steps down

Helga Stephenson joined the Toronto International Film Festival in 1978 as a volunteer fundraiser and helped out occasionally with mob control. In 1987, Stephenson was named executive director of the Festival. Three years later, she also became head of the newly-adopted sister operation, Cinematheque Ontario.

Stephenson has worked extensively in communications for the arts in Canada since the early ’70s. Under her guidance, the Festival has grown extensively in both size and international recognition. Stephenson is stepping down as of March 31 in order to spend time with her young daughter, Rachel. She will remain on the board of directors for the Festival.

In the following interview, Stephenson talked with Playback about the Festival as she prepared to turn the reins over to the Festival’s artistic director, Piers Handling.

Playback: Are you planning on attending this year’s Festival?

Stephenson: (laughs) Of course I’m going to the Festival! What else do you do in September?

Playback: What will this change mean for Piers?

Stephenson: I think that Piers will expand his awesome powers. He’s an extraordinary manager with a cool, analytical mind. Of course, he’ll stay involved in the programming because he’s the best in the world at that.

Playback: How has the Festival changed since your arrival 16 years ago?

Stephenson: The vision never has changed. I guess you have to credit founders Bill Marshall and Dusty Cohl, because they had a very strong programming mandate. The Festival’s acceptance and recognition has grown, but almost from the days the Festival opened its doors it was certainly one of the finest in North America and in the world.

Playback: Since you took over as executive director in 1987, you have brought the Festival to a wider audience through promotion and through such public access programs as outdoor screenings.

Stephenson: What I did was to communicate the excitement of the Festival to a wider group. One of the frustrations in the early days was knowing that you had a truly superb festival in a nice city that loves movies, and it was going to take awhile for the recognition to happen.

Playback: You have been the single dominant public figure of the festival – has the threat that your departure might reduce public awareness been anticipated?

Stephenson: The Festival is bigger than anybody who’s here. Also, people bring different talents to the organization at different times of its development. I remember when people were saying, ‘Who is ever going to fill Wayne Clarkson’s big cowboy boots?’ Now it’s, ‘Who’s going to jump into my ruby slippers?’

Playback: Let’s talk about the early days.

Stephenson: When I started in ’78, the Festival was a client of my public relations company sro and I was a volunteer. It was the great In Praise of Older Women year, when I got slugged at the door at the Elgin.

Playback: What happened?

Stephenson: Because the censor board had put the clamps on the movie, people who weren’t interested in the film were all of a sudden interested. They all decided to come that night at that moment. I was doing guard duty at the front of the theater when it happened. I took a gang of them to the Silver Rail for a drink because it seemed to be the only appropriate thing to do.

Playback: What are some highlights?

Stephenson: …to see the birth of the Ontario generation of filmmakers and to be a part of their career paths in terms of promoting them in Perspective Canada. I would have to say that the most rewarding part of the Festival has been Perspective Canada.

Also, it’s great to see all the energy (of this organization) spinning creativity for the art of film. You know, to get the art of film recognized as an integral part of culture in English Canada has been a long, long – I would even say struggle. I remember, in the early ’80s, the provincial Ministry of Culture tried to throw us out because we weren’t considered ‘culture.’ So to go from that kind of attitude to their support of not only the Festival but also of the Cinematheque has been wonderful. Hopefully, it’s the beginning of an organization that will become to film what the art gallery is to art.

Playback: A lot of people got their start in film at the Festival. It’s not a part of the public component, but it is an important role.

Stephenson: People work for the festival and they get the bug. They can begin to know the industry and to figure out a role in it. A lot of people have gone on from here to careers in film – even apart from filmmakers and writers – there are publicists, independent producers, production managers. These are people who really wanted to fall in love with the art of film and want to make a contribution to it.

Playback: Let’s talk about your influence as a programmer for the Festival.

Stephenson: I think I have a very eclectic cinematic background. I have always found myself the guarder of the gate for the mainstream guy. I loved to take the galas and do something quite mainstream one night and the next night pick something edgy. I think the job of the Festival is to never leave you too safe. Sure, we’ll get you comfortable. But then we start pushing the outer edges of the envelope.

Playback: The Festival has become a powerful venue for American independents.

Stephenson: That was Kay (Armatage). She delved into that stuff years ago. I think the independent scene is far more ambitious, daring and vital than a lot of the studio stuff, but then there’s room for the studio stuff too. And we’ve had fabulous relationships with the studios.

Playback: The sales office was not part of the original mandate, it simply grew out of demand. Can you explain?

Stephenson: It wasn’t anybody’s plan at first, but when Piers and I were at our first Festival (as directors), all the buyers, all the sellers and then all the directors were running in the directors office. They were driving us crazy, and I said, ‘We need a service for these people, a dating system.’ It was clear that they wanted to do a lot of business. The next year we invented the sales office. It’s meant a big, big difference. The buyers are interested in Canadian film because they love the flavor of it, they love the price and they’re very willing to come in on a script basis as coproducers for the next project.

Playback: Beyond bedtime stories and alphabet blocks, do you have any plans for the future you want to talk about?

Stephenson: Well, I am on the board of the Festival. Also (with its present home up for sale), we have a short-term problem of where we are going to move and I’m going to help. Long-term, we need to find a permanent home. There are some projects forming around the city for a high-technology communications center that could potentially include a movie palace and be a home for us. I would like to represent this organization, to see its interests are protected if this project goes.

This move for me is because I want to take a break from the 18-hour days for my family. That’s all.