Company founders, Jorge Zavagno, of Westmount and partner Michaela Di Cesare have been working on the project since 2007. Di Cesare, a graduate of Concordia’s Creative Writing and Theatre program, had developed the script as part of a year-long class assignment. The idea came to her when her mother revealed a secret about her childhood friend.

“I had always believed that he had run away from his foster home,” says Di Cesare. “But then my mother explained that he had been killed by a hit and run driver.”

This revelation sparked an intense desire for the boy’s story to be told. Di Cesare took the autobiographical script through several drafts and she and Zavagno spent the last twelve months fundraising, casting and producing the film. The project faced challenges and setbacks, but the budding filmmakers saw it as a great way to hone their respective crafts.

“Michaela had a theatrical outlook so when we started it was hard for her to recognize the way film works,” says Zavagno. “Now, we really understand one another and we can appreciate each other’s creative needs and wants so we’ve both become better filmmakers.”

Twenty-one-year-old Di Cesare has been acting and writing for the stage and screen for the past six years. Earlier this year, the up-and-coming artist was voted among the city’s best local actresses in the Montreal Mirror’s annual reader’s poll.

Zavagno, 22, is a graduate of Concordia’s Communications and Film Studies program and has been making movies since his high school days at St-George’s. In 2008, Zavagno’s student film, Waiting for Conflict, was featured at the Montreal World Film Festival.

While both have studied and worked in film before, they didn’t anticipate how tough it would be to carry this project through from start to finish.

“This movie is definitely a project of constraints,” says Di Cesare. A small budget forced Miayaya to rely on favours from friends, family and colleagues and saw the filmmakers wearing many hats throughout the project. “Our limited resources often sacrificed the directorial vision because were producing, supervising and cooking the actors’ meals all while framing, directing and shooting a scene.”

The entrepreneurial twosome had the added task of managing child actors in the two main roles. “It was inspiring and fun to have the children on set,” says Di Cesare. “But, we had to make sure that they had plenty of breaks and ice cream to keep them interested.”

The cast of eight featured amateur and veteran performers including 16-year-old autistic actor John McClusky in the role of the enigmatic Inspecteur Maxime. Di Cesare called on Josa Maule, director of the Montreal School of Performing Arts, for casting. Maule explains that almost 85 percent of independent and student films are cast by the MSOPA. “We are one of the most important vehicles in the city for filmmakers and writers to come to look for actors.”

The duo hopes the film will help raise awareness of autism and encourage people, especially children, to be more open-minded. “We hope to sensitize the audience to people with differences,” says Di Cesare. “And to show them that human kindness should be universal.”