YOU CAN LIVE FOREVER - MARK SLUTSKY and SARAH WATTS INTERVIEW

A new film explores love, loss and discovery.

You Can Live Forever is a touching story about a teenage girl who falls in love with the daughter of a Jehovah’s Witness elder.  The film marks the feature debut of Montreal writers/directors Sarah Watts and Mark Slutsky.  Watts herself grew up gay in a Jehovah’s Witness community.  The film premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival.

 It’s the early 1990s.  Growing up in Thunder Bay, Jaime (Anwen O'Driscoll) loves sci-fi, The Cure and getting high. And unbeknownst to anyone around her, she’s gay.  When her father dies and her mother suffers a breakdown, she’s sent to Quebec’s Saguenay region to live with her aunt (Liane Balaban) and uncle (Antoine Yared), members of the town’s tight-knit Jehovah’s Witness community.  Jaime feels like an outcast.  But when dragged to a religious service, Jaime meets Marike (June Laporte).

As the teens grow closer – their attraction undeniable – Jaime finds herself drawn deeper into the Witness theology, which promises an eternal life in God’s promised kingdom after the world ends.  Soon the girls will be forced to make a devastating choice between faith and love.

Also starring are Deragh Campbell as Marike’s concerned older sister, and Hasani Freeman as Jaime’s schoolmate in whom she confides.

 The film was shot in the Saguenay river valley, where the magnificent fjord landscape provides a backdrop to the film’s haunting romance.  Audiences will also spot locations in and around Montreal, including Cinéma du Parc (where one of the film’s pivotal scenes takes place).

 The time period is conveyed through subtle ways with music (a soundtrack featuring indie legends like Cocteau Twins and The Breeders), film (Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula) and video games (Sega Genesis).

A Canadian production, the film is produced by Rob Vroom of Prospector Films.  Watts and Slutsky (known for his shorts Never Happened and Sorry, Rabbi) received a 2022 DGC Awards nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement In Feature Film.

YOU CAN LIVE FOREVER opens March 24 in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal! The film opens throughout the spring in other Canadian cities.

I spoke with Mark Slutsky and Sarah Watts about the long journey giving this film life.