After more than two decades of determination, rewrites, and relentless passion, a Waterhen Lake First Nation filmmaker has finally brought his longawaited dream to life. Shooting recently wrapped on A Life Less Empty, a new film by writer/ director Rueben Martell, a project the now 49-year-old began writing the script for when he was only 16. “It was the first script I ever worked on,” Martell told Northern Pride. “It changed over the years – there’s been different variations of the script – but, essentially, it’s a native love story. I just wanted to make something simple, but it ended up turning into a sort of COVID love story. It wasn’t originally about COVID, but it was about being locked away with somebody, about being quarantined. If you’re quarantined with a stranger you open up and tend to tell them about your entire life… That’s what the story is about. These two strangers meet, talk about their relationships and then part ways after the quarantine.”
Filming began in early October and wrapped Oct. 25. Martell said it’s still surreal to know the movie has actually been shot and is now awaiting the editing process. “I’ve been working at this for so long, and so many people told me to just give up on it but it was something I refused to give up on,” he said. “And, patience and perseverance have paid off. I’m working on my next project now, and it doesn’t feel the same. It is something I’ve created, but it isn’t that labour of love, something that’s been in my heart and which I knew I had to make.” Martell went on to say the big reason why it took so long for A Life Less Empty to be made is the simple fact a native love story isn’t something a lot of people wanted to see. “I talked to different agencies and different broadcasters, and they would ask me if I would want to make a native horror film (which he did, his last film Don’t Say It’s Name having been released in 2021), if I wanted to make a native action film,” he noted. “They were willing to give me a broadcast licence and money for that. This was an uphill battle, but, when people started to finally see what we were trying to do – it wasn’t a political thing, it wasn’t about pointing blame, pity or all these different stereotypes – when they saw it was just a love story, everybody got it.”
The initial plan was to film the movie at Waterhen, but, in an effort to secure funding from various agencies, it was determined the shoot would need to take place close to a major centre with access to basic film industry amenities. In the end, filming took place at Pheasant Rump Nakota First Nation near Regina. “They jumped on board and gave us quite a bit of help,” Martell said. “The goal was to shoot in Waterhen, but, budget-wise, it just wasn’t in the cards.” Funding for the film came from the Indigenous Screen Office, Canada Council for the Arts, as well as Creative Saskatchewan. “It still feels weird,” Martell said regarding the film finally being made. “When I made Don’t Say It’s Name, it succeeded when I thought it was going to fail. This is one of those things I want to succeed, but, if it fails, I will still be happy because I had a lot of creative control over this film. There weren’t too many people telling me what I could or couldn’t do. It is an unadulterated love story, the one I wanted to tell. It feels good.”
A Life Less Empty stars Tatyana Baptiste (Sweet Summer Powwow) as Karen, Nathan Alexis (Reservation Dogs) as Simon and Nathaniel Arcan (Elektra) as Uncle. “We also had little cameos from people like Leo Farfard (WolfCop) and others,” Martell added. “They were all great to work with.” Once edited, Martell plans to take the movie on the film festival circuit. It is yet to be determined when and where the film will be released to general audiences. “Now, I’m working on another film called Tied,” Martell said. “It’s a horror film that takes place in a child and family service. We’re working on some markets right now and hope to begin to filming next year.”
