|
| Indie Film >> Things to Do (a film by Theodore Bezaire) |
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
What was the draw to get into filmmaking? Ted: I like the act of creating something from nothing. You start off with blank pages and somewhere down the line you end up with a 90 minute film. You gather crew, you bring in actors, and then you create this world together, it’s really fun. How did you begin? Short films, just messing around? Ted: When I was younger, my cousin and I would make these little stop motion animation shorts with a vhs camcorder, they would be really bad, but we had a lot of fun. I really started to take filmmaking seriously when I was in High School. I was a founding member of our film club and every year we would make short films and screen them in the gym. |
|||||
 L-R: Theodore(director/writer), Gerry(producer), Mike(actor/writer) |
Focusing on Things to Do, who else is involved in this project? Ted: Mike Stasko is the co-writer along with myself and also the lead actor. He and I have known each other since High School. We also went to the same University and the same Post-Grad program at Sheridan College, so we’ve been making films together for a while. Gerry Lattmann is the producer of the film and we met him while attending Sheridan. He produced the films that I directed after Sheridan like “The Putting Edge” for YTV and “Pria” for the CBC. Beyond us we had a fantastic crew that worked on the film who really gave it their all. We didn’t have much money to pay them but they still came out and did a wonderful job. Tell me about the film being a selection in the Stockholm International Film Festival! Ted: That one is coming up in the fall and we are really excited about it. It’s always interesting to see how different audiences react to the film. |
||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
Anything go easier than you thought it was going to? Ted: We wanted to shoot the film in Windsor ON, for a few reasons. Windsor suits our story well, and we could find all the locations we needed there. Secondly, Windsor is hometown to both Mike and I, so we have a lot of friends and family there to help out. We knew that shooting in Windsor would be little bit easier than Toronto, just because it doesn’t really happen there that often, but the support we received was phenomenal. Everyone in Windsor was so helpful and willing to assist with almost anything. It was really a great place to shoot. What goals did you have for the film while you were creating it? Ted: I had a few different goals in mind while making the film. The idea of making a feature film came to us on the set of our short film “Pria”. Gerry and I would have discussions about the size of the crew, and the equipment needs, and we came to the conclusion that we could handle a feature after working on “Pria”. We took the attitude that it was like shooting a short, times five. So we made a deal with ourselves that we would be shooting a feature film by the following summer no matter what, and we made it happen. We just wanted to be making feature films so we thought that if that’s where we want to be, then we have to make one. The goal was to have a finished feature film and try to get it into festivals to gain exposure as filmmakers. Worst case scenario we would have a calling card film to show people, and hopefully use as a stepping-stone to other projects. Artistically I wanted to show a time of life that I think a lot of people experience. When I would go back to Windsor to visit my parents I would also meet up with old friends, and more times than not they were unhappy with their jobs, where they were in life, etc. I wanted to capture that transitional phase into “the real world” but do it in a humourous way. Have your goals changed any since the film has been completed? Ted: Not too much. The main goal right now is to get the film out there and be seen by as many people as possible. With a smaller film like ours, sometimes it’s hard to reach that audience but we are trying, and I think we have been somewhat successful. Are you happy with how the screening in Toronto went? Ted: I don’t think I could have asked for a better experience at the Toronto screening. We nearly sold out the 800 seat Bloor Cinema, which kind of blew us away. It was really cool to see a huge line up of people go down Bloor St, then round the corner and down Bathurst. From the laughs during the screening I think the crowd really enjoyed it. It’s always nice when the audience connects with your film; it makes you feel like you’re doing something right. |
|||||
|
|||||
