A photo of Sandy Wilson editing the Pen Hi Grad documentary.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED
April 25, 2023 - 7:00 AM
Sandy Wilson’s experiences growing up in the South Okanagan several decades ago are what inspired some of her most successful projects as an independent filmmaker.
The bygone days of teenagers getting extremely rowdy during their last week of high school in Penticton was the focus of Pen Hi Grad, a documentary about the graduating class of 1974 that was directed by Wilson on behalf of the National Film Board.
“There was a whole week of activities devoted towards it,” Wilson said. “Not every school did have a ritual like that.”
Wilson graduated high school in the 1960s and says things had tamed down quite a bit by the time she documented it in 1974.
“It was a real time of freedom, after the pill came out and before STDs,” she said. “There was a sort of optimism and joyful quality to those times that has now sort of given way to fear and paranoia and divisions.”
But people still had problems back then. Wilson remembers feeling annoyed and undermined with the NFB, because when they flew a crew into Penticton from Quebec, one of them was assigned to be her co-director.
While shooting one scene, the RCMP were keeping a watchful eye on the teens during an extra-curricular event, and the co-director wanted to encourage a confrontation.
“I did not want to influence it, I just wanted to observe what was happening, so we had quite a standoff at one of the bush parties.”
About a decade later, Wilson released one of her greatest hits – a film called My American Cousin. It’s set in Penticton in the late 1950s and tells the story of Sandy Wilcox growing up in rural Penticton as a preteen.
Wilson says the story is 73% true to her real life.
“The rest I embellished for the sake of the story,” she said. “My real American cousin did show up in the middle of the night.”
The fictional American cousin came from California in a red Cadillac.
“But in real life he came in a Buick and never took me for a ride. And he was from Olympia, Washington.”
The cousin’s storyline was also adjusted after seeing John Wildman audition for the role, which made Wilson decide to frame the character as a “sunny golden boy from California.”
“It’s a pretty universal story of the glamorous, exciting, dangerous visitor who comes to town.”
Sandy Wilson and director of photography Richard Leiterman took a photo together after the last shot of My American Cousin.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED
Wilson remembers being a young girl at the Okanagan Anglican Church summer camp around 1959, and feeling a thrill when an older boy rolled up in a fancy car.
"He was not my American cousin. But he made a big impression on us happy campers," she said.
Wilson followed up My American Cousin in 1985 with American Boyfriends in 1989. She wrote, produced and directed numerous other documentaries and dramas.
She also taught directing and screenwriting at the Vancouver Film School and Capilano College.
And right now, Wilson is focusing her creative energy on a script about the Penticton Vees winning the 1955 World Championships in Germany.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Dan Walton or call 250-488-3065 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2023