For a woman, losing a child during pregnancy is incredibly traumatizing. The pain, the agony and loss are something I could never fully understand. I can only offer my support and admiration to the beautiful strong mothers out there that have been through it, sometimes more than once and had the fortitude and the courage to keep trying until they successfully gave birth. As a man, I’m always reminded of the sacrifices women will make for the sake of creating a family. My mom was the youngest of 14 children and I still find it hard to wrap my head around that number, especially with the higher risks of miscarriage, when medical science was less evolved. Talking about an experience is very difficult and kept sacred at times. Filmmaker Laura Adamo would like to see that change in support of other women experiencing the same traumas of losing an unborn child.
The Wishing Tree is a film co-written by Laura Adamo, Domonic Auld and Stephen Chambers. Laura also starred in it and directed it. The story of The Wishing Tree is based on true events and the pages were from a dark chapter in Laura’s personal life. After multiple failed pregnancies and a box of traumatic experiences, Laura miraculously gives birth to her son. Her artistic mind had turned off and was replaced with one that had been solely focused on having a baby at every cost. The fight, the perseverance, the heart-breaking loss, the courage to keep trying… had depleted Laura from the joys and celebrations of motherhood. Her son was healthy, he was in the world, but she somehow felt empty. She had to find herself again, to discover her inner artist and bring it back to life. The Wishing Tree reflects that chapter in her life and the journey to reach a tree that symbolizes her inner child/artist. The elation of finding something magical from your past and using it like a blood transfusion turned out to be a wonderful premise for a story and it translates well on film.
The Wishing Tree stars Laura Adamo (Cracked, A Kiss and a Promise, Last Call), Sebastien Roberts (Northern Rescue, Mary Kills People, Nikita, One Way), Altair Vincent (Blink Twice) and Jake Michaels (Designated Survivor, Suits, Na dobre i na zle) It’s produced by Laura Adamo and Pasha Patriki. Music is by Michelle Osis, Cinematography is by Eric Oh and Casting by Melissa A. Smith. The Wishing Tree is released on all digital streaming platforms Feb. 8, via Northern Banner Releasing.
About The Wishing Tree …
Broken by a lifetime of disappointment and pain, Julia (Adamo) leaves behind her crumbling marriage and sets off alone on an arduous hiking expedition in a quest for answers, healing and peace—searching for the fabled Wishing Tree. On the trail, Julia encounters Caleb (Roberts) and Ryan (Vincent) lost in the woods, both struggling with their own demons of denied sexuality and addiction. Thrown together unexpectedly, they embark on a soul-searching journey of transformation, discovering that hope is sometimes found in the most unlikely ways.
The Wishing Tree was an Official Selection at the Topanga Film Festival
and Filmocracy Fest, where it won The Audience Choice Award and Best Cinematography. Laura Adamo was my special guest and I found her story incredibly inspirational and courageous. Roll the tape!
HNMAG “I was fascinated to learn that this story was inspired by true events. Was this a reflection of a chapter in your own life?”
LAURA “It’s inspired by the challenge I had in having my son. It’s strange, because you feel like you’re the only person in the world struggling with it but intellectually you know – it’s not the case. When my son came into the world, I went through a couple of years of finding myself again, somewhere inside that journey filled with so much trauma, I felt like my entire spark was extinguished – as an artist, it was shocking. By writing this story, it was a way for me to find my way back to my art and use that well of pain as a cathartic experience in writing a story about it, which ended up being turned into the film. The initial idea was to have the cathartic experience of processing those 5 years that I’d been through.”
HNMAG “When did you shoot this film?”
LAURA “It’s been such a start stop because we got caught in the middle of Covid. We shot it in the fall of 2019 and started the post but had to finish the last 20% in lockdown, which was challenging. Film is a huge collaboration when it’s done well, so that 20 percent took a long time. It’s been a long journey to get here.”
HNMAG “How long ago was this moment in your life?”
LAURA “My son is 7 yrs. old now and it took 5 years to bring him into the world. It took a lot out of me – there was tremendous guilt. I suddenly realized that I’m also human and an artist. I’d been taken out of my art and my inspiration for such a long time. I had to find my way back to that part of myself.”
HNMAG “Did you find that the experience had helped your mind to reset?”
LAURA “Yes, it was also a way for me to heal that part of myself by doing it, but I also realized that it’s not a topic that women talk about when they’re in it, which I found odd. I started to wonder if there was a better way for humanity to deal with this? Can we have conversations that are difficult and painful? Even if we don’t know how to support one another… if we could just be heard or received.”
HNMAG “Were the majority of the festival submissions for this film, online?”
LAURA “John Fitzgerald, founder of Slamdance, had started a new festival called the Filmocracy Fest and he reached out to us. The festival is specifically geared toward being an online festival. We screened there and won the Audience Choice Award and my DP won the Best Cinematographer Award. We also screened at the Topanga Film Festival, which was a hybrid of both. It was time to put this movie out into the world and accept what comes down the pipe. Film festivals are fun but much more fun in person. We’re hoping the next film will be a live in-person experience.”
HNMAG “This film was co-written by a few writers?”
LAURA “There were 3 writers but mainly myself and Dominick Auld. He was also my executive producer but had a previous life as a script doctor back in Los Angeles and was able to lend his voice to the male characters. I had broken my hand on day 3 of shooting, while in a shot – which we had to use because it was the only one we could do. It was the shot of her running through the field and falling. We had finished the day and I went to the hospital the next day. The doctor in emergency told me I would need an orthopedic surgeon, so I had to go to Toronto. Dominick was frantic, so we had to write it into the story. Our producer said we needed to cancel the shoot, I said absolutely not. It was great to have a partner in crime to help solve that problem.”
HNMAG “How close of a portrayal was this film, in comparison to your own experience?’
LAURA “My sister and I have a good friend in Barcelona and I went up to see her after I had a scary ectopic pregnancy, where I almost died and had to go into emergency surgery. My friend has had her fair share of trauma and we had a couple days of healing. Her story really inspired me too, so there was an amalgamation. When I lost my child, I wasn’t 7 months pregnant but my friend was. We were discussing that and how it doesn’t matter when it happens, it’s traumatizing and for you it’s a child. For film purposes, I chose to use her story and have her further along to insinuate that this was the breaking point for her. She’d had several losses along the way but this was the last one that forced her to find a way to heal.”
HNMAG “How difficult is it to film in the woods?”
LAURA “We had no power source, so we had to use natural lighting but we had an amazing DP that allowed us to do that beautifully… but when the lights gone it’s gone, so you have to get your days. It was challenging, but I knew if we could pull it off, we couldn’t buy that production value. Canada is a very stunning country and there are gorgeous places in people’s backyards that we’re not even aware of and it was important to me to have that as an element, because it was certainly an element in my healing. I would go into the woods and do a hike; it was soothing and it wasn’t an option to do it another way. One of the benefits of bringing the cast and crew up to the wilderness was that we were altogether and nobody went home, which became a real team building experience. When you’re shooting an independent film, it’s above and beyond what people need to do, to be able to execute it. I was grateful to have that, it was pretty special.”
HNMAG “Had you worked with anyone prior to the film?”
LAURA “I knew Altair, who plays Ryan and I’d met him a year before shooting the film. I knew at that time, if I ever get to make this film, he’s my Ryan. It’s just the essence of people. I also knew Nadine, who plays Doctor Connor. The little boy was actually my son. Everyone else was cast.”
HNMAG “How did it feel to revisit some of those experiences?”
LAURA “Shooting the film was another level of catharsis for me. Being able to act that out was really a gift. I had a great relationship with my editor and I honestly didn’t feel anything, until we finished the final edit of it. I felt proud of it and I was glad I didn’t leave anything on the table.”
HNMAG “Where in Ontario was the film shot?”
LAURA “We were up in the Collingwood/Creemore area. There are some incredible hiking trails up there, it’s stunning and just beautiful.”
HNMAG “You co-wrote, starred in and directed this film. How did the directing hat fit?”
LAURA “I wasn’t initially going to direct it because I’m not one of those people that needs to do it all. However, in pre-production my director, who comes from the documentary world, was work-shopping the script. He took me out for coffee one morning and told me that I should be directing the film. I laughed and said, ok? He told me I had already been doing the work of the director and because I’d written and am acting in it, people will be looking to me for guidance on set. He encouraged me to step into my power and do it. I had never directed anything in my life but after I’d gotten over the initial panic, I had a conversation with my producer and executive producer and they somehow agreed to it and supported it. I rode on their confidence until I found my legs. As an actress that’s spent a lot of time on set, there are elements that you understand. One of the gifts I had going for me, because I knew nothing about directing, was my gut. I didn’t have experience to fall back on, I didn’t have the technical understanding of what my DP does. At the end of the day, the most important driving factor for me was – did I feel anything? Did it move me? Early on, my producer suggested we shoot with 2 cameras. Thanks to that, the amount of footage we were able to get was a gift.”
HNMAG “I like to end the conversation with a couple fun questions. You have 50 miles to travel and 3 modes of transportation to choose from. One is a hot-air balloon, there is a speed boat and there is a motorcycle. Which one do you choose?”
LAURA “If it was longer, I’d say the hot-air balloon but it’s only 50 miles, so I feel as though I’m doing the motorcycle. The hot-air balloon is very interesting to me because I love the idea of getting outside your body to realize how vast the world is. It puts things in perspective.”
HNMAG “If you could disguise yourself as anyone in the world for one day, who would it be?”
LAURA “If he were alive… it would be Jean-Marc Vallée. He was a big inspiration for me and such a beautiful filmmaker. To be able to get inside his creative brain to see how they perceive the world, how they think about things… would be beautiful and super fascinating.”
This film gets launched in a few days and I’ve been lucky enough to have already watched it. If you have an amazing woman in your life, have her with you when you watch it. It could spark conversation and help explain how fragile life can be. It also demonstrates the power of the human spirit and what it is capable of when in damage control.