Taylor Olson breaks Bone Cage out for mainstream audiences

After a lengthy run through a season of virtual film festivals following its online debut in Halifax last September, the homegrown award-winning drama Bone Cage is finally being released on digital and in VOD formats.

“We are about to send the film out into the world,” says Halifax-based artist Taylor Olson of his work, which swept all the prizes it was eligible to win after its premiere at FIN Atlantic International Film Festival in 2020.  “It will be interesting to see how that translates to people who might not have bothered to check out the film.”

Streaming on most platforms beginning July 6, Bone Cage marks a stunning debut feature from Olson. Among the first-time filmmaker's awards at FIN included Best Atlantic Director, Best Atlantic Feature as well as winning the Michael Weir Award for Best Atlantic Screenwriting.

The film would go on to receive awards at several other film festivals across Canada and the United States and even earn the graduate of Dalhousie University's acting program a coveted Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

“I think what people are relating to is that sort of rural, small-town struggle of having these dreams that are bigger than the tools you have to overcome them,” says Olson of the broad appeal of Bone Cage.

“A lot of the jobs that people have are these manual labour or type of jobs (where) people can relate to this same feeling that (the main character) has — being isolated and just wanting more.”

Based on a 2007 Governor General’s Literary Award-winning play by Catherine Banks, Bone Cage follows Jamie (played by Olson), a forestry worker who is deeply conflicted about his dead-end job processing and clear-cutting trees and essentially destroying the very environment that his rural community and economy thrives on to survive.

As he wanders the barren landscape following each shift in search of injured birds or animals to rescue, Jamie dreams of escaping the ill-fated future he seems destined to inherit.

“It’s just awesome that people have connected to a film that’s about something that I think is really important — sustainability and forestry,” adds Olson. “And we’ve seen the fight here in Nova Scotia for so long to create sustainable forestry practices.”

However, Bone Cage isn’t just about highlighting the environmental toll of clear-cutting huge tracts of forestry for short-term gain.  Born in British Columbia, Olson connected with the play on a personal level.

“My dad worked in the forestry industry for years and before that, my grandfather on one side ran a tree processor much like Jamie in the film,” says Olson. He observed the parallels between the story’s main character and his father, who was conflicted about taking on certain jobs in the forestry industry.

“The more (Jamie) works his job and the more effort he puts into his job, the less likely he’ll have a job in 10 years,” relates Olson of the protagonist he discovered portraying on stage in 2017. “I always thought (he) was interesting because my dad used to say things that were similar.”

With Olson’s Bone Cage finally being released to digital audiences everywhere, the accomplished filmmaker hasn’t slowed down either. Olson has kept busy during the pandemic crafting short films and writing. He is currently in the middle of production on his sophomore feature, Look at Me, which is a sort of autobiographical story involving eating disorders and self-image.

Another micro-budget film, Olson braves on and forges ahead creatively, even as the world of filmmaking and realistic budgets continues to present challenges for independent artists.

“I just find it just so much fun to make films,” exclaims Olson about what keeps him pressing on. “Art has the power to help people through hard times or change people’s perspective. I think that’s what keeps most people and that’s what definitely keeps me going is, hopefully you put something out into the world that just touches someone or helps someone in some way.”

Bone Cage will be available on digital and VOD beginning July 6.