Original-Cin Q&A: Ann Marie Fleming & Sandra Oh on Eco-Suicide in the Futuristic Can I Get a Witness?
By Bonnie Laufer
Writer-director Ann Marie Fleming brings us a thought-provoking look at our planet and how far we would go to save it with her latest feature, Can I Get A Winess?
The film is set in the not-so-distant future, where in order to save the planet, "death is everyone's job," with 50-year-olds making the ultimate sacrifice, while teenage artists document it.
The film stars Sandra Oh and newcomers Keira Jang and Joel Oulette.
Bonnie Laufer spoke with Ann Marie Fleming and Sandra Oh. Read our review of the film.
Can I Get a Witness? opens opens March 14 in Toronto (TIFF Lightbox), Vancouver, and Montreal, March 21 in Ottawa, and throughout the spring in other Canadian cities.
Director Ann Marie Fleming and Sandra Oh on the set of Can I Get A Witness? Photo by Ed Araquel
ORIGINAL-CIN: Ann Marie, the film is beautiful and quite thought-provoking. How did the idea come about?
ANN MARIE FLEMING: I live in Vancouver and I was living in the West End in 2006 when 10,000 trees blew down in Stanley Park in one night, because the King Tides were ripping out the sea wall. I had general climate anxiety, and to top it off the government was talking about raising old age security from 65 to 67 because of our tsunami of aging people. I started to think about our aging society and how they could be looked after.
So I took a nod from Jonathan Swift, who is an Irish-English satirist, who wrote an essay called A Modest Proposal. It was about the Irish potato famine, where he suggested the Irish eat their children, because that would help with the population problem, and also they could get some protein.
It was supposed to be a farce, but people took it seriously. They were very angry, but it started a conversation and it eventually changed laws, and it brought focus to this problem. It got me thinking about what we are willing to do for each other to save the planet? What are you willing to do, to consume less, to make it a better world for all of us? So that is where it all started.
Keira Jang and Joel Oulette are teens chronicling the deaths of their elders in Can I Get A Witness?
O-C: Had you been thinking about this concept for a while?
AMF: Yes, and then we know what has happened in the world since then. When COVID happened, it really put things into perspective as to what we're willing to do for each other. There’s so many climate issues which have heightened anxiety.
I also think a younger generation has a different kind of anticipatory grief, so I found it interesting to not only write about something that deals with mandatory death at 50, but also seeing it from a younger generation’s perspective as well.
O-C: Sandra, this must have been quite impactful for you to come on board, not only as an actor but as a producer as well.
SANDRA OH: I've known Ann Marie for a long time and all her work moves me. I align with a lot of her artistry. The thing that got me the most with this script was the contemplation on death. It's obviously something that we do not do in this western society. It raises awareness of our problems in a gentle and sensitive way. Are we willing to make such an ultimate sacrifice for our planet? It made me want to look at it myself. So that's the main reason why it struck a real chord with me.
O-C: Plus, the film deals with wildfires, which of course most recently really hit home for you.
SO: We just showed the film at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, a month after the Los Angeles fires. In the film my character speaks of the fire of 2025. Living in Los Angeles, this was mind-blowing for me.
When Ann Marie first started talking about this film, she would talk about what is actually happening now. It's not a crisis that is going to come. It is what we are living through right now. And so, having lived through this fire, it’s very present. So many of the issues that the film deals with are actually happening in our world now.
I was thinking about it non-stop. And I just thought, ‘This is going to be exponentially faster and in an unknown way.’ So, the way that Ann Marie integrated these issues into the script, basically through a group conversation with some of the younger generation in the film, I thought was so forward-thinking of Ann-Marie and so spot on.
O-C: The two younger leads, played by Keira Jang (Kiah) and Joel Ouelette (Daniel) were outstanding. Their sensitivity to this material was captivating and handled with such depth and maturity. It was fascinating to see their perspective towards death and what the part the younger generation plays in facilitating it.
AMF: I agree, they both did a wonderful job with the material. Daniel is training Kiah on her first day on the job as a witness to the deaths. Since there is no photography in the future, she serves as a teenage artist, who draws end-of-life protocols, making sure everything is documented.
I incorporated animation to make the drawings come to life. To be able to show your underlying feelings needs quite a lot of expression, so animating these feelings helped with the aesthetic of the film.
So you've got the young characters, who are tasked with documenting the end of life, but feel that the age of 50 is very far away for them. Then you've got the older characters who are trying to prepare to leave this beautiful world. It was so interesting because it was kind of mirrored by the cast that they were very different.
I'm not in any way discounting the experience of what it is to be a young person now, or their experience of loss. But it really makes you think. In fact, the character of Daniel, it's not that he's insensitive to the deaths, he's just getting on with his job. He's as vulnerable as anybody in the film and he's known and lived with it since he was born. It's given him this stoicism but he has a philosophy that allows him to get through life.
SO: I just wanted to jump in about Joel's character that I also think is worth mentioning. Joel is like this as a person and as an actor. He's so present, he really got it. If we could only approach the reality of death without fear like this young person does, the world would be a better place. He represents what we would hope to be able to get to. But here you see this young person embodying it and it’s quite touching.
O-C: Sandra, after making a film like this, did it make you think about your mortality and every minute we have on this Earth?
SO: I hope people walk away with what I think the last scene is about, and make everyone think about their own mortality. Especially if you are someone who is moving into midlife, what I hope for personally is that I will have a choice.
I am a proponent that extending life does not extend the quality of life. And that is about really respecting choice, if you can.