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| Carole Pope flanked by Canada's first legal gay couple Ian Taylor and George Olds as Toronto Sun photos |
I'm always the procrastinator. The two entries
TPE put forward to be in the York Region Film and Media Festival, now called the
Playr Video Festival
I believe, and which has movie house locations set up at various
locales across Y.R. for the duration of the festival at which you can
attend for free, are not my most recent but they deserved a release
despite their owners tardiness. so Wed May 13 at Richmond Hill's Rainbow Cinema on Yonge St, they get their due.
That's right...
free! I was surprised when I heard that, but it
makes good sense to try and get people in the seats for a newish
festival still finding it's place, but this keeps the Y.R. version
rather unique. It's not so rulesy as some and has enough categories to
keep things interesting, from emerging to pro.
The first was a short drama called
Shoots, Scores that has
little to do with hockey, and more to do with youth and relationships
and mental health with a fateful twist left to the imagination that acts
as a turning point.
It was originally shot as part of
The Quest for Youth organized yearly by the
Y.R.D.S.B.
and I'd been asked to write a piece for it which was themed " Mental
health, coming out of the shadows", thus you see shadows imagery
throughout.
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| Tom Pearson |
Because it was originally shot to jump to live from live stage action to
music to live art, I probably should have reworked the transitions or
voice-overed a poem left out that was part of the original mix, but in
the end it is what it is and stands alone as a short film. It still
gives a message in its own unique way, leaving the ending and
"interpretation' of what you see, up to the viewer.
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| TP asked everyday people their thoughts on the issue |
My Actors had no experience - some with special needs - and I had to
act as Camera Operator, Lighting, Director and Actor during it, as well
as try and get an inexperienced but eager Editor to go faster...trying
desperately to duplicate what I wanted with limited software and a sick wife..Even the
music, if you want to call it that, I created on my keyboard at home.
Ha..In the end it's a great job by the cast though, with my hope that in
the end there could be seen no difference between kids. I think it
works that way. At the end of the day its a short with some disturbing
intimations that make the viewer think...and that's all I wanted to do
with as
Jason Baulch and
Mark Cardinelli's performances in
particular an added bonus in my eyes. Creepy Guy played by
Keith
Campbell was also worth an honourable mention.
Here's some Clips.
A Thin Pink Line
I decide to enter
A Thin Pink Line because I was once
hired to produce the world's first same sex wedding show held in 1995
at Metro Toronto Convention Centre, when it was just becoming legal. Now
in its 10th anniversary year of becoming legal across Canada, coupled with
the
USA political landscape towards similar sentiment I believe it very fitting, as
A Thin Pink Line
was a behind the scenes snapshot of that time period including flying
in couples from places where banned to marry legally. One contest
winning couple came to marry here from Nebraska where same sex marriage
is still outlawed today. The couples appeared in the media and in tv
shows drawing attention to the issue and
TPE saw fit to capture it all and use a shadow documentary crew to follow me around.
As soon as I'd heard one well known tux and wedding apparel rental
chain bowed out because they'd heard of others getting death threats
for renting to a gay wedding, I knew this was worth documenting. At
that point it became
personal. These people were corporate bullies and treating people with
disrespect. It was then that I realized this was a human right.
Even I myself had been on the fence admittedly at the time about the
issue of same sex marriage, or, rather, didn't really care until then, as
were many. Hell, our spokesperson and one of the performers for the
event,
Carole Pope,
didn't even believe in the institution of marriage! Even certain media
channels were reluctant to take our wedding show ads or call back.
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| Carole Pope flanked by Canada's first legal gay couple |
From protesters at
Queens Park, to people on the street, we
interviewed and asked opinions, with not all being favourable and some
outlandish remarks uttered and captured by our crew, " These
people have a sexual disorder", and on..So obviously at some point my
Filmmaker mind kicked in and said - Hey I can produce this live show
and
capture the story too!" And so that's what we did. This 10 minute
short is but a miniscule portion of the feature length version which you
can look forward to a a release from sometime in the future.
It also features killer music by then supporters of the cause and a fave of mine,
Sean Stephens and the Chaos System. I still love their music.
Here's the
latest morph of their
Ride My Bike a song also in
A Thin Pink Line, featuring some clips from the same sex show.
Are they the best I can do? Not yet, but the best stories. And I've worked much bigger budgets for films like
Hansel & Gretel with
Taylor Mumsen and
Howie Mandel or
Miracle Dogs with
Kate Jackson, Ted Shackleford, Stacy Keach, Wayne Rogers and Betty White
in the
Retrievers etc. But it's not always about the Film or even the Actors, it's
the subject matter, and sometimes the subjects aren't pretty, but that
doesn't make the messages any less important.
Shoots Scores teaches we've come a long ways in identifying mental
health as a disease and that circumstances can lead to disaster when coupled with it and for recognizing the rights and treatment of victims
and sufferers.
A Thin Pink Line reminds there was a fight for the
rights for transgenders, gays and lesbians and all people to marry and of the importance that such films be made.
Lest ye forget. A Thin Pink Line.
Congratulations TPE! - May 28 at Newmarket Theatre 7pm is the awards gala for the festival with TP getting a nomination for an award which will be followed by an after party at Main St. Tequila 185. Tickets are available through TixHub
Just prior to being announced as winner, the Host MC, Emmy Award winner, Joanne Vannicola,
began mentioning of seeing my film for the first time, and that it was
surreal to see her younger self onscreen, denouncing those protesting
against the legalization of same sex marriage at Queen's Park. Her voice
had sounded so familiar to me and now I knew why! She's in my film! Ha.
