A trio of talented Northern Michigan University alumni collaborated on a short film shot in Marquette County about family members who have a falling out over addiction. “My Sister” will premiere at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 19, at the Marquette Regional History Center. It was written, produced and directed by Negaunee native Dan Aho, who has worked as an actor in Chicago and Los Angeles. His credits include “Contagion” and “Man of Steel.” Local thespians Jessica “Red” Bays and Han Numinen star as the sisters at odds with each other. All will participate in a discussion after the premiere screening.
Aho, a 2002 theater and entertainment arts graduate, said the premise of the film is loosely based on events that surfaced in his life pertaining to his late father's struggles with addiction.
“There are a lot of different stories that you can take from an experience like that, but the one kernel I used throughout this film was that there's a point in many of these relationships where the person trying to help the struggling family member has to draw a line in the sand for their own health and sanity, and maybe to spur the other person to change their ways,” he said. “And then that person constantly questions if they made the right choice. That is something I experience to this day, and I lost my father 10 years ago.”
Because addiction affects so many people, and there seems to be less vulnerability in talking about it, Aho was determined to tell the story. He approached “My Sister” as a straight drama, not because the darkest days are devoid of humor, but because the time constraint of a 10-minute short does not lend itself well to volleying between too many feelings.
“It's really just trying to grasp the realism as much as possible for a film about such a serious subject matter,” he added. “I think one of the great things about film is that, once you show it to people, it's no longer yours. It belongs to the audience as well, and they determine what they take away from it. This short doesn't necessarily provide all of the answers. It leaves a lot of things open to interpretation as to what you think the characters will do. And I think that's part of the interesting discussion that film can bring over other art forms.”
Aho first delved into writing as a Northern student. When musicals were in production—not his forté or preferred genre—he developed his own comedic material and performed stand-up shows. As a broadcasting minor, he also used the campus studio to record sketches and create comedy albums. His professional acting career began in Chicago, where he was cast in commercials, TV shows and movies.
In the 12 years he spent in Los Angeles, Aho said a highlight was working and improvising with one of his comedic heroes, Lily Tomlin. He also worked alongside actors Matt Damon, Kate Winslet and Jane Fonda, and with directors Steven Soderbergh and Paul Weitz. Aho ventured into TV and film writing more seriously in L.A. as a creative outlet to fill the wait times between acting jobs. He said the increased affordability of camera equipment and editing software has made it easier to independently produce projects.
Aho completed the “My Sister” script during the pandemic. After returning to Chicago, he settled on the idea of filming it around his hometown. He rewrote the script to incorporate specific locations such as Lake Superior, US-41, Teal Lake and his mother's house in Negaunee into the theme of the story.
When it came to casting the film, Aho immediately reached out to Bays, a 2001 English alumna and theater minor. They had attended Northern at the same time and co-starred in shows such as “M*A*S*H*,” playing Hawkeye and “Hot Lips” Houlihan. In the film, Bays portrays the older sister who tries to help her troubled sibling.
“My character sort of cuts her off and gives up on her, but she also realizes that she has lost someone who is such a big part of her life, and wonders if she'll be able to open back up to trust her again,” she said. “It was just so beautiful. And the ending offers a nice glimmer of hope. Working with someone familiar like Dan always creates a comfort zone to explore artistic ideas without anxiety about potentially making a mistake. He was open to us improvising and offering feedback, so that was very rewarding from a performance perspective. And the subject matter is so relatable. I know many people who've dealt with addiction, and I think that's true of everyone. It's okay to tell that story, and doing it through film makes it approachable to the public.”
Originally planning a career in education, Bays said one acting class with NMU Professor James Panowski redirected her goals. After graduation, she joined Poetry Alive based in Asheville, N.C., and toured the East Coast for a year performing dramatic interpretations of poetry and leading related workshops at high schools and colleges. She moved to Lansing, where she did some live theater, before returning to the Upper Peninsula. Bays works at the Marquette Regional History Center, and has continued to act in community theater company productions including “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Hamlet.”
Bays suggested that her “Hamlet” co-star Numinen be considered for the younger sister role in the film, and Aho agreed after their initial Zoom meeting. Numinen made their first foray into acting in 6th grade, as “the shiniest fork on stage” in a local youth production of “Beauty and the Beast.” Highlight roles at NMU included Wednesday Addams in “The Addams Family,” Turk in “Tarzan,” and Ulla in “The Producers.”
Numinen discovered a major contrast transitioning from the stage, which requires some level of over-emphasis to ensure people in the back row can detect feelings and hear dialogue, to the intimacy of a camera, which picks up subtle nuances in facial expressions and voice.
“I had to essentially re-learn acting,” Numinen added. “Dan sent us each some playlists that fit the theme of the film: Fleetwood Mac, Jefferson Airplane and other ‘70s tunes that were very much about wanting hope for the future, but holding on to the trauma of the past. That's definitely the route I chose for my character, Terry. She regrets the things that she's done, but yet she had been prescribed these pills by a doctor—someone she had trusted—and ended up going down the wrong path. That could happen to any of us, so this film is an interesting exploration of life choices and how relationships are impacted by those choices.”
Numinen graduated with a degree in theater and entertainment arts in 2024. They continue to act in community theater productions while balancing two part-time jobs at the Fire Station and a child care center.
The three alumni shot “My Sister” over three days last fall. They have started production on another short by Aho that will also be filmed in the area, possibly next month. He describes it as a “futuristic, dystopian look at where we could be headed that is a dark comedy as well.”
Tickets for the “My Sister” premiere and discussion are $10 for students with ID and $20 for general admissions. Proceeds will help support its entry into film festivals and also the Marquette Regional History Center. Tickets are on sale at www.marquettehistory.org or in person. Call 906-226-3571 for more information.