The Rural Municipality of Ritchot has been the site of a movie shoot in recent days. It now appears the municipality could become a permanent home for the film industry.

Mayor Chris Ewen says Council on Wednesday approved a conditional use application by David Neufeld of Whitetail Meadow. The events venue is located at the intersection of Provincial Road 200 and Provincial Road 311, south of St. Adolphe. Ewen says they want to add to that venue a full motion picture and broadcasting studio. The venue will continue hosting weddings.

"They have a great vision and great plans," says Ewen. "So that's very exciting."

According to the Mayor, this motion picture studio will use 360 wraparound screen technology, which is basically LED walls, replacing green screens. He notes this is very rare.

"They are bringing this technology that is only seen in I believe it's up to six places throughout the whole world, it could be even less than that. Some pretty big films and series were filmed on technology like this," he explains. "This is the next level up of how people film movies, so you're not building huge sets."

Ewen says having this based in his municipality will provide an economic boost to the area. He knows firsthand how Ritchot has benefited from the film industry in recent weeks, with the shooting of a movie taking place along PR 305, east of Ste. Agathe.

"The film industry is very good to the communities that they are working in and around," he says. "You will see some of the cast and crew coming in and supporting local by going to a local restaurant on their time off or they are picking up the groceries they need."

Ewen says Ritchot is right now a very enticing location for filming. Not only does it offer different types of scenery and agriculture backdrops, but Manitoba as a whole has great tax incentives for the movie and film industry.

"We have great spaces and opportunities for different kinds of scenery and sets," he notes. "They appreciate our distance from Winnipeg which is nice too."

Ewen says his Council is very excited with the approval of Whitetail Meadow's application.