Alex Trebek funded his student film, now he's screening at Cinfest

A cinematographer from Sudbury is living his dream as his new film screens at Cinfest Sudbury.

Mathieu Sguin was the director of photography on the French film a tourne Saint-Pierre et Miquelon (A Fishy Business in Saint-Pierre et Miquelon).

The movie tells the story of Cline, a French actress who accepts a role for a movie shot on the French islands of Saint-Pierre andMiquelon, but soon finds out the movie's famous director refuses to leave his cabin. So she must accept her situation and make the most of her time on the island.

Saint-Pierre and Miquelonaretwo small islands; a French territory located around 12 kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland.

"These images have rarely been seen in theatres," Sguin said about filming on Saint-Pierre et Miquelon.

"There's not many films that have been shot on these remote islands," he said. "It's a very interesting place to be. It's strange because it's Europe, but you're in North America."

Sguin said he got to capture the islands' beautiful vistas in the film.

From Sudbury to L.A.

But it was a long journey for him to reach that point as a filmmaker.

In 2017 he enrolled at the prestigious American Film Institute, in Los Angeles. He was the only Canadian to be accepted in the cinematography program that year.

Sguin said the Sudbury community helped him achieve that dream. The portfolio he submitted to the school was made up of projects he had filmed for local artists.

To pay the high tuition fees, he collected donations through GoFundMe. A generousdonor from Sudbury covered half of his tuition fees.

Support from a famous Sudburian

But his favourite story was when he had to self-fund a short film he made during his second year at the institute.

"I reached out to the person that I knew was from Sudbury in Los Angeles, and it was Alex Trebek," Sguin said.

He found an email address with Sony Pictures Television, which produces Jeopardy!, and figured he had nothing to lose. "I sent that in the ether and kind of forgot about it," he said.

When the short film was almost done, and he was starting to run out of funds, he had heard he had gotten a generous donation from Trebek's foundation. The longtime Jeopardy! host got an executive producer credit on Sguin's student film.

After he graduated, Sguin returned to Sudbury, and has been a strong proponent for filmmaking in the north. Because of the recent growth of the local film industry, Sguin said he has access to the same equipment in Sudbury, as he would in Toronto or Los Angeles.

"That wasn't even possible 10 years ago," he said.

He now splits his time between commercial video projectsfor the mining industry, and film projects that suit his style.

Sguin's movie,a tourne Saint-Pierre et Miquelon (A Fishy Business in Saint-Pierre et Miquelon), is available through Cinfest At Homefrom Sept. 24 until Sept. 29 at 12 p.m.