A short film featuring the artwork of slain teen Maple Batalia is expected to be released in the coming year.
“Thy Beauty’s Doom” is a five-minute feature that was inspired by Batalia’s paintings and artwork and is based on two sonnets by William Shakespeare.
The 19-year-old SFU student was gunned down in a campus parking lot in 2011. Her former boyfriend Gurjinder “Gary” Dhaliwal was charged with first-degree murder.
Local filmmaker Krystal Kiran Garib says she never knew Maple personally, but when she heard her story on the news, she was compelled to do something about it.
“It was such a tragic and unnecessary thing that has happened,” says Garib. “There were so many angles to it, that I felt like I somehow had to do something.”
Maple’s sister Roseleen Batalia says they got to know Garib and gave her permission to use Maple’s artwork from her high school years.
“She basically said I want to show Maple’s artwork to the world,” says Roseleen.
Batalia’s family gave Garib their blessing to make the film and worked hand-in-hand with her to make it happen.
Maple’s mom Sarbjit Batalia recorded one of the songs for the film.
“Her mom writes a lot of poetry. She wrote all these poems after Maple died and I recorded her speaking them,” says Garib.
The filmmaker says she felt a lot of pressure to create something Maple would have approved.
“I really wanted to make the type of film that she would want to be part of. I hope that it does justice to her paintings and her memory,” says Garib.
The music from the film will be made available on iTunes to raise money for the Maple Batalia Memorial Fund.
The film release date is planned for some time next year as soon as the fundraising goal is reached.
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