With only nine days to shoot, it was crucial for Henry and Thompson to be confident in their choices of cast and crew — people they hoped would wholeheartedly embrace the challenge and believe in the story. “…The more confident I can feel about the people that I have in these key creative positions going into it, the more quickly, you know, I can kind of put my anxieties at bay and just get to work and make sure we’re not wasting time with me hemming and hawing and feeling insecure, second-guessing,” said Henry. To accomplish this, Henry and the team embarked on a thorough process of chemistry testing and auditioning the cast. Fresh off Run the Burbs and with a background in comedy, Morzaria knew how hard it was to find a good ensemble — but the camaraderie and chemistry among the cast felt like “magic in a bottle.” “We’re here for the story. We’re here to deliver. We are all on the same page. We know what’s important and what’s not important. And right now, serving the story, serving this character, making sure this happens, that’s what’s important. I feel like everyone was aligned on that page, so the chemistry was, yeah, built in,” said Morzaria.

Finding Director of Photography Grant Cooper was a similarly thorough process, including multi-stage interviews and reference checks. Most candidates found it hard to wrap their heads around the idea of a nine-day shoot on a $100K budget, but Cooper was excited for the challenge. “I could sense his excitement for the idea that we were going to have just nine days to do this, and how are we going to make that happen in a way that felt clever and felt, you know, cinematic, still right, and not just kind of straightforward or standard issue.” Morzaria also echoed praise for Cooper. “Grant was literally in scenes with us, like me and Tattiawna are in the scene, and he’s like, in and following us in that same small space, so that’s really incredible.”

As artists and collaborators, the film was healing to make both behind and in front of the screen. “I really do feel the film punches far above its weight, considering the context and conditions we were able to make it under. And so it was very healing to me as an artist, to know that, like, if there’s still a good story, and you know, it can resonate with, like, great calibre actors, great crew, and we can still come together and have a good time making it, definitely not without its challenges, of course…I had more positive experiences and positive memories than any of the challenges,” said Henry. Morzaria felt similarly: “Being part of an ensemble was so artistically healing, because we all carried each other, and there was a presence that was called for, like it was demanded of, of the story, of the way that it was shot, and as a result, it was artistically healing to really be able to work in a way that was nourishing for my artistry and for my spirit.”

In an increasingly hyper-individualistic society, Henry and Morzaria hope the film holds a mirror up to society while reminding us to keep having grace for each other. “I don’t know what I want people necessarily to take away from it, other than ‘Call your friends!’ Be there for your friends…Because I think very easily, you can turn away. I feel like we’re in a society sometimes where if something doesn’t make sense, okay, let’s turn away from it. And I always think when something is difficult, lead with love, like lean into it, even though that sometimes feels hard, yeah,” said Morzaria. Henry hopes we are reminded of the “enduring power and buoyancy of real, tried and true friendship.” She wants us to “see the possibility for your own relationships to bounce back again…to meet for that dinner one more time, and that there will never be too much time to have passed in the right relationships, to kind of be able to pick back up again and see how you are and where you’re going.”

At the end of our interview, Henry took the time to remind us of the power of Canadian cinema that Dinner with Friends represents. “You know, I think sometimes we’re hard on ourselves and our ecosystem for reasons that are valid. But let us never, ever forget. This film was made, went to camera with $100,000 in nine days, 100 per cent Canadians in front of and behind the camera, performance-wise, set design, all of it. And it’s such a testament that under even the hardest conditions, right, what we’re able to come up with. So we should stop selling ourselves short and remember that we have real, true, bonafide talent here, and should be celebrated.”

Dinner with Friends has no release date yet, but it is undoubtedly a new gem among Canadian cinema that we can’t wait for you to see.