Star Kelsey Johnson who is naturally blonde, was asked to dye her hair red for the role of Rene
The bathroom scene between Rene and her mother was filmed in a bathroom the crew built just for the movie. In order to get closeups of Rene the DOP cut a hole in the bathroom wall with a reciprocating saw.
All the classroom scenes were filmed in an actual English class, but at Red Deer College not in a high school. Regular classes went on during off days of shooting.
Muftaha Adair who plays Tumaini is actually Ethiopan, not Turkana as described in the script.
The character Brad where the exact same clothes in every scene he's in.