Today we’d like to introduce you to Natalie Novak Remplakowski

Hi Natalie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

I’m a Polish-Canadian filmmaker who splits my time between Toronto, and NYC. Born in Mississauga, Ontario to Polish immigrant parents, I grew up immersed in the Polish community’s performing arts. My mother was a singer in Poland’s National Folk and Dance Ensemble, called Slask, and so she both encouraged me (as well as signed up, paid for and chaperoned me) to choir, dance, piano lessons and theater rehearsals throughout my entire childhood. In high school, I found a lot of solace in the drama department, as theater kids do. I remember my teachers back then were the ones that told me I’d be happiest living in New York City, so I carried that dream for 18 years before I finally made the move.

I majored in Theatre at York University in Toronto where I studied Acting in their conservatory program. These were formative years of self-discovery. It was then that I developed an artistic discipline that would carry me throughout my career outside of acting. It’s also where I met the people that would become my support network that I lean on to this day. We inhaled countless plays in our time there. This was social, we’d learn monologues and stencil favorite quotes onto the walls. We had so much conviction! It was also at theater school that I formed a stronger relationship between my mind and physical body that I continue to work on with a steadfast commitment. That was something I didn’t even know I needed in my life at the time, being a cerebral theater kid who often came across as ‘scatterbrained’. I wasn’t exposed to or interested in sports very much outside of dance as a kid. Developing a physical practice in movement for actors helped me to hone in on and channel my creative energy, which was always more than what I knew what to do with. I remember a lot of the feedback I would get from instructors was to ‘stop directing’ the scenes while I was acting in them. I didn’t really understand why ‘being present’ was hard for me until I developed the skill of inhabiting my own body in the moment with movement. A late-in-life pre-diagnosis for ADHD recontextualized this whole experience for me in a revolutionary way, but that’s another article. I’m so grateful for the time I had there in order to gain a holistic understanding of what drew me to drama in the first place. It taught me how to approach the craft with respect and the gift of doing it well as something to be revered. Acting school was personally transformational and an education in emotional awareness I think anyone could benefit from at any stage of their life.

For the first couple years out of school, I was really committed to becoming an actor professionally but I found the restlessness I experienced within the lifestyle of being at the mercy of others’ decision-making to be soul-crushing. Creating my own projects was what carried me through those early years. Eventually, this led to other like-minded creatives asking me to help put together their projects and eventually this transpired to paid projects. Inadvertently a job ‘producing’ found me in a very roundabout way. I gained some momentum when I began to put out into the world that I wanted to produce scripted films. It took me a long time to, while in the thick of it, discover what producing actually entailed, what kind of projects made sense for me to work on, and what kind of filmmakers I enjoyed working with. It’s such a case-study career path. I’m constantly in a phase of reevaluating things based on past mistakes, then anticipating what’s-to-come, often over-correcting myself. The key element that remains consistent is that it is an ever-changing, ever-evolving practice of creative entrepreneurship.

After a decade of working broadly in film in Toronto, I moved to NYC to attend graduate film school at NYU. I sought out film school with the aim of shifting my focus from the ‘industry’ to return to studying the ‘craft’ of cinematic storytelling. I wanted to reevaluate my approach holistically to the medium. Like, how does one cook? You need heat, a little fat– maybe butter, a little salt, pepper…how does one make a movie? I wanted to connect with peers who were in a similar phase of their careers. Now in my thesis year, the experience really delivered on all of that, and so much more. It’s been a humbling experience working with so many talented artists from all over the world who not only seem to have an inherent, mature understanding of the medium but also the gumption to get their projects up on their feet. One needs gumption I think, potentially over anything else, and at least a little money.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?

It’s always a juggle ‘pulling together the resources to do the thing’ while ‘doing the thing’. This consistently arduous process is always at the core of producing activities if you don’t already come into the industry ‘well resourced’.

If we want to even begin to talk about the inequities within our industry, it must be acknowledged how it’s designed to privilege deep pockets, especially in North America. In an attempt to parse out why that is, in a gross oversimplification, it’s because making movies is always a financially high-risk endeavor and if you can’t afford to fail, it’s difficult to start in earnest. Development itself is extraordinarily resource-depleting in order to get a project to a level that will ensure a high probability of its success. That’s all before you step up to the plate of production. That makes it a pretty inaccessible process without contributions from funding bodies and other means of support.

So if your time and energy resources are already depleted in working to make ends meet, surely either your creative work will be compromised, or your physical and mental health will take a significant toll as you juggle both. We’ve all met some filmmakers who don’t know the struggle of the juggle first-hand and sadly, it shows. However, I don’t want to say that that struggle itself is what defines character, skill or talent either nor that wealth itself will spare you from the ruthlessness of producing films. It’s much more complicated than that!

Simultaneous with an increase in efforts toward diversity, equity and inclusion, we’re witnessing the pool of people in power in our industry get smaller and smaller. This is putting people further at odds with one another debating on who should get the conch at this moment in time. This is while another conversation is happening about whether there will be any conch to go around in a few year’s time. Having gone to too many panels on these issues, I don’t believe anyone has a clear answer on the path forward.

I try to self-check my own ‘delulu’ from time to time, as I continue to be committed to endeavoring to make independent films. I feel pretty buckled down on the belief that well told stories will pierce through the noise and find their audience. That and watching cinema is a pretty reliable way to fulfill a deep desire for human connection, which will never get old.

As you know, we’re big fans of Citrine Productions. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?

I did not go to graduate school thinking I’d start a production company. However, it was in collaborating with the filmmakers I met at NYU that propelled me to want to produce films for directors I admire. In this way I hope to marry my previous experience and skill-set with the approach I’ve been able to refine throughout the last few years at film school. I’m interested in stories personal to the filmmaker.

As AI has already started to take-over, I’m doubling down on aiming to produce human-made films, ones that feel a little imperfect as they take creative risks in service of the filmmaker’s unique point of view. A little audacity is always appreciated. I’m energized by bravery, and gumption. Especially when it comes to sharing something personal. I’ve called the company ‘Citrine’ because Citrine is a gemstone known to ‘absorb negative energies and transmute them into positive vibrations’. I’d refer to myself as a ‘new-age lite’ girlie at most but I find that to be pretty bang on in terms of intention-setting. If I had to point out a desired throughline across a slate of projects, while staying open to all genres and approaches, it would be that a film needs to have some glimmer of optimism in its most raw sense, somewhere in there, even if obscured.

Citrine’s first feature film is Seahorse, by Aisha Evelyna who wrote, directed and starred in the leading role. Seahorse is about a Black woman desperate for stability following a mental health crisis, who is forced to reconcile her family’s past when her estranged father, now an unhoused man on the street, reappears in her life. The film was shot in Toronto in the summer of 2024 and marks Aisha’s feature debut, where she stars opposite Joseph Marcell (The Fresh Prince of Bel Air).

I’m also developing my first feature screenplay, called My Mother’s Tongue, which is a family comedy-drama in both English and Polish. The film, set in Poland and Canada focuses on three generations of women, a Canadian teenager, her mother, who immigrated to Canada in her late 30s as well as her maternal grandmother who continues to reside in Poland. A lot of 2025 is going to be devoted to progressing this project. I’m so excited for how the script is taking shape but also for the people I’ll get to work with, and in such an incredible place. It’s all set in and around Szczecin, where my family is originally from, so I’ll be spending a lot of time there next year.

Can you share something surprising about yourself?

Everything is a surprise! I didn’t mean for anything to happen in the way that it did and yet it all falls within my higher level goals and intentions. I’ve learned that the lesson in everything is always about what you don’t anticipate and prepare for. The good and sometimes great things also seem to be right around the corner and you can never see them coming! How does one maintain their chill when the wheel of fortune continues to turn? I want to end this paragraph with a pithy ‘I don’t know’ but actually, I have developed some skills for that.

I think I devoted a high word count here to shedding light on the early years in my career in undergrad and to my financial stress. This is all because I’m feeling very ‘full-circle’ departing from an art-school institution, for the second time in my life, this coming year. I’m coming to terms with the fact that most of what I know about making art, I knew fifteen years ago but I somehow forgot in the years I’ve juggled making a living. And yet, most of what I know about making films, I have yet to put to the test in the realest of real ways. I’m excited! Life is short but also, life is long. Time seems to unfurl in a new way in your 30s, and that’s been surprising to me. There are many seasons. In my 20s I was obsessed with striking a balance of everything that was important to me within one week as though anything I neglected would fall off my radar entirely. Now, I’m always surprised to learn how many opportunities we have to revisit different aspects of the things we love at various stages! I think this is a joy that comes from having worked in a wide range of areas.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.citrine-presents.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nremplakowski/?hl=en
• Other: https://www.natalieremplakowski.com

Image Credits

Lauren Vanderbrook