A creative project with roots in Saint John is getting an international moment—and they need community support to make it happen.
The Portal Tree Chronicles, a creator‑led storytelling project developed by Your Sweet Spot Life, has received an invitation to present at the Marché du Film at the Cannes Film Festival, one of the most influential film markets in the world. For an independent, community‑driven project based in New Brunswick, it’s a rare and meaningful opportunity.
What is The Portal Tree Chronicles?
At its core, The Portal Tree Chronicles is a narrative project—but it’s also an experiment in how creative work gets made and valued.
Part story world, part residency and part production model, the project brings together writers, artists, and builders to develop original storytelling from the ground up. What sets it apart is its philosophy: creative work is treated as real labour, not “exposure,” and creators retain ownership over what they make.
Rather than extracting stories from places, the project is rooted in local experience, collaboration, and long‑term value—ideas that resonate deeply in a region where creativity often exists without enough infrastructure or support.
Why Cannes matters
Largo.ai is a Switzerland‑based artificial‑intelligence analytics company for the film, television, and advertising industries. In simple terms, they use large amounts of entertainment data and AI models to help creators, producers, and financiers understand how a story might perform before major money is spent.
Largo’s predictive analytics identified The Portal Tree Chronicles as a high-potential production, hand-picking it for a featured presentation at the Palais des Festivals on May 14th to pitch directly to the world’s top film financiers – international producers, distributors, and cultural partners alongside projects from around the world.
It’s a chance to show that meaningful, creator‑owned work doesn’t have to come from major studios or big-city systems. It can come from smaller communities—like Saint John—when the right structures are in place.
The Portal Tree Chronicles are mobilizing a team of eight—including professional crew and elite local students—to maximize this massive opportunity.
Why community support is needed now
While the invitation is significant, getting to Cannes comes with very real costs—travel, materials, presentation prep, and the logistics needed to show up professionally.
That’s where the community comes in. You can get more details and sponsor The Portal Tree Chronicles now via their website.
Every contribution helps ensure the project—and what it represents—can be present, visible, and taken seriously.
A local moment with global reach
Supporting The Portal Tree Chronicles backs a vision where creative people can build sustainable careers, rooted right here, without having to leave or give up ownership of their work.
This moment is a reminder that global stages aren’t reserved for “somewhere else.” With care, collaboration, and a little hometown support, a project grown in Saint John can walk into one of the world’s most influential creative spaces.
