first we take toronto

Days 2 and 3 were quite a whirwind so I had no time to blog--which is the way it should be, after all. (No, I didn't see any "celebrities," just huge crowds of people gathered around taking pictures of them.)

After sleeping in (I'm getting too old for 9am screenings after party nights) we started Saturday off with a bit of hanging around festival HQ next to the Lightbox just to have a coffee and take in the madness. Had we been a little more bold (or desperate) and a little less proud, we could have run up to Ted Hope (the indie producer/god with over 100 titles to his credit) and others, with our script. But that is not our style; with all the Blackberries going off and industry-types milling about, we were out of there after an hour or so.

Our film of the day (ticket prices are so prohibitive that we had to limit ourselves) was FUBAR-director Michael Dowse's new movie, Goon. After the last night's heart-wrenching Marécages, we were in the mood for a comedy and this one delivered the goods. I am a long-time Dowse fan but had heard absolutely nothing about Goon before going in, so it was even more of a pleasant surprise. The screenplay was co-written by Jay Baruchel and Evan Goldberg (whose previous credits include Superbad and Knocked Up) and was delightfully over-the-top, as was Baruchel's performance as the foul-mouthed, mercurial sleaze-ball host of "Hot Ice", a web TV show devoted to minor-league hockey fights and hits. Dowse introduced the film saying it's been a hard few months for hockey goons (referring to the untimely deaths of enforcers Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien and Wade Belak) and he said that although this film is a comedy and has "no social agenda whatsoever," his heart goes out to these guys and their families. Someone asked him in the Q & A if this film is an attempt to move away from FUBAR and into the mainstream, and he replied that he doesn't know what mainstream is, he just wants to make good movies. The refreshing thing about Dowse is that his movies have a lot of heart (often lacking in our cerebral, ironic national cinema). Furthermore, this film is an interesting case study of what is possible when a bunch of Canadians who have "made it" in Hollywood get together to make a movie in Canada--hopefully this time the distribution won't get bungled and it will be widely seen.

The rest of my stay at the festival was pretty much devoted to the business side: cocktails and schmoozing. For the first time, I really felt that we were getting somewhere and by coincidence we crossed paths with many of the people we were hoping to talk to and some unexpected ones too. As a writer/director I'm often more comfortable in my bubble off in a corner somewhere, but I'm gradually learning not to try too hard and simply be myself in these situations. It can definitely be overwhelming trying to make meaningful conversation with dozens upon dozens of strangers, but that is why there are free drinks. In the end, I felt like we are finally starting to make the right connections and come across kindred spirits who are actually willing to help. They are out there--it just takes a lot of beating around the bush to find them. With a bit of post-festival follow-up, who knows what could happen?

My stay was only three days but that was just enough; a person can only take so much schmoozing, boozing and waiting in line (we actually decided to step out of the rush line for Take this Waltz just before the start because there were so many people our seats would have been terrible). Some of us may have day jobs to get back to, but attending the festival makes us feel like filmmakers again. Regardless of the outcome, I had a good time at TIFF this year.

jour #1

Well, it's been just over 24 hours and already we've already managed to score tickets to the opening night party (along with all of Toronto) talk our way into an industry event, and attend the opening screening of the Canada First! program. We also got some business-related good news, some bad news and a taste of the fear and self-loathing that creeps up at some point whenever we come to TIFF. In all, a pretty full-on first day.


In the morning we attended Telefilm's "Canadian Talent to Watch" panel, featuring Simon Davidson (The Odds), Guy Édoin (Wetlands/Marécages), Anne Émond (Nuit #1), Ivan Grbovic (Romeo Eleven/Roméo Onze), Yonah Lewis and Calvin Thomas (Amy George) and Nathan Morlando (Edwin Boyd). Atom Egoyan gave a thoughtful, self-deprecating introductory speech about starting out in the industry and how the panelist's first features are "much stronger than my own". The panelists had some interesting advice for emerging filmmakers including "work with your friends, because shooting a film is very hard and you need friends on set" (Anne Émond) and "the biggest challenge as a director is preserving your naivety and intuition within the confines of a shooting schedule" (Ivan Grbovic).


Next, we attended the much-anticipated North American premiere of Guy Édoin's Marécages--another example of raw, powerful Quebec cinema. The film tells the story of a farm family facing bankruptcy and other, more serious setbacks in the midst of a drought. There is a scene in which a calf is torn from its mother by the desperate farmers, only to die; the brutal reality of farm life is rarely portrayed on screen with such honesty (if at all) and it hit very close to home for me, being from a rural milieu myself. Édoin obviously qualifies as "talent to watch" and although I'm still reeling from the emotional kick in the stomach, I look forward to his future offerings. 


We shall see what tomorrow brings....

everyone's a critic

Today is the start of the movie madness that has been branded simply as TIFF. Everyone in the film industry knows what this means: the Toronto International Film Festival (in case you've been living under a rock or without TV for the past decade or so).

This festival is not only on par with Cannes and Sundance in terms of celebrity glitz and indie influence, it is also an annual pilgrimage for us small-potato Canadian filmmakers hoping to ride the coattails of some friend-of-a-friend into fame and fortune (or at least a good party or two).

Nothing can describe the excitement of having a première at TIFF--as a Canadian filmmaker you feel sky-high, thinking the experience is going to change your life. I was lucky enough to have a taste of this two years ago when my short was an "official selection" (allowing me to emblazon my press materials with the coveted laurels and TIFF logo for all time).

The festival did end up changing my life, but not in the way I thought it would. Imagine my dismay after arriving in Toronto, picking up my industry pass, greeting my cast and crew, who had flown across the country to be there, only to open up the free Toronto weekly and read a scathing review saying my film was terrible and brought down the program. "Crushed" does not even begin to describe the feeling. Having invested two years of blood, sweat and tears along with thousands of dollars of my own money in the project, my sense of pride and accomplishment was instantly stomped on.

I still made the most of the festival and had a great time, but was haunted by this skunk in the woodpile. A writer friend of mine once told me to never, ever respond to your critics, but I've decided to respond indirectly--by setting an example.

When I attend TIFF this year (not as a filmmaker, but as a blogger) I will try to refrain from any criticisms that are catty, self-important or deconstructive. In fact, Mom's advice to say nothing at all when one has nothing nice to say is, as always, best; I know how hard it is to make a film and how devastating negative reaction can be, especially to an emerging artist.

Now, let's hope I can get into some screenings.....