INHALE documents the emotional journey of the Chappell family and how their daughter’s struggle with cystic fibrosis have helped them to live in the moment. Cystic fibrosis is a fatal genetic disease affecting over 70,000 people worldwide. At present, there is no cure.
Director/Editor - Brian Chambers
Production - Novelist Studios
Producer - Derek Lamoureux
DP - Nik Pilecki
Music - Chris Coleman
Sound Mix - Siegfried Meier
Special Thanks:
Lerners, Bill Simpson, Cystic Fibrosis Canada, Ripley's Aquarium
Tell us a bit about yourself & your filmmaking background.
I'm a commercial and film editor based out of Southwestern, Ontario. As the saying goes - I had an interest in film ever since I was young. Instead of collecting baseball or hockey cards, I was collecting movie stubs. In highschool I had a pretty good relationship with the head of the AV department, so when everyone else was out with their friends or at the beach on the weekend, I was editing music videos (if you can call them that) with a bunch of my old VHS tapes. This love continued through my college years, culminating with a successful career as a freelance editor. Establishing a strong network with other trusted and talented filmmakers in the region, I set out to direct my first mini doc "Inhale".
Why did you choose to make a film about cystic fibrosis?
My good friend Nik (DP on this project) and I have always said that we really wanted to create a passion project of sorts. Something we could be fully invested in and have full control over. Nik actually has a history with cystic fibrosis (CF) - his son is a carrier of the disease (carriers for CF have no symptoms, but can pass the non-functioning gene on to their children. An individual must inherit two non-functioning CF genes – one from each parent – to have CF). At the time of Nik's son's birth, however, they didn't quite know the extent of the testing being performed or whether or not he would be diagnosed as someone with CF. So needless to say it was an excruciating few weeks of not knowing and just expecting the worse. So given the whole experience and our search for the right project, it just felt right that we should explore this disease further and ultimately how it affects those families who unfortunately do not get the good news.
The film feels very personal. Did you know the family prior to making the film or, if not, how did you find them & convince them to participate? Their story is so raw & emotional.
So we actually interviewed a few families with the help of Cystic Fibrosis Canada. We wanted to work with a family who were comfortable on camera and who were willing to share such personal information - we really didn't want a family that would shy away from questions or be fed up with having cameras around after a few months. With this interview method we were quickly able to narrow down our search and we started moving forward with the Chappell family (Alysia, Ron and Kaylee). Before any shooting took place we met to set expectations and really just got to know the family. I wanted everyone to just feel comfortable, ourselves included - we were dealing with such sensitive material afterall.
Your film is so cinematically shot for a documentary. How were you able to balance such raw emotion with such impeccably executed cinematography?
This was something I wanted from the outset - something that feels so raw, yet still has this cinematic look to it. The crew and I come from a commercial background mostly, so I wanted to play within our wheelhouse, yet take risks and try new things. My hat goes off to Nik on this one though. His talent is through the roof and the looks he can pull off in such a fast-paced environment is staggering.
What has been some of your film’s biggest landmarks?
For this being my debut in the documentary space I am quite thrilled with the overall response and reception. We have had tremendous success thus far with film festivals around the country and online. I have gained so much experience from this documentary and learned so many lessons that I can now take with me on my next project.
What do you hope your film will achieve?
Filmmaking aside, this project has had such an impact on myself and the crew. We look at this film as a way of giving back in a way. To bring awareness to such a terrible disease.I think even more now with COVID going around, it is so important to know of stories like this. That we really take things for granted sometimes. While most of us are currently worrying about COVID, individuals with CF have been living with it in some way for their whole lives - just a simple cold can be fatal.
Where can we watch more of your work?
You can check out more of my work either on my website at www.brianjchambers.com or my Instagram @brianjchambo
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