Filmmaking Across Generations: Director Sean Cisterna on horror doc Silver Screamers

Can you tell us about the key moments that set you on a path towards filmmaking? When did you realize it could be a real career?

Director Sean Cisterna: I’ve always loved movies, ever since E.T. “went home” and I started bawling. As I got older, it was a Canadian film — David Cronenberg’s The Fly — that made me think, “Wow, this could be a career I could conceivably strive toward.” I studied film at York University, and over time, I’ve had the chance to direct a range of projects: dramas like Kiss and Cry and Full Out for Netflix, international co-productions like From the Vine with Joe Pantoliano in Italy, and a documentary called The Long Rider. I love the variety of working across different genres, collaborating with new filmmakers, and testing my creative muscles depending on the content.

Silver Screamers captures a group of seniors discovering the horror genre for the first time. What inspired you to bring these two seemingly opposite worlds (elderly creators and horror filmmaking) together?

SC: The idea came from wanting to challenge two stereotypes at once: the misconception that seniors are past their creative prime, and the assumption that horror movies are just for young people. There’s a wonderful similarity between aging and horror. Both involve confronting fear and transformation. I wondered what would happen if a group of seniors made their own horror film. What began as a fun social experiment turned into a heartfelt story about courage, laughter, and rediscovering your purpose later in life.

How did you adapt your directing approach for non-traditional talent, and how did you map their life skills to specific roles on set?

SC: We did a series of pre-interviews with the seniors before they stepped on set. Those are in the film. Whenever someone spoke about their past in a way that could transfer to a film set, I kept that in mind. We had a former puppeteer, for example. The seniors made a short film called The Rug, based on the story by Edo van Belkom, about a rug that comes to life after being found on the side of the road. I optioned the story because it stars a senior protagonist, and I thought, “What if the whole crew was comprised of seniors and we made a senior-centric film?” The project was financed by the New Horizons for Seniors Program, which isn’t a film fund – it’s designed to get seniors active in their communities. I tailored the application to support a filmmaking experience, and that’s how the project came to be. David, our 80-year-old special effects guy, made the rug come to life with an ingenious marionette system, bringing back his puppeteering skills and transferring them to the film. One of our seniors, Sonny, loves cameras and makes little documentaries for residents in his building, so he was our camera operator. He showed a natural skill behind the camera, and it was great to give him that challenge.

How did you assemble the many mentors and creative partners you collaborated with on the film?

SC: One key challenge you’ll see in the film is that our insurance provider didn’t want to rent us $800,000 worth of gear for a group of inexperienced seniors, since it’s heavy equipment. We realized we needed younger mentors to lift the equipment and teach the technical aspects of filmmaking. It became an intergenerational tale: the seniors taught our younger crew members the skills they had, while we imparted technical filmmaking wisdom. We learned from each other and brought the film to life through those perspectives.

In guiding the group, what did you hope to pass on, and what did the process teach you in return?

SC: One of the amazing things about this industry is that you meet a lot of people and chat with groups, and I’ve always loved passing along experience and wisdom, inspiring others to pick up a camera and tell their stories. In terms of what I learned, it was patience, collaboration, and a healthy sense of humour. These weren’t professional crew members, nor did they have on-camera experience. They were retirees stepping into filmmaking for the first time. We treated the set as both a classroom and a playground. The goal was to empower the seniors to make creative decisions while maintaining the film’s cohesion. The best part was watching their confidence grow. They weren’t just participants; they were filmmakers.

The cast and crew of Silver Screamers.

This film sets out to make the point that seniors are not devoid of creativity and ambition, and there is room for creativity later in life. Is there hope that this film will have an impact on arts programming in retirement and active living centres across Canada, as well as the general way seniors in the arts are treated?

SC: Our impact campaign is to screen this for key people in the gerontology community. I’m headed to Montreal in a couple of weeks to give a panel discussion at a world geriatrics conference. Leaders in gerontology will be there, and I’ll be presenting a case study on Silver Screamers. The film is an advocacy tool for creativity among seniors and for the social and communal benefits of creativity in later years. We plan to screen the film theatrically across Canada with our distributor, Blue Ice Docs, and also do a national retirement-home tour. We’ll use it as an inspirational tool to help seniors tell their stories digitally. They can record themselves telling a short story from their past, the most important story in their life, as a piece to leave for their families. By demystifying filmmaking and simplifying it to its basic elements, I think seniors will be inspired to create their own stories.

You were awarded a Canada 150 Citizenship Award by the Federal Government in 2017, and earlier this year, received the King Charles III Coronation Medal for being an active member of the arts community. What motivates you to create this engagement in the arts, and how has it affected your filmmaking?

SC: I live in York Region, and every summer the municipalities host outdoor movie nights. We’re always pitching our films to be shown to the community. I’ve had a couple of movies play under the stars where the town comes out and we do a Q&A afterward. From the Vine came out during COVID, and it’s a wine-based movie, so we did a COVID-safe outdoor screening at a local vineyard with wine-tasting.

I also give back to schools in my community, especially SHSM (Specialized High Skills Major) programs, speaking to high school students about the industry and my work as a DGC Member. I’ve always used my creativity to get out into the community, showcase our films, and incorporate the community into my projects. It’s nice to involve a community that doesn’t always get a chance to participate in film the way bigger municipalities do.

Looking ahead, how do you want to expand the intersection of your filmmaking and advocacy work?

SC: I’ve done a lot of youth-based projects where I go into the community and teach young people about filmmaking. With Silver Screamers, I wanted to spark real conversations about seniors and the role of creativity in healthy aging. My hope is that long-term care homes, Senior Active Living Centres, and arts organizations recognize the benefits of engaging older adults in creative projects, not just as audience members but as active creators. If Silver Screamers inspires a new filmmaking workshop, choir, or art group for seniors, then it’s done its job.

I’ll be headed to Yellowknife in about a month to teach a group of elders how to make a film as part of the Yellowknife Film Festival. We’re going to screen a two-minute film we made in the community before Silver Screamers plays at the festival. It’s exciting and inspiring to engage with a group that doesn’t necessarily pick up cameras and make films as a community. 

What do you hope younger audiences take from the film, and how do you see it working as a co-viewing experience with older generations?

SC: I was terrified to debut this film at Fantastic Fest in Austin a couple of weeks ago. The audience was full of young, passionate genre fans waiting for the festival’s trademark blood and gore. But it went over extremely well. The genre community has a big heart and always roots for the underdog, and the reviews out of Austin have been incredible. I think there’s a real opportunity for co-viewing. This is a horror-centric project that younger and older generations can watch together, and both will get something from it. My hope is that young people can bring their grandparents to this and share that intergenerational bond that’s sadly missing. When was the last time you took a grandparent to a movie? This is a fun opportunity to do just that.