They made the film to honour their late actor and writer friend, Keith Provost, but The Beast of Bottomless Lake is anything but sentimental. It's a comic romp about a ragtag team of scientists searching for the Ogopogo in Okanagan Lake.

Beast will screen for the first time in the Lower Mainland at the 2010 Vancouver's Convention of Science Fiction and Fantasy, or VCON, Oct. 2. After the screening, the film's star, David Nykl, who also plays Dr. Zelenka in Stargate: Atlantis; writer, producer and actor Kennedy Goodkey; director, writer and producer Craig March and others involved in the movie will field questions from the audience.

The legendary Ogopogo monster of Okanagan Lake had long compelled Provost, who grew up in Kelowna. In 1996, he brought his film idea to his friend Goodkey. They worked through various drafts and invited March to join their project in 2000. Tragedy struck in 2001 when the 40-year-old Provost slammed into a car door with his bike on West 16th Avenue and died a short time later from head injuries, even though he'd been wearing a helmet.

After Provost's death, friends were keen to complete the concept he had created.

"There was a lot sentiment, let's do this for Keith, when he died," Goodkey said. "It was the wrong energy at the wrong time."

In 2005, Goodkey read an article about the "stupid stuff" people successfully auction on eBay--"like a bottle with air that Angelina Jolie breathed and [the] Virgin Mary's image on toast"--went for a cruise on his bike and realized that eBay could be a vehicle to help finance the film.

So Goodkey and March founded Provost Pictures Ltd. Janet Baxter, Provost's wife, pitched in money. They auctioned executive producing credits, product placements and a day on set as an extra for a song, but more importantly, gained widespread interest.

Many of the cast and crew knew Provost, who Goodkey describes as an open, giving and encouraging man. But one of the composers, Phil Mahoney, offered his services early on because he had suffered his own traumatic bicycle accident.

They paid "almost nobody," instead promising a percentage of any profits for those who put in more than a couple days of work, and since they made The Beast of Bottomless Lake on a shoestring, Goodkey expects they'll soon be in the black.

In Beast, Dr. Paul Moran, a cryptozoologist from the University of B.C. (one who searches for and studies animals whose existence or survival is disputed or unsubstantiated, such as the Loch Ness monster and sasquatch), leads a team of scientists, some of whom have only joined the quest to complete doctoral credits, to the Okanagan.

The escapade starts with several laugh-out-loud moments as characters pull faces for the documentary film crew that's along for the ride in a style similar to the TV show The Office.

Anything that could go wrong goes wrong including loss of equipment, various accidents and a police incident, all to comic effect. Insider references include a Provost Physics Endowment, a hard-ass Dean Baxter and a supposed punk band called The Juanabees, really the name of a comic theatre company that Goodkey toured Canada and the U.S. with for six years. It all culminates with a couple of twists and deep thoughts.

Goodkey is no believer in the Ogopogo. In fact, he's an active member of the Canadian scientific skepticism movement, perennial host of the local SkeptiCamp. Sometimes the skeptics he rubs shoulders with talk about the entertainment value of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, he says, but they also strive to educate the public on the value of vaccinations, science in the classroom and the efficacy of various medical disciplines.

"Lake monsters are the low-hanging fruit of the skeptical movement," he said.

Shot in 2007 and 2008, The Beast of Bottomless Lake premiered at the Okanagan International Film Festival this summer, where it won a People's Choice Award. It also screened at the Mississauga International Film Festival, where it won the Vistek Award for Best Feature Film.

The Beast of Bottomless Lake will screen Oct. 2, 1 p.m., in the Seymour/Whistler rooms at the Vancouver Airport Marriott Hotel, 7571 Westminster Hwy., Richmond. Admission is by full day pass only. For more information, see www.vcon.ca.

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A bevy of community events take place around town this weekend, Sept. 24 to 26, to celebrate Culture Days, the first ever Canada-wide celebration of arts and culture. The Community Arts Council of Vancouver and the Britannia Services Centre are hosting a free event focused on community arts, Sept. 25. Guest speakers include Carla Bergman and Arlin French from The Purple Thistle Centre, a youth-run community centre that focuses on art and activism; Marina Szijarto, community artist, and Glen Hodges, cemetery manager at Mountain View Cemetery; Jaspal Marwah from the Vancouver Public Spaces Network, an organization that focuses on free, collaborative public art creations; Lyle Povah, a musician and educator with a passion for African drumming; and Melanie Schambach, an interdisciplinary community artist who focuses on participative arts. The event runs 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Learning Resource Centre at the corner of Commercial Drive and Napier Street. For more events, see culturedays.ca.

crossi@vancourier.com