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Airdrie's Dallas and Greg Lammiman recently completed their first feature-length film. The filmmakers held a red carpet screening event in Drumheller earlier this month for Remember, their futuristic, post-apocolayptic-style film.

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Airdrie family releases feature-length film

It’s been an amazing fall for the Lammimans, a longtime Airdrie family.

After a year of effort involving the entire family, father Greg and son Dallas’ dreams of creating a full-length feature film have been realized.

Remember, a 106-minute film, is set in the year 2050 when society is recovering from a catastrophic economic disaster and population implosion. To ensure everyone becomes a contributing member of the socialistic, militaristic society, newborns are taken from the parents at birth.

Adults take memory blocking drugs to blur their memories and allow them to cope.

The main character, Captain Carl Onoway, played by Calgary-based animator and actor Justin Lewis, is tasked with protecting children from parents attempting to reunite with their children. Everything changes for Onoway when, after a traumatic incident, he receives a series of unusual messages that challenge him to remember his past, question his very beliefs about families and lead him to play a double role even he doesn’t suspect.

Things get worse for the agent when he finds his eugenically-matched wife Wendy Jones, played by Rachel Peacock, pregnant with a child the government says must be aborted.

The couple finds themselves in a race to save their own children and themselves before being discovered.

The Lammiman family is not new to the world of film. In fact, Greg, a retired teacher and Dallas, 23, formed their own company in 2006. Up until the recent release, MovieMakers specialized in educational films, such as Amazing Math: Subitize Me, an instructional math film and documentaries, such as Entrusted With Arrows, a movie on entrepreneurial homeschool fathers.

But the Lammimans always dreamed of creating feature films.

“We did our five years of educational and documentary films all with the idea of one day doing a feature film,” said Greg, adding the idea was born from a creative exercise.

“It is very satisfying to see the (completed) film.”

The script, written by Greg, was first intended to be much shorter, but during the creative process, it became longer. In the end the film contained 102 scenes and had parts for about 80 actors, both professional and amateur. All eight members of the Lammiman family had cameo appearances in the film.

“As we wrote it, it got bigger and bigger,” said Greg, adding the family generally uses a cast of less than 10 when creating its educational films.

Actors came from a wide variety of sources, including family friends and contacts the family gathered while taking part in nearly a decade of Drumheller Passion Plays.

Greg said doing auditions was a new experience and one he relished.

“It was fun doing auditions,” said Greg. “God just brought people to us. It was amazing.”

Futuristic-style costumes were hand sewn and designed by the Wiens family of Disbury, who were also instrumental in doing the sound and running a second camera.

Remember was filmed in an old, 60,000-square-foot school building in Drumheller and a 600-square-foot house with a budget of $4,000.

Dallas handled the filming, aided by another camera person and a crew of about 20. The film features high-contrast cinematography, meant to give a bleak, futuristic feeling.

Dallas led a team of filmmakers from as far as Europe who helped him create visual effects. He made the film, which has since been released on DVD, on his home computer, putting hundreds of hours into perfecting it.

“I am happy with it,” said Dallas of the finished product. “No artist is ever 100 per cent satisfied, and that is a good thing, otherwise you would never actually reach the top.”

Post-production sound was managed by Greg.

The duo recently learned Remember won first in the Best International Feature category of the San Diego Film Festival.

Award-winning Christian filmmakers, the Lammimans gave a moral message about the importance of family and included the use of scripture. According to Dallas, they wanted to keep their message subtle.

“We wanted to give lots of food for thought, but we wanted to treat our audience like it’s intelligent,” he said. “Film is a great way to introduce people to thoughts and even ask questions.”

Since its completion in September, Remember has been screened in Drumheller in front of an audience of about 350 people.

“That was really fun,” said Greg, adding they took part in a red carpet event and received a standing ovation from the audience, many of whom hailed from nearby Rosebud – a town known for its live theatre.

A second screening took place at Calgary’s Plaza Theatre at the beginning of October. About 200 people attended the event.

Looking to the future, the duo is working on distributing Remember and is already looking forward to creating another feature film.

“We need a break, and yes we need to take one, but it is already hard to not think about making another film,” said Dallas. “It is just there, you have just got to do it. It’s the mission God has given us, He puts it in your heart and you’ve got to do it.”

For more information or to purchase the film for $19.99, visit www.theremembermovie.com