A year and a half later and We’re All Gonna Die Season 2 has officially launched on CraveTV. Being a part of a team and reflecting on all the work that went into the final product are some of my favourite and most rewarding parts of this job. The fact that I get to MAKE FILMS… for a living? Is a privilege and honour that never fails to awe and inspire me.
I had the pleasure of joining the team behind the film THE BOY IN THE WOODS this year with editor Robert Swartz, CCE.
We are SO thrilled and delighted and grateful to the Canadian Academy for honouring WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE (EVEN JAY BARUCHEL) with four Screen Awards:
A put-upon worker snaps out of her passive path thanks to a chance encounter with a charismatic busker…
Last night I had the privilege through The Hollywood Reporter to watch a screener of PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, written and directed by Emerald Fennell and starring one of my favourite actresses, Carry Mulligan. THIS IS A MUST WATCH. I can’t say this enough. Emerald is a force to be reckoned with and wrote such a raw, real and immediate story that I think 99% of women identifying people can relate to. Also Mulligan is so grounded, calm and just such a force onscreen.
What a way to end the Hot Docs Filmmakers Series with Brett Story. Linda Barnard, as majestic as always, led the discussion on our final week together. Director of LAND OF DESTINY and A PRISON IN 12 LANDSCAPES. Brett Story. Where do I begin? Brett proves that hard work, determination, and willpower are enough to produce the awe-inspiring and lyrical documentaries that she has been able to create in such a short period of time.
Hot Docs, you are spoiling me WAY too much. Patricia Rozema - Alethea Arnaquq-Baril - Christina Jennings - and now Rama Rau!
Rama directed THE REHTEAH PARSONS STORY, MARKET, and most recently LEAGUE OF EXOTIQUE DANCERS.
Hearing her talk was electrifying. She was honest, decisive, and human like the rest of us struggling filmmakers.
"You get as much as you put into a film" - she said.
I'd never thought of it that way, but it makes total sense. As a filmmaker you have to find a balance between keeping distance from your story and also being passionate about it.
My favourite thing Rama said is that their is "no manual." And THAT'S something they don't teach you in film school. Each story demands a different kind of treatment.
What's her secret? Rama admitted that they way she is able to get so close with her subjects and foster a trusting relationship is by giving half herself. This is the part where she mixes her passion and distance together. She said, "it isn't about money. It's just what I am genuinely interested in doing."
Then she laughed and said to all us filmmakers in the audience, "honestly if you can do something else, do it..."
How does she connect with a story? This part was my favourite. She said, "the story puts a hook in me and pulls me. I want to do this for the audience."
She really emphasizes this back and forth energy that is transferring between her and the subjects and then her and the audience. It was never about "me". It was always WE.
Part of making a successful film is making the themes universal. You have to first ask yourself, is there one specific thing in my story that I can make speak to people?
Finally, the honesty came out. She talked about being a women, being brown, and being a director. Her first look into the film industry was being on Bollywood sets in Mumbai. She said you really have to act like a man to be respected (unfortunately). Coming to Canada, though, afforded her the opportunity to tell the kind of stories she was longing for: those with female protagonists.
"You learn failure."
That is one lesson I will carry with me moving forward in my own career. Thank you again Hot Docs for bringing this inspiring bad ass woman to the theatre for a talk.
If I had known about Patricia, Alethea, Christina, or Rama growing up, I think I would have jumped at being a filmmaker much quicker. Four amazing role models, successful in their own way.
Looking forward to all of their amazing next projects!
- Jenn
I've Heard The Mermaids Singing Trailer 1987 Director: Patricia Rozema Starring: Paula Baillargeon, Sheila McCarthy, Paule Baillargeon, Ann-Marie MacDonald, John Evans, Brenda Kamino Official Content From New Line Home Entertainment Award-winning tale of an amateur female photographer who gets hired by a lesbian gallery owner.
A friend of mine pointed me in the direction to a new and amazing filmmakers series at Hot Docs. She was most excited to see Patricia Rozema, and I instantly signed up - feeling her excitement and mine grow! The series is moderated by Linda Barnard, a journalist / writer who previously championed another series focusing on gender.
Meeting and hearing Patricia Rozema was like eating a perfectly cooked Creme Brulee. Everything she said was liquid gold. She was eloquent, spicy, and just a bit fantastic.
Patricia shared her philosophies as a director and I was so inspired by her wisdom:
"art defines the human condition. So far, we have only defined the male condition"
"there has to be intent behind the images"
"I want to make people feel less alone. That's what drives me"
In discussing I'VE HEARD THE MERMAIDS SINGING, Linda asked Patricia how she came to write about the main character as she was so real and relatable. Was this person real and drawn from her own experiences?
Patricia answered that "character is story. If you know them, you know what they will do." This is how she wrote about Polly. "I knew she was out of fashion, and took the street car and liked film." BUT Patricia didn't want the film to be too self-reflexive (a film about a filmmaker making film) - so Polly became a photographer, and had Walter-Mitty-esque experiences through developing the negatives of the each photo.
One of the most compelling aspects of a Rozema film is the music. The dynamism in INTO THE FOREST coupled with the growing anxiety and Eva's dance practice to a metronome creates a sensual and gripping experience for the audience.
"people underestimate how powerful music is"
"it is important to find the right level of vibration with your composer"
"music is the art at which all other arts aspire"
SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/A24subscribe Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood fight for survival in a post-apocalyptic world. Watch the new trailer for Into The Forest, from acclaimed writer/director Patricia Rozema. In Theaters This Summer.
Patricia shared insightful tips about story and arc. She said, "fiction is always examining morality." There is a tension and release - which she believes is the key principle of beauty. The tightness and expansiveness of breath. Finally, the choices the characters make are always moral
To find the heart of the story, you have to understand the push and pull in the universe. There is art even in the things that are not seen.
Patricia concluded with a wonderful thought, that the best images are the ones that are written. Coming from such a talented scriptwriter and director, I was truly inspired by this amazing Canadian filmmaker! Until the next series...
- Jenn
Two weekends ago I had the privilege to spend the day with a small group of editors and Ricardo Acosta. Ricardo Acosta was born in Cuba and moved to Canada to pursue his passions for storytelling and art.
"I was born into an ideology and punished by an ideology" - Ricardo
He is one of the few who are born with the gift of storytelling. He shared detailed philosophies with us and screened his feature length documentary, Marmato.
One of my favourite directors coming out of undergrad was Jia Jhang-Ke. Having watched and written about The World (2000), I was fascinated by his ability to capture human emotion by isolating characters in digitally and architecturally distinct spaces.
When I looked at the programming this year for the TIFF 2015, I was flabbergasted when I saw his name appear. I wooped for joy. Loudly.
Jia Jhang-Ke and Cameron Bailey at TIFF 2015, Glenn Gould Studio, CBC, Toronto.
Jia was mesmerizing. Cameron Bailey was present to stir the conversation forward. Jia was calm, collected, and intelligent. He started by talking about his time in film school. China was changing socially, and people where struggling to understand themselves in this unsure environment. What really caught his attention is that people were NOT making films that reflected this movement.
Inspired by Hou Hao Hien (Chungking Express) and Vittorio Di Sica (Bicycle Thieves), Jia set out to capture a sense of beauty in realism. He described The Bicycle Thieves as
"[a film whose] visual moments are moving. [Moments we find] in every day life. [They are] both real and poetic." - Jia Jhang-Ke
They then discussed one of the major themes that runs through most of his films: alienation. Jia says that "loneliness is a big part of human nature." The Chinese culture before the social movement was group based. The shift to the individual is a strange moment. The struggle of the individual to create one's own self. The search for the self is often a lonely process.
This theme is captured in a very auteuristic style, if you will, one that we can see building over time in Jia's canon of films. Using mostly long takes, a certain sense of romanticism, and adding in fantasy / sci-fi elements to the story. With the advance of technology, devices are introduced into the narrative as a way to break up the plot. There is something futuristic about his films, poignantly heightened in The World. Not only do devices play a role in the internal plot, but also with the external world of the director. The advance of digital technology, Jia mentioned, is that he is able to achieve the look he wants with new equipment. The long take becomes economically viable.
The World (2004)
The World (2004)
Both the cinematographer, Nelson Lik-wai Yu, and Jia share the same desire to find beauty in everyday life. Having made every film together since 1998 and carrying this aesthetic forward.
Jia ended the conversation by saying that he and others have "responsibility as film artists." His focus is portraying change in people over time.
This is one experience that shall stay with me throughout life. Having heard him speak and being a long standing fan of his work, Jia's eye and directing sensibility stand top notch for me.
- Jenn
follow atshutterspeed here
