Part B-Science Fiction, part Lord of the Flies, The Forgotten Ones, tells the story of 100 students trapped in their high school after an alien invasion. The world is shrouded in darkness, both day and night, and anyone who ventures outside is consumed, immediately, by vicious flying brain-sucking insects.

But inside the school, things are worse! Arnold, the school loser, is ridiculed as he tries to tell everyone that no one is coming to save them, while Zach, the old student union president is overthrown by a maniacal band of bullies led by Chris.

Things reach a boiling point when Keesha, a reclusive loner learns the secret of how to defeat the aliens, but her theory is put to a cruel test by Chris as he has her and her friends thrown out of the school and into the dark realm of terrifying insects.

The Forgotten Ones, was written and produced by four teenagers with special needs from Montreal’s Summit School (a school for students with emotional and intellectual disabilities). Quietus Films , a local film production company, began working with these four students in September 2003. They worked for six months developing a script, originally called, Forgotten. Without any funding outside parent committee fundraising and the school’s media arts program, the group found the resources to make this film through the generosity of both crew and suppliers in Montreal’s film community. Cinefilms and Video Productions, Inc., FujiFilm, Vision Globale, a host of restaurants, and dedicated volunteer crew came together to realize the vision of these students.

Besides writing the script, in the pre-production phase the students ran auditions, helped storyboard scenes and worked diligently with the Art Department in preparing props and sets.

Although some of the writers also acted in the movie, they cast the main parts from a pool of professional teen actors, high school students, and Summit School students. During the shoot, they worked behind the scenes, helping Jesse Heffring (a Quietus Films producer) direct the film by giving their creative input.

In post-production the students were in the editing room, helping decide where and when the film should be cut.

The goal from the start was to stay as true as possible to the ideas in their 45-page script. The result is, The Forgotten Ones.

The Key Players:

Claudio Tamburri: Claudio is a high school student. He was responsible for writing the character of Arnold. Claudio also took on the huge challenge of playing the role of Zach, the school leader, when, after auditions, no one could be found to play the part. Claudio’s anti-social nature made this extremely difficult, but he pulled through amazingly.

Virginia Walsh: Virginia’s history of being an extremely unique and often misunderstood person helped form the characters of Keesha and the Goth girls. Virginia fought to have a happy ending for this movie, because she believes that if people work together and stop focusing on their differences, the world will be a better place. She also operated a behind-the-scenes video camera for the documentary that is being made about this project. Also, Virginia was a major contributor in the editing room.

Reed McPhail: Before this movie, Reed was a very angry person. It was a good day when he didn’t bang a wall or split from school. His natural penchant for things morbid led to the creation of the wickedly ferocious character of Chris. Reed delightfully played one of Chris’s gang, and was a major help on set, preparing other actors and performing production assistant duties. Today it is hard to not see a smile on Reed’s face.

Andrew Perez: Andrew was the youngest of our Summit School collaborators. He was excellent at developing dialogue, and particularly gifted when it came to finding new and biting insults such as: “dog-faced imbecile” and “big dumb brute”. Andrew also created the heroic character of Zach. His most important contribution was helping work out the mythology of the aliens themselves, brain sucking alien insects under the vocal command of tall, Shepard-like Droner Humanoid aliens.

Jesse Heffring: Jesse is the Quietus Films producer who worked with the students through the script phase all the way to the film’s completion. His team of filmmakers and crew worked with the students and school staff members to produce this extraordinary film. Originally from Calgary, Alberta, Jesse has been making movies in Montreal for the past four years. His latest feature film, SIGMA, will be in theatres early next year.