Jonathan Penton: I'd like to hear more about festivals.
Matt Hoos: I can really only speak to Toronto. Brad has some more experience with the biggies (Cannes, Berlin, Venice...) though. I can yell at him.
Mark Lewis: Mannheim-Heidelberg - they really pamper the directors. It's for emerging directors who don't get into Cannes, Berlin or Venice. Toronto was good. Slamdance a bit of a joke - great to be in Park City but no one gives a shit about it. but it has a great name to put on your resume (and DVD cover).
MH: Has anyone ever been to the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival? It seems to be a huge launch pad for comedy films the past couple of years.
Gabriel Ricard: One festival that's really good is TromaDance. They don't charge to enter your film, they don't charge admission.
MH: Interesting, I've never known what to make of any of the 'Dances.
ML: Where is TromaDance?
GR: All over. The major one is near the actual Sundance festival.
MH: Brad on festivals: "They're all insane and do nothing for your films. However, the markets are excellent if you're a sales agent."
ML: This is true. They can also help the cash flow for your next project.
MH: Obviously if you can get a first feature into competition at Cannes you can write your own ticket though. That's as close to money in the bank as there is. I've heard recently that Sundance is getting too big to have any impact on the market though, thoughts?
ML: Depends on the film but a lot get left without.
GR: I would agree with that. I mean, when you're devoting more ink to who Paris Hilton was blowing in the alley behind the eighty dollar a plate sushi restaurant, instead of a film that might actually make an impact, you're pretty much fucked.
MH: Exactly. Robert Redford's coming to speak in town, he should take notes – the Toronto Festival may be a lot of things, but it's managed to stay influential somehow.
ML: Toronto does very little for Canadian films.
MH: I'd say the difference is that it's harder for Canadian films to stand out due to the volume. I've known some that have been extremely helped by Toronto (such as Amnon Buchbinder's Whole New Thing this year).
ML: Toronto also often steals hits from European festivals and sets them up for an American sale. Not a lot of chances taken - Sundance takes more chances I think.
MH: Some truth in that, Mark. Re-shuffling their programming streams this year helped some - there's great Asian and African films that you'd never have seen five years ago (or at any other festival).
ML: True. It's also true that the volume of Canadian films is an issue. Also, Canadian films simply are not attractive for American distributors.
MH: Let's be blunt. Indie films are not attractive for American distributors. Unless "indie" means Miramax, and I don't think it does.
ML: Good point. You need star power.
GR: Well, it seems like there's more of an effort by American distributors to use the indie films, because the mainstream stuff has been doing so poorly in recent years.
MH: Name one truly "indie" film (i.e.: no/ studio money) that has been released on more than 100 screens in the US in the last five years? Napoleon Dynamite... uh... Linklater's stuff... March of the Penguins.
ML: March of the Penguins had mucho French money.
GR: I guess I meant the TV and DVD market more than anything.
JP: I saw a John Sayles interview. He was described as an indie director and asked what that meant. He said "As far as I can tell, it means you make a film for under $5M."
ML: I like that analysis.
GR: Pretty much.
MH: However an American "under 5M movie" often includes 15M marketing, which I'd call a 20M movie. But that's just me.
JP: And in Sayles' case, it means Hollywood actors. Still, there's enormous buzz about the concept of "indie" in the American film media. Is it strictly for show?
ML: If you go to any market the arthouse sales companies will tell you that you need a star. End of.
MH: Absolutely. I mentioned El Mariachi the breakout "indie" film from the 90s. No one ever talks about how it had over 12M put into it to make it screenable. They just talk about the "$20,000 film that made it".
GR: You can talk about money all you want, but with indie films, someone still has to work like a son of a bitch to get to that point.
MH: Of course, isn't that what we're all doing? If we had any sense we'd be selling shoes, or working for Starbucks or something. I'd be making more per hour, that's for sure.
JP: Back to festivals. What's the average festival day like for a filmmaker?
MH: I've never been anywhere in support of one of my films (except, sort of, Days at the Rue Morgue Festival of Fear in 2004) so it's mostly get up - see movies - meet with people - go to parties - sleep. Rinse. Repeat.
GR: Rue Morgue? The magazine?
MH: Yup. They hold a yearly film fest in Toronto in August. We were "guests" with George Romero, Tom Savini, and the guy who played Chewbacca. Very elite.
ML: Festivals. Very exhausting. Fun. Late nights. Free drinks (if you're lucky). Screening and good reviews are heaven. Bad reviews are hell. Ebb and flow the entire time.
MH: I've found that it's tough to quantify a festivals "success" until several months after it's over. You meet so many people full of so much shit that you need to see if anything concrete comes from the meetings you take, and the things you see... and hopefully you get a chance to get inspired by some good films.
ML: It's like touring with a band - it takes more than one gig.
GR: Actually, before we wrap this up, I'd be curious to hear inspirations. The guys who made us want to work in this business.
MH: I think I'm a total dick if I say "Spielberg"?
GR: Heh.
MH: I was young. I didn't know better.
ML: My main inspiration are the many films that help me find meaning to it all. Along with any other work of art. blah, blah, blah.
JP: please continue, Mark.
ML: Oh, geez.
MH: What inspires me now is - knowing the balls and tenacity that any film requires - when you see any film on screen that's truly inspired by the passion of the process. Not the marketing department of Universal.
GR: Hell yeah.
MH: Even if I don't like it, I can still respect it.
ML: I agree.
MH: At our heart I think all creative people are storytellers. So as long as more people watch than it takes to make it, we've pretty much got to keep doing what we're doing.
ML: But films do have the ability to inspire. It's a long haul without a reason to trudge along.
An honors graduate of the Vancouver Film School, Matt Hoos is particularly proud of his theatre productions including The Cripple of Inishmaan at the Belfry Theatre in Victoria and Arts Club Theatre in Vancouver, Dead Serious at Calgary's Pleiades theatre, and the Evergreen Theatre Societies' award-winning Everything Under the Sun. Matt was also an ensemble cast member of Calgary's Shadow Productions for four seasons, and Crazy like Jesus, the 1999 British Columbia Improv Champions. Head of Production for Rocket Ace Moving Pictures, Matt directed the 48-episode Internet zombie serial Dead End Days, the sketch comedy act The Imponderables, and Cerealized.
Mark A. Lewis is a filmmaker living in British Columbia. Ill Fated, his first feature film, played at Toronto, Slamdance, Shanghai, Mannheim-Heidelberg, Vancouver, Mumbai and Durango. At Durango Mark received the prestigious Filmmaker’s Award. Mark was awarded top honors in Directing and Screenwriting (with co-writer John Callander) at the 2005 Leo Awards. In 2005, Ill Fated was distributed theatrically to five cities across Canada and saw a wide release on DVD.
Mark's last project, CBC’s A Match Made in Seven (dir. Ilan Saragosti), which he edited and co-wrote, received awards at the Temecula Valley International Film Festival and the Columbus International Film Festival.
When he’s not watching horror, or anime, or films in general, Gabriel Ricard is writing, which he tends to consider his profession of choice. He writes short fiction, poetry, stage plays, screenplays, novels, book and film reviews, creative non-fiction, and interviews. He has been published in numerous magazines, and has seen one play produced in numerous venues. This same play is currently being adapted into a short film, which might or might not begin production in 2006. He lives in Waverly, Virginia, which is a rather long way from his birthplace of Canmore, Alberta.