Brewster Filmmakers Have World Premiere At Boston Underground Film Festival

A pair of Brewster filmmakers are in the spotlight as they prepare for their film, which was shot on Cape Cod, to have its world premiere at the Boston Underground Film Festival on Thursday, March 21 at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge.

Producer/actor Leanne McLaughlin and director of photography/screenwriter/

director Joseph Mault began filming “Strange Kindness,” their first feature film, in the autumn of 2022. Mault had written the film while working for the summer on the Cape, having left his home in Brooklyn to run an ice cream truck at Nauset Beach.

“Joseph and I had gone to the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School together back in its Underground Mall days, but had not seen each other since,” McLaughlin said. “Then in 2018, we re-met just as ‘Strange Kindness’ was making its way onto a legal pad smeared with ice cream.”

During the pandemic, having left Brooklyn for what they thought would be a weekend trip back home, Mault and McLaughlin ended up living back home on Cape Cod. They used that time to plot and plan and really think about the question: how would they make a film on Cape Cod?

“By the time 2022 rolled around, we had shot a proof of concept, Joseph had re-written the script a few times, we had done location scouts that resulted in finding the perfect places to film, we held a casting call, we began putting together our crew and we successfully raised the funds through Seed&Spark,” Mclaughlin said, referring to the film-centric crowdfunding platform.

The pair shot the feature film over 11 days, with a crew of 10 on set everyday, a principal cast of four, a supporting cast of 16 and one camera, for under $40,000. They also enjoyed permission and support from local business owners---who let the crew film in their places of business---along with home-cooked meals, excellent coffee and a sweet dog.

“None of it would have been possible if we didn’t live here and were not a part of this community,” McLaughlin said.

The film’s Seed&Spark project page describes “Strange Kindness” as a film about isolation, the shocking acts of violence that have come to punctuate our American dream, and what empathy might look like at its further limits. While the film's content is political, its treatment of themes is far more mythological in nature. It goes on to say that the film is about being present with those that need it regardless if they deserve it. It's about the conversations that happen at the end of the day between people who only have each other. It's about not looking away.

McLaughlin said that although the film’s budget was very small by industry standards, they really made the film they meant to make.

“The only thing we’d change next time is to make sure everyone was paid and paid more,” Mclaughlin said. “Beyond that, we did not sacrifice the integrity of the film because of our budget. And I’m proud of that. Granted, as mentioned, that was only possible because we are a part of this community, but it still feels really good to know that we made a good film on a shoestring budget.”

When asked what he would like potential audiences to know about “Strange Kindness,” Mault said it’s a serious movie, and everyone who worked on it was involved in some creative aspect of it.

“Not a whole lot was compromised in the making of it, even given the slim budget,” Mault said. “It became a very fruitful collaboration with everybody who was on set and not on set. Once we were shooting there were a lot of creative people who were able to flex their creative muscle on set. It wasn’t just a technical endeavor at that point, it really was a collaboration.”

The path from growing up in Brewster to creating a feature film on Cape Cod was anything but a simple one. After attending the Lighthouse Charter School, McLaughlin left Cape Cod and lived in Salt Lake City for a year, where she worked on set as a stand-in. She then moved to New York to go to The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, a two-year acting conservatory. Then she was off to LA, then back to New York, and finally back on Cape Cod.

Mault attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, graduating in 2012.

“Since then I’ve been in Brooklyn,” Mault said. “I guess I’ve always kind of been back and forth between Chicago, Brooklyn and Cape Cod. For several years now I’ve had a very fruitful collaboration with Armand Hammer and the people at Backwoodz Studioz in Brooklyn. I’ve done a good number of music videos and some weirder stuff with them over the years. I like that work.”

How important was it for “Strange Kindness” to be filmed right here on Cape Cod? McLaughlin said they always planned to shoot on the Cape because Mault had written it for a place like this, but they didn’t anticipate the support they received when they began telling people they were going to make the film.

“The film we made is really only possible because of the support we received and the trust people gave us,” McLaughlin said. “There are a lot of local businesses that make guest appearances in ‘Strange Kindness.’”

One of McLaughlin’s favorite moments was when she asked a local business owner for permission to film in his business for an afternoon, and he responded that he felt it was his responsibility to do anything he could to support the arts.

“So he let us film at Foley Medical Supply in Yarmouth,” McLaughlin said. “We also filmed at 3 Fools, Gill’s Auto, Orleans Camera and Nickerson Funeral Home, all in Orleans. Friends let us film in their house, and other friends helped us find a rental to film in. Beanstock brewed us coffee everyday. It really goes on and on, the support we received.”

Mault agrees, saying the strong community response to the film meant a lot, and people were incredibly supportive and generous.

“I wrote the film for here,” Mault said. “Practically speaking, that panned out wonderfully but even given an infinite budget I think this is the place for it. It’s the place I know the best.”

“Strange Kindness” will World Premiere at the Boston Underground Film Festival on Thursday, March 21 at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge. For more information about “Strange Kindness” visit www.strangekindness.com/. To attend the Boston Underground Film Festival, visit bostonunderground.org/.