Saskatchewan filmmaker Aaron Sinclair took an unconventional route in bringing his mystery film The Wild to audiences, carving out a niche beyond traditional streaming services and mainstream distribution.
Shot over just 15 days in 2020, the 97-minute feature was written in a week and produced with a modest $100,000 budget—funds sourced from a Creative Sask grant and private equity.
But Sinclair’s innovation didn’t stop at production. Rather than relying on streaming giants, he built his own platform where audiences can purchase access to the film alongside extra content, including cast interviews, director commentary, a collection of his short films and even a micro-course on how to run a DIY theatre release.
“It’s an alternative to streaming services,” said Sinclair in an interview with SaskToday.ca.
“Something I noticed from doing my own theatre run is not very many people are talking about how you can do this," added Sinclair.
His experiment proved successful. Over six weeks in 2023, The Wild played on 15 different screens across Saskatchewan, with some venues showing the film for two weeks while others hosted single-night events. Sinclair travelled across the province, attending screenings, hosting Q&As and engaging directly with audiences.
“There was a while there when I was pretty much running non-stop across the province to different screenings and shows,” said Sinclair, adding, “it was fun.”
The $10 fee on his website grants access to the unique bundle, which included the micro-course on a DIY theatre run.
“I wanted to take everything I learned from doing that and just put it on video and make a course out of it so that other filmmakers can do the same thing,” said Sinclair, “we can help each other get our films out there and build our audiences.”
What he discovered in the process was a powerful truth about Saskatchewan’s film landscape.
“Theatres want to show these films and people in small towns and our communities want to see films from Saskatchewan filmmakers—they just don’t really know how and there isn’t an easy way to access them,” said Sinclair.
Sinclair believes independent filmmakers hold an advantage in their smaller scale.
“If this film gets 25,000 people to watch it on the website, that would be an incredible success for me—that would be life-changing,” said Sinclair, “if the new Marvel film gets 25,000 people to go out and watch it that’s catastrophic—that’s the biggest failure in cinema.”
Sinclair hopes The Wild helps inspire more filmmakers to take control of their own distribution.
“You can get into this mindset as a filmmaker where you think you have to compete with these giant films and it’s actually a different thing that you’re trying to do,” said Sinclair, “I think there’s a niche market for indie filmmakers to carve their own way.”
As The Wild continues finding its audience, Sinclair hopes to add more content to his platform—including behind-the-scenes footage—to ensure audiences can not only enjoy the film but also learn about the process behind it.
“I’m just trying to get the film out there. I think it’s a fun Saskatchewan experience,” said, adding, “maybe it’s not what you’re used to out of Saskatchewan but it’s still very much a Saskatchewan film.”
For more information on The Wild, visit TheWildMovie.ca.
