DULUTH — Ahmos Hassan remembers getting the call from Deborah Puette, who was scouting potential locations to film the movie "Cash for Gold."
"This is absolutely it," Puette said about Chisholm. A few months later, the production was on the Iron Range, filming a story about an unlikely friendship that ends up changing lives.
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The movie was filmed in early 2022, and the snowy setting was integral to the story. "We had to have a wintry climate," said Hassan, who produced the film. "It's a much better Christmas story when you have snow everywhere."
While "Cash for Gold" is a Christmas movie, it's worlds away in tone and substance from the holiday rom-coms recently made in Duluth. Puette wrote and co-directed the movie, which centers on a character so important to her that she chose to play Grace herself even when an Oscar-winning actress (Hassan didn't name who) expressed interest in the role.
"It's about bringing us together as human beings," said Hassan. "The time couldn't be any better, in a sense, because the world is completely out of control. I'm hoping it has an impact on people, at least moves the needle a little in people's hearts."
Hassan and I were sitting in the Zeitgeist atrium Thursday, Oct. 3. "Cash for Gold" was set to play that night as the opening feature of the Duluth Superior Film Festival, and global headlines had been dominated by the alarming rise in Middle East hostilities.
In the movie, Grace meets two Iranian immigrants when she visits their jewelry store hoping to sell some gold and relieve the crushing financial pressure she's under. In short order, she goes from being one of the store's clients to becoming an employee.
The store owners are an aging father, Mohammad, played by Marcelo Tubert, and his adult son, Hasan (Farshad Farahat). At one point, a friend of Grace's asks Hasan where he's from. "Chisholm," Hasan replies.
"We added a line," Hassan said. The original script left the name of the city unspecified, but the filmmakers decided to officially make it Chisholm. "I guess it was part of us falling in love with the town," he said.
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Robert Enriquez, the film's co-director and a producer, was particularly charmed by Chisholm. Seeking to invest in the community, the filmmaker became co-owner of Chisholm's recently reopened Black Bear Bakery and Cafe.
"He opened a bakery and an apartment above it, and then he shot another movie," said Hassan. "He wants to continue doing that and make more there, and I do, too."
Hassan has another important Minnesota connection. For years, he managed the late comedian Louie Anderson, who grew up in St. Paul and achieved national celebrity. Anderson, 68, died in Las Vegas in 2022.
"Louie knew about the project I was making," said Hassan, growing emotional at the recollection. "I was flying back and forth from Las Vegas to visit him in the hospital."
Hassan founded his production company, Chariot Entertainment, in 2017 to "expand popular culture by integrating multi-dimensional stories of Muslims into universal narratives," according to the company's website. "Cash for Gold" is the company's first film.
While the movie's Iranian American characters do experience Islamophobia, the core of the film is the developing relationship between Hasan and Grace: two grief-stricken people who ultimately help each other heal and move forward.
Hassan hopes that people who live in and near Chisholm, seeing the city onscreen, will "appreciate how beautiful their town really is."
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In the dead of winter, no less. "The weather was a character," said Hassan. "When I arrived the first day, I couldn't believe how cold it was. I'm from Michigan, but I had never seen anything like it. ... It was fascinating to see people shoveling their sidewalk with T-shirts while I'm wearing three coats."
"Cash for Gold" has played well with its first audiences, winning an audience award at the Burbank International Film Festival and landing a Best Feature Film nomination at the Sunscreen Film Festival in Florida.
The Duluth Superior Film Festival screening also proved a success. "Cash for Gold" won the award for Best Narrative Feature at the festival.
Hassan expects the film to have a theatrical run later this year, possibly including Minnesota screenings. The film will start streaming online in February, the producer expects, though details on where it will stream remain confidential. When announced, details will be available on the film's website and social media.
Northlanders may still find it a little hard to believe that their region is becoming a hotbed of moviemaking.
Hassan said that "film is moving more and more independent," which means that more and bigger movies will be made outside the Hollywood studio system.
Our region is "so visually rewarding in so many ways, and diverse, and the incentives are great," said Hassan. A film industry has "been established here. People know about it. There have been successful projects here."
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The power of Puette's story, and the caliber of the performances — JoBeth Williams, of "Poltergeist" fame, plays Grace's mother-in-law — comes through onscreen. It's been meaningful for Hassan to sit with audiences experiencing the film for the first time.
"There's nothing like that," said the producer. "To be sitting with someone and they're seeing it for the first time, the tears and the laughter, all of that. It sounds a little corny, I know ... but I have to admit it really does feel good when you're taking them emotionally through this experience."
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