There is often a powerful correspondence between crisis and creativity. During the pandemic, many homebound people fought back stagnation with new hobbies like sourdough baking, but for Clint Butler — a Toronto-based stage, screen, and voice-over actor — the uncertainty of the pandemic yielded new ways to entwine creativity, innovation, and community. Turning his attention back onto filmmaking, Butler launched his independent production company, 4CO Films, in 2021, with an emphasis on socially responsible storytelling and creating art as a means of healing. With several projects in development, Butler has been exploring a return to the boundless simplicity of youth. Crafting stories from tender, intimate narratives around care, heritage, and isolation, his latest film, Mudder’s Hands, turns his lens on his own mother and her baking skills. Through 4CO, Butler seeks to share the kind of magic with the world that transforms words into force fields and reveals the sublime in the mundane.

sM | The name "4CO Films” has its origins in your childhood. How does this inspiration relate to your company's mandate?