Mitchell Stafiej, Type One Films Prep ‘The Diabetic’ Sequel 

At this week’s Frontières Market with buzzy undertaking “Worm,” Montreal-based Sort One Movies will produce the sequel to 2022’s “The Diabetic,” with director Mitchell Stafiej again at helm.

Taking part in Fantasia final 12 months, “The Diabetic” was nicely reviewed by most critics who caught it. 

“It was one of many few Canadian movies about incapacity made in current reminiscence. It not solely explores incapacity thematically, however appears and feels ‘disabled’ as nicely: Shot with Hi8 cameras and transferred to 16mm,” Stafiej mentioned.

“I spotted, after watching it a short while in the past, that I’m not fairly completed with these characters. I’m very inquisitive about the place they could find yourself in the event that they see one another once more. I additionally suppose that Matt [played by Travis Cannon] deserves some extra consideration and growth. The primary movie is all about what Alek needs. However what about Matt?” 

In “The Diabetic 2,” Alek (James Watts) and Matt go on a cross-Canada journey to attach Matt together with his newly single love curiosity, whereas Alek plans to make a documentary about their expedition. Maica Armata may also return as Becca.

“[It will have] the identical major characters however be a bit wider in scope, extra bold and extra chaotic,” explains Stafiej. Additionally mentioning the likes of Ti West’s “X” trilogy, Richard Linklater’s acclaimed “Earlier than” collection or “Uncle Kent 2.”

“I’m actually within the thought of indie sequels. We’re used to blockbuster sequels, however why ought to these tales be the one ones we are able to observe over a protracted time frame? If I care in regards to the characters, why not verify in to see the place they’re just a few years later?”

For Stafiej, who additionally suffers from sort 1 diabetes, it has been a private journey. 

“It was about time to make a movie that may discover my relationship with my incapacity. It was so essential, in reality, that the majority the movies I hope to make sooner or later will take care of related themes. It’s essential to try to fill the area the place you are feeling illustration is missing,” he admits, calling the primary half “one of many highlights” of his life thus far.

“I haven’t had an expertise like that in cinema earlier than. I believe everybody on set had an analogous feeling. There’s something a bit egocentric about this resolution to make a sequel. [It was like saying:] ‘Let’s get that feeling again. Let’s reunite’.”

In the mean time, Sort One Movies can be busy creating “Staff Leaving,” a “twenty first century reimagining” of a pioneering brief black-and-white silent documentary by the Lumière Brothers “Staff Leaving the Lumière Manufacturing unit in Lyon.”

“Whether or not they knew it or not, they took a poignant snapshot of the working class in 1895. How has work developed? In what insidious methods are employees nonetheless exploited?” 

“It’s a movie that takes their thought, a picture of employees leaving their job, and extends all of it world wide and right into a function movie,” he said. 

The corporate may also current a brand new undertaking “Worm” at Frontières Market. 

Directed by “The Diabetic” star Watts, it focuses on a former teen star who swallows a tapeworm in hopes of shedding weight forward of her return to the massive display screen. However the worm begins consuming away at her sense of actuality, making her ravenous for meals, fame and flesh.

“It’s an intense, gory physique horror movie conceptualized via a feminist lens,” assured co-writer and co-producer Kelly Kay Hurcomb, describing “Worm” as “violent, disgusting and deeply cathartic.”

“The movie additionally has a superb humorousness about it, like a whole lot of the good psychological thrillers from the late Seventies or early Eighties. We now have written a harmful and compelling protagonist: it’s the form of position you don’t see fairly often. We are able to’t look forward to the proper actor to make it their very own.” 

“I preserve pushing Kelly and James to go as graphic as they are often. A number of the imagery might be horrific and disgusting on a purely organic degree,” guarantees Stafiej.   

“I’m very excited to make a horror that’s uniquely Canadian.”