ST. JOHN'S, N.L. —

A little over a week ago, representatives from the Whistler Film Festival contacted “Little Orphans” director Ruth Lawrence, requesting a Zoom meeting to discuss some pressing media questions that needed to be answered.

“We sort of panicked,” Lawrence said.

Along with writer and actress Emily Bridger and producer Jennifer Hawley, Lawrence waited for the call in her living room, wondering what terrible news it must be, since they weren’t willing to tell them over the phone.

Bridger said she felt like she was in trouble.

“We were just expecting the worst,” Bridger said. “Maybe they’re going to kick us out of the festival or something.”

Instead of being tossed out, they were told they had won the Borsos Award for Best Canadian Feature.

“Ruth’s jaw just hit the floor,” Bridger said.

Having to keep it a secret until the official announcement was difficult, Lawrence said.

“It was so hard,” she said. “It was a low-grade buzz. Like having a low-grade fever. You couldn’t be too happy because people would be suspicious. What do you got to smile about? Oh, nothing.”

It’s not only Lawrence’s debut feature film, but it’s a script Bridger has been working on for the past 10 years, really focusing in on it in the past four.

The film follows three adult sisters who still struggle with their difficult upbringing, and gather as one of the sisters gets ready to get married.

It was filmed on a small budget entirely in St. John’s. And being that there was still some work to be done as the COVID-19 pandemic began to unfold, they worried about the fate of the film they had put so much effort into.

“It just kind of felt like the film would just disappear,” Bridger said. “We didn’t know what was going to happen, so I guess our expectations and our hopes were really down. We all kind of thought, oh God, what a year to release the film, nothing is going to happen with it. So, it’s extra special in that way, too.”

The award comes with $15,000 from the Directors Guild of Canada British Columbia District Council, and a post-production prize of $20,000 from a post-production company called Company 3.

Bridger was also recently nominated for ArtNL’s Emerging Artist of the Year Award.

Lawrence said she wanted the team’s effort and hard work to be recognized, and the award does just that.

“(This award) means they really felt every department had done an exceptional job, and that was something that was not lost on us,” she said.