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Birthday Girl will be playing at the Festival du Nouveau Cinema in Montreal. The film will be screening with previous winners of SODEC’s Cours Écrire Ton Court competition.

Best part is that the film will be screening at the stunning Imperial theatre on Bleury!

I won’t be back in town for the screening but if you’re in Montreal now’s your chance to see the film on a gorgeous screen.

Date: Wednesday October 15th
Time: 17:30
Location: 1432 Rue de Bleury

If you’re in Edmonton (or have family in Edmonton), Birthday Girl will be playing on the following dates at the Edmonton Intl Film Festival:

Saturday Sept. 27th at 21:30 at Empire City Center 9.
Friday Oct. 3rd at 18:00 at Metro Cinema

So I just got back from the Strasbourg International Film Festival. Birthday Girl was up for best short screenplay! We didn’t win but that’s alright, the nomination was an honour in and of itself.

I had a great time at the fest. I was asked to speak on a panel called Filmmaking as Art. I was introduced as having the most “commercial” film amongst the filmmakers. There was lots of debating but I think in the end we all agreed that we fundamentally believe in a similar principle (despite the differences in our work and filmmaking backgrounds); what differentiates art vs. commerce is not necessarily the amount of money that goes into making something but the intent of those in charge.

Films like The Dark Knight shouldn’t be taken less seriously because it had a large budget. Nolan is a skilled filmmaker with a clear vision and (from what I’ve read) honourable intent. When you pander to the masses, you’re no longer making art, but you can try to reach millions of people by staying true to yourself and it can’t be considered anything else but art.

I got back from the Lucas International Children’s Film Festival last week and had an unbelievable time. What an amazing festival. This was my first children’s film festival so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was blown away by the selection of films and the activities organized for the children. Every day, group discussions took place so that the kids could talk with all the filmmakers present and ask them questions about filmmaking or their particular film.

I never intended Birthday Girl to be geared towards children, but after speaking with some of the programmers I learned that it was one of the reasons why they chose it.

None of the films screened at the festival (at least the ones that I saw) were specifically geared towards children. They all dealt with very mature subject matter. The only similarities were that they happened to feature children in the lead roles. I think it’s amazing that the festival is encouraging kids, even as young as six, to watch relatively mature content. And why not?

Some of the hardest questions I got after my film screened came from the kids. For instance, a young jury member asked me why I would write a scene where a father allows his eight year old daughter to smoke. Kids pick up a lot of details that we take for granted so it was a great experience seeing my film from their perspective and hearing what they had to say about it.

The festival organizes a live German dubbing of each film while the film is screening. I have to admit this takes a little getting used to (watching a film in French, reading English subtitles and listening to a woman speak in German on the loud speaker). Your brain goes on overdrive until it figures out what’s going on.

Overall this worked out well for Birthday Girl. I was glad most of the jokes came through - even the subtle ones - and that the reading was done in the same tone as the actor’s performance.

I’m off to Strasbourg this week for the Strasbourg Intl Film Fest…

I’m working on two scripts simultaneously. One a thriller, the other a light comedy about two women and the adult entertainment industry. I was trying to find some good comedies to watch for inspiration about female friendship/bonding other than the SATC movie (which I found to be an abomination) and it didn’t take long to realise that there’s really not much out there.

And then I remembered Baby Mama. I don’t know what the majority of reviewers thought about this film but I haven’t been so entertained or laughed so hard since watching season 3 of the Office. Unfortunately it just made me realise how starved I am for comedies that appeal to women.

As story goes, it’s simple, conventional and pure Hollywood, but Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are brilliant as two diametrically opposed women living under the same roof.

What makes the film so funny is that it’s incredibly genuine (the conversations, the arguments, what they do etc). When Fey’s character goes on a date, Fey acts like a real woman, not some idealised version of what men want or seem to think women are like on dates. Not only that but she steals the scenes. She’s the funny one, she makes the guy laugh and he’s attracted to her because of it. It’s completely realistic but how often are we treated to a character like that in the movies? Can’t be that often because half the time I wanted to get up and hug my TV screen. It felt like something precious had just returned that I didn’t even know was missing.

Fey didn’t write the script (Michael McCullers did) but one can only assume that she and Poehler brought their female insight to their characters. It’s unfortunate that we don’t see more strong, intelligent, comedic female characters in films. It’s just a goldmine of opportunity not to mention potential profit. Last time I checked women make up fifty percent of the population.

More good news on the Birthday Girl front. Just got word that my short film was accepted at the Edmonton International Film Festival! The film will be screening Oct. 3rd at 7pm so if you’re in or around the area do check it out.

For those of you in Montreal who might be wondering about the Montreal World Film Festival, unfortunately the festival requires a Canadian premiere and since the film premiered in Vancouver the festival would not consider it.

Birthday Girl will have its French premiere at the Strasbourg International Film Festival!

No word yet as to when the film will be screening but as soon as I know I’ll post the info. This is SIFF’s first year running. Looking forward to being a part of it.

I’ve been checking out some photography exhibits over the past couple of months. Whenever I’m looking for inspiration in terms of style and mood for my films I tend to check out photography before I look to other films.

Although camera movement is essential (I took a course in university specifically on the significance of camera movement in film), it’s not the first thing I think about when it comes to aesthetics. When I’m looking for a style that represents the tone I want for my films, photography has always been my reference point.

Here are some photographers that I’ve recently discovered whose work has been hugely inspirational. Unfortunately, the specific photographs that got my attention at the exhibit are nowhere to be found online (or even in books on the collection of their work). I’ve posted some of my other favorites that I was able to find however.

Leonard Freed. Photo journalist who rose to prominence in the 1950’s and 60’s. I love Freed’s composition and sense of energy that he captures in his photographs.

Jewgeni Chaldej (pronounced Yevgeny Khaldei) Red Army photographer.

This is Chaldej’s most famous photograph. I can’t say it inspires me the way some of his other work does, but it’s what launched him to international fame.

Herbert Tobias German/Soviet photographer. Again, I love his framing and use mise en scene. The photographs feel effortless and simple yet structured and although he’s a distant observer you still get a sense of intimacy which I think is quite wonderful.

If you’re in Berlin, the Leonard Freed exhibit is on at C/O Berlin until October 5th and the Herbert Tobias exhibit is on at the Berlinische Galerie until September 1st. Both worth checking out.

Chaldej is no longer at the Gropius Bau but the Rodtschenko exhibit is definitely worth the visit.

A couple of weeks ago I was listening to Stephen Gaghan talk about Syriana, a film which he wrote and directed back in 2006.

The best advice Gaghan got on writing was from reading a biography by Henri Troyat on Tolstoy. Tolstoy famously wrote in his journal that to write a great novel there are four techniques which one has to master. For Tolstoy, the most important thing to master was not story, but rather, transitions.

How and when to start and end a scene. In film, transitions are everything. They keep a film moving and the audience interested. Transitions don’t just come into play in the editing room though. As Michael Brandt points out in a recent interview for Wanted, mastering the technique of transitions is what elevated him from amateur to professional screenwriter.

Here are Tolstoy’s four techniques (which according to him must be mastered in this particular order).

1. Transitions
2. Context
3. Character
4. Story

As Gaghan points out, following these four steps strips away formula and allows you to stay in the inspired brain (vs. the editorial brain).

For those interested, you can listen to the full interview with Gaghan here.