“Sonder” – Thane Heiner

We had the opportunity to interview Thane Heiner, the filmmaker of Sonder. Sonder is playing as part of the monthly screenings of the Utah Film Festival April 1st at 7pm in the Town Hub at American Fork Utah. 

What was the inspiration to make Sonder?

I knew about the word sonder, I was at a grocery store a few years ago when I had that moment of realization where I considered each person at the checkout line was dealing with their own challenges, had their own hopes, and were their own, fully realized person. I started thinking about what that would look like in a film and how I could convey that idea.

From idea to completion, how did Sonder change?

Originally I imagined it as a feature length film following each character for longer, but I feel like it works better as a short film, plus in real life having a moment of sonder, we don’t get to see all the way into people’s lives.

I also had a couple other stories included that lacked real depth, and it wasn’t until I started putting stories from my life and one from my brother’s life that I felt real connection to the characters.

What was the biggest challenge in getting Sonder made?

I have never done anything like this before, I had never actually even been on a film set before I was on my own, I’d never written a full script before this one, so being completely out of my depth, putting a lot of my own money into this, and not knowing how it would turn out, or if I would even like it, was a pretty big challenge. Fortunately as soon as I said “Action” for the first time, it felt right.

What do you think is the most important takeaway from your film?

The most important takeaway, I think, is that you’re the main character of your story, but so is everyone else in theirs. That doesn’t take away from the value of your story and life, nor does it take away from the value of any other person’s life; I think the inverse is true, we’re all made more valuable when we realize the worth of each person we encounter.

If you could have a do over with Sonder is there anything that you would do differently? If so, what would that be?

There are plenty of things I learned while filming Sonder that I’ll take into my future projects, but I wouldn’t want to undo any of the mistakes I made. I think making mistakes and failing is an essential part of the process and it’s how I learn and how I know what I need to improve.

What do you have next in the works?

I’m working on exploring some other genres, I have a couple horror ideas, a psychological thriller, as well as a fantasy story. It all depends on what I finish writing first!

How can we learn more about you and your projects?

I have a profile on IMDb, and I am pretty active on Instagram (@thaneheiner) and try to engage as much as I can. I also appeared on the podcast Ben Talks With… on Spotify