SAG) strike in 2023, and there it was... finally up on the big screen for a Vancouver crowd. It's a strange and wonderful feeling to watch something you helped build from the other side of the screen. You forget about the budget. You forget about the schedule. You just watch the movie.

Here's the thing. Canadians bought 71.6 million movie tickets last year. $837 million at the box office. Of that, English-language Canadian films brought in $2.7 million. That's 0.4 percent. Not four percent. Zero point four.

Over 60 percent of Canadians went to a movie theatre in 2024. They want to go. They love it. They're just not seeing enough Canadian films when they get there. And when good ones exist, they're not always easy to find.

Ruthless Bastards found its audience. A Canadian indie action film, made during the strike on a tight budget, showing at an independent cinema in Vancouver... and people showed up. The market isn't small. It's untapped.

If we want more Canadian films to succeed, we have to go see the ones that are already out there. Every ticket counts. The market listens.

Sundowning: We're On The Floor

Three weeks into principal photography on Sundowning.

The cast announcement broke in Deadline on April 30. Elizabeth Dulau (Andor) leads the film, alongside Susanne Wuest (Goodnight Mommy, Industry), Rukiya Bernard (Yellowjackets), and Robbie G.K. (Heated Rivalry). Spooky Pictures and Image Nation are producing. AGC is handling international sales. Cinetic has North America.

The film follows a young musician with gerontophobia who takes a position at a secluded end-of-life facility looking for redemption. What looks like sanctuary turns out to be hiding something far darker.

Production is a different animal than prep. In prep, every conversation is hypothetical. Once camera rolls, you're either ready or you're not, and you find out fast. So far, this crew has been ready every day.

Working alongside Ian McDonald (Woman of the Hour), directing the script he wrote himself, is a particular kind of collaboration. He knows exactly what every scene is reaching for. It's an immersive experience that is preparing us for the work ahead on The Quiet Canadians.

Two weeks to camera wrap.

Blue Box: It's Live

The Blue Box (La Caja Azul) just dropped on Prime Video.

Opening day, it landed at #1 on Prime and was the most-watched content on the platform in Argentina and Uruguay. That's a real opening for a film we've been building toward for years.

Directed by Martín Hodara. Starring Luisana Lopilato and Gustavo Bassani. Made by Habethy Films in collaboration with The Mediapro Studio, Infinity Hill, MoJo Global Arts, Sepia Films, Film Suez, Salta Violeta, and Life Is One.

Here's the trailer for the movie:

The Quiet Canadians: Real Momentum

For those who are new here: The Quiet Canadians is a modern-day Canadian spy thriller drawing on the real world of Canadian espionage that most Canadians have never heard of. We've been developing it for years, and we're building toward a fall 2026 production.

We've been having conversations with people who actually live in the world this film portrays. Veterans. People in defence and intelligence. People who know what this work looks like from the inside.

The response has been consistent: "I'm in. How can I help?"

When people who've done the job tell you the story needs to be told, you listen. And when they start offering to help you tell it right, you know something has shifted.

On the financing side: our investment package is under legal review and we have begun working with a major Canadian bank to cash flow the tax credits

If you've been watching this project from the sidelines and wondering whether the timing is right to get involved... as an investor, a creative partner, or someone with a connection that might matter... we'd love to hear from you. Hit reply.

On the Podcast: Erin Haskett

Anthony recently sat down with Erin Haskett, President of Lark Productions, for an episode of Off the Lot.

Erin is one of the best producers working in Canada right now. She's built a company with international reach, landed a first-look deal with a major U.S. studio, and spent years figuring out how to make Canadian stories work for audiences beyond our borders. She's also a past chair of the CMPA, so she's spent real time thinking about the big picture of our industry, not just her own slate.

We got into how she picks projects worth going to bat for. How she thinks about the gap between what Canada can produce and what actually reaches an audience. It kept circling back to the same tension... we've got the talent, we've got the crews, but we haven't cracked the audience problem yet.
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We aren't too shy to say, there are a few good episodes worth listening to. We've got a couple on Directing, Post Production, Marketing, and even an episode on how film investors actually get their money back. The waterfall. Most people in the industry can't explain it clearly, which is a problem if you're asking someone to write a cheque. Worth a listen.

All of these are available to listen to wherever you listen to podcasts (Spotify, Apple, YouTube).

Unfrayed: The Wild Wild West

Last month our short film Unfrayed, directed by Michelle Muldoon and starring Crystal Balint (Allegiance) and Simone Bailly (Davinci's City Hall), screened at the Comox Valley International Film Festival. It's a feminist revisionist Western about a woman on the run who stumbles into a campfire looking for sanctuary and finds something better. We co-produced this one with Paisley Media and the festival run continues to deliver good audiences.

The Greenlight Report

Speaking of the business side... Anthony publishes a newsletter on Substack called The Greenlight Report. It's for producers, investors, and anyone curious about how indie film actually works as a business. How films get financed. How they can be profitable. What the deal structures look like. The real numbers and the real mechanics.

We started it because we kept having the same conversations privately that nobody was having out loud. How do tax credits actually flow? What does an investor waterfall look like in practice? What separates the films that pay their investors back from the ones that don't? If you're building a film or thinking about investing in one, this is the newsletter we wish had existed ten years ago.

Come check out the latest at Greenlight Report.

End Credits / The Through Line

Canadian filmmakers are doing good work. We are. We're living it on the Sundowning set every day. We're watching it pay off as Blue Box lands at #1 on Prime in two countries. We're building toward it with every conversation we have about The Quiet Canadians.

Audiences will show up. They proved it 71.6 million times last year. They will choose Canadian stories if those stories are good enough and if they can actually find them. That's not hope talking. That's math.

We're all betting on the same thing: that Canadian stories can travel, and that the audience is bigger than anyone's bothered to measure yet.

Thanks for being part of it. And if you haven't seen a Canadian film in a theatre lately... go find one. The market is listening.

Beyond the Frame is a monthly letter from Habethy Films co-founders Anthony Epp and Helena Thom. Thank you for reading this month's edition. We hope you enjoyed the updates on our work and found something useful that will continue to inspire your own work and life.

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Until next month ... stay inspired!
Helena Thom & Anthony Epp