By Jenn Watt

Published May 30 2017

The easiest way to introduce Leora Berman’s new project is by saying it’s about hunting – a young woman from L.A. travelling to Ontario to learn how to shoot a gun and harvest wild game – but it’s actually the cultural issues that the executive producer is aiming to uncover.

My First Shot a production of The Land Between and Lock3 Media takes the viewer on a journey with Erin Carmody a former vegan academic and lifelong city dweller as she steps into rural Ontario to learn about hunting – and other ways of thinking.

“I used hunting as a segue or as a platform to talk about difference and discrimination” said Berman.

She pointed out that in the United States much of the country that voted for Donald Trump was in the rural areas. For those in the city it’s easy to dismiss rural citizens which tend to be Republican and conservative but that would be a mistake.

“You’ve got to experience before you can make any judgment” she said. “It’s about being compassionate and empathetic open and truthful.”

People can be quick to judge anywhere in the world Berman said not just in places with high levels of racial or religious tension but also more quiet places like Haliburton.

Carmody learned about hunting with the Curve Lake First Nations as well as with Kim Roberts and Keith Hodgson at their hunt camp in Haliburton.

The premiere screening of My First Shot is Saturday June 17 at 7 p.m. at the Northern Lights Performing Arts Pavilion. Tickets are $15 at the door. You can buy a copy of the DVD at myfirstshot.ca.