Inside:

Distribution on the edge:

Canadian cinema carves an ‘erotic weirdness’ niche – p. B3

Canadian screenwriting:

‘A low-percentage proposition’ – p. B4

Shorts getting longer shrift:

Garnering more slots and more money – p. B20

Film diaries:

Production chronicles from conception to completion – begin p. B7

Features:

The Hanging Garden – p. B7

Shopping for Fangs – p. B11

Gerrie & Louise – p. B14

Pitch – p. B17

Hayseed – p. B19

Shorts:

Guy Maddin: Waiting for Twilight – p. B22

Permission – p. B24

Linear Dreams – p. B26

Director/writer: Noam Gonick * Producer: Laura Michalchyshyn * Executive producer: Ritchard Findlay * Diary by: Pamela Swedko

What started as a simple idea to document the making of Guy Maddin’s feature Twilight of the Ice Nymphs turned into a formal ‘making of’ documentary movie and a biographical account of eccentric Winnipeg director Guy Maddin.

With nothing more than a Hi-8 in hand, director Noam Gonick follows his former teacher, recording every detail of his shoot from looking for studio space to the final days of filming, all the while waiting and hoping for the serene Maddin to loose his cool and provide Gonick with the ‘obligatory creative person freak-out scene.’

February 1996: Laura Michalchyshyn and Ritchard Findlay, producer on Twilight of the Ice Nymphs, get together for lunch where Findlay mentions he would love to grab a Hi-8 camera and document the making of Twilight since it is Maddin’s first film in around four years.

‘Because of the interesting methods Guy employs when he works, Ritchard wanted to document the making of the film for the archives,’ says Michalchyshyn. ‘That changed the moment Noam and I sat down and talked about it. Guy Maddin is a much more interesting character than just to do a `making of’ film.’

Familiar with his short films as well as what she refers to as his verve, vision and tenacity, Michalchyshyn proposes the idea to Gonick. Being a former student of Maddin’s, as well as an admirer, Gonick enthusiastically accepts and gets started right away.

March to April 1996: Before there is any money attached to the doc, Maddin begins preproduction on Twilight, going from studio to warehouse in Winnipeg in search of a suitable location to construct 12 lavish outdoor sets. Gonick and his Hi-8 shadow Maddin’s every step while Gonick ponders the structure of his hour-long doc.

Maddin decides on Vulcan Iron Works in downtown Winnipeg as the ideal location.

Meanwhile back in Toronto, Michalchyshyn gets to work on the financial details beginning with Bravo!, which comes on as the first-window exclusive licence for broadcast within three weeks of receiving the proposal.

With Bravo! on board, others soon follow including the Manitoba Arts Council, CFCF 12 Montreal, the National Film Board, scn, Rogers Documentary Top-Up Fund, cifvf, Telefilm Canada and the cpf. They manage to recruit the Cable Production Fund and CanWest Global for a second window.

‘The budget started out at $70,000, grew to $90,000, grew once again to $100,000, and finally closed at around $120,000 or so,’ says Michalchyshyn.

May to December 1996: With most of the funding in place, Michalchyshyn is able to replace Gonick’s handy Hi-8 with a dvc with which he shoots six weeks of load in and set building.

Before Maddin begins principal photography on Twilight, Gonick conducts the first of three key interviews with the Icelandic director.

Maddin shoots for the entire month of July and Gonick is there documenting the shoot in its entirety, along the way interviewing the cast which includes Shelley Duvall, Pascale Bussieres, Alice Krige, R.H. Thomson and Frank Gorshin.

‘I was the first person to interview Frank Gorshin, Batman’s original Riddler, when he got to Winnipeg. I didn’t know but apparently he never talks about Batman and I wasn’t supposed to ask him about it,’ explains Gonick, who was about to get the high-strung drama he was looking for (only from the wrong person). ‘I asked him, `If Guy Maddin was a Batman super villain what would his characteristics be?’ He said, `Captain Imagination.’ Then I prodded even further and asked, `What would Captain Imagination’s powers be?’ He just flipped out.’

Finally, one day towards the end of the shoot, while the ostriches are misbehaving and chaos looms over the set, Maddin comes close to losing his cool, turns to Gonick’s camera and says, ‘Close the mausoleum lid over me. I have had enough. I am not making movies anymore.’ Not quite the Francis Ford Coppola temper tantrum he was hoping for, but probably the most drama he is going to get from Maddin, who Gonick says is ‘cool as a cucumber.’

Gonick continues with the interviews after the shoot is done, speaking to everyone from Maddin’s mother to past collaborators.

January to April 1997: Nine weeks of post begin with funding from the Manitoba Arts Council for a second time, the Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund and Telefilm Canada. Bruce Little handles the edit on an Avid at Mid Canada Video Services in Winnipeg.

In March, Gonick and Michalchyshyn jet off to California to meet with and record the voice of singer/songwriter and Maddin fan Tom Waits who will narrate the film.

‘Waits was cast in Maddin’s feature but because of family issues he couldn’t make it to Winnipeg, but he told Richard to let him know if there was anything else he could do,’ says Michalchyshyn.

May to August 1997: Robin Len of TOPIX Computer Graphics and Animation in Toronto adds in the digital effects and animation for the titles and opening making the film ready for its first industry screening in early June.

In August, Manitoba Film and Sound Development comes in with money for marketing and publicity.

Mid-August 1997: Gonick travels to Toronto where he will transfer his film, which was posted on digital Betacam, to 16mm, ‘the last hurdle we have to jump.’

September 1997: Guy Maddin: Waiting For Twilight screens at the Toronto International Film Festival.