You may have heard of mommy or daddy brain. But what about film brain ? When local director Katrin Bowen was labouring on her feature film Amazon Falls , which played at last year’s Toronto and Vancouver international film festivals and opens on Friday (April 15), she discovered how taxing it was on her cerebral cortex.

“We shot for six days, a day off, and then six days. And I was looking at the dailies every night so you work 16 hours days and you’re so adrenalized,” Bowen told the Georgia Straight on a sunny afternoon just outside the Media Club. “And at the end, I came home and I went to change the cat litter, and I put it in my purse and then walked out and went to pick up my boyfriend. I’m like, ”˜Did I step in something?’”

The wistful drama follows Jana (April Telek), an almost-40-year-old actor facing fading prospects and a life crumbling around her. The cast includes Zak Santiago, Gabrielle Rose, Ben Ratner, William B. Davis, and Anna Mae Routledge. It’s loosely based on Bowen’s experience of working as a B-movie actress in L.A. for six months. “When I thought about making a film, I thought about the burden of a dream, ”˜there but for the grace of God go I’ sort of thing. But I didn’t make it a biopic so I really hope it specifically speaks to that.”

The response she’s gotten seems to affirm that it does. “A few people that have come to see the film have actually”¦emailed me, and they said, ”˜I actually feel better. Even though your film’s very dark, I actually feel really good about my life and I’m okay because I’ve been there and I’ve done stupid things pursuing acting or pursuing modelling or pursuing my doctorate”¦.’”

To underline the universality of her character’s desperation, she ensured the character remained realistic. “I didn’t want her to be a drug addict,” Bowen said. “I wanted her actually to be a good actor, which is why you see the audition scene where she’s auditioning and she’s actually really good and she’s beautiful and yet she can’t even make it in the B-world.”

She emphasized that everyone who worked on the production volunteered and that it came together almost by accident. “I was like all set to do a big-budget feature and a piece of funding came through, and the film got pushed for two months but I had the cast and the crew I was working with all ready to go. So we wrote the script in two weeks, we shot it in 12 days, and I was gonna have it done so that when the other film came back, I could direct that. And then that film ended up getting pushed indefinitely. So it’s this kind of interesting thing that came about that was totally random in a way. But almost like a mini-miracle.”