She worked at Blockbuster as a teen. Now this Burlington woman is releasing her debut film

In 2003, Burlington's Chandler Levack says she was in her senior year at Aldershot High School, working at Blockbuster and looking ahead into a future that seemed unsure. 

Two decades later, Levack has gone from being behind the counter to being behind the camera — releasing her debut film about working at the movie rental store as a teenager.

Levack, who currently works at CBC Kids, said she's still trying to wrap her head around how far she's come.

"I was really obsessed with cinema and working, but still working at a corporate video store, which kind of has a funny irony to it," she said.

"I've always wanted to be a filmmaker, I just kind of repressed it for a long time and couldn't admit it to myself."

Levack said the film, I Like Movies, was well-received at 2022's Toronto International Film Festival, selling out in moments. It was also in Canada's top ten official selection at the festival. 

The movie is now debuting outside of the festival. It premieres in Hamilton on Wednesday night at the Playhouse Cinema.

Film revisits Burlington in the early 2000s

Levack said back in October 2018, she applied for a $125,000 from Telefilm Canada's Talent to Watch program and began working on a story inspired by her own youth.

The flick focuses on a self-obsessed, teenage cinephile who gets a job at Blockbuster to pay for film school.

Through that, the teen learns about the deeper reasons behind their love of movies and their egocentric attitude.

"I sort of started thinking about … dealing with this experience of being about to graduate but also kind of still stuck in this suburban town," she said.

"I did work at a video store, I did grow up in Burlington, I was kind of a [jerk] in high school, but it's very heavily fictionalized as well."

Levack said she spent most of the pandemic in Burlington, studying old yearbooks for wardrobe and driving around the suburbs for outside filming locations.

Most of the shooting was done in the Greater Toronto Area, but she said she was still able to capture the atmosphere of a "bland, amorphous place that's full of parking lots, but also a kind of weird, strange beauty."

She said she went on a hunt for the old family mini camcorder she used to make films after she graduated. 

"In a lot of ways that felt like revisiting my high school past," she said.

Lead actor says script 'made me cry'

A major difference between Levack's reality and the film is the main character is a teenaged boy named Lawrence Kweller, played by Isaiah Lehtinen.

Lehtinen said he connected with Kweller as a character, despite the character being prickly, rude and pretentious.

"I read the whole [script] and it made me cry," Lehtinen said.

"I felt like I'd never seen something more similar to my adolescent experience reflected in the coming of age film."

The Playhouse Cinema schedule shows the movie is running between March 10 and March 16, with most show times taking place shortly after 9 p.m.