Director/writer/coproducer: Jeremy Podeswa

* Producer: Camelia Frieberg * Cameraman: Gregory Middleton * Diary by: Pamela Swedko

The Five Senses, written, coproduced and directed by Jeremy Podeswa, originally began as a script about people meeting their soul mates in unexpected circumstances and was inspired by producer Camelia Frieberg’s romantic first encounter with her husband.

As the writing evolved, the script became less about Frieberg’s story and more about different kinds of love, and rather than focusing on fate, was more about creating one’s own destiny and connecting to the world through the five senses.

The film that will appear on the big screen on the opening night of Perspective Canada came a long way from its original inspiration, according to Podeswa, and ultimately is the story of five people, each with a highly attuned sense.

Five Senses takes place over a three-day period following a child’s disappearance from a park across the street from the building where all the characters work or live.

Fall 1996: On a road trip to l.a. from the Vancouver International Film Festival, where his previous film Eclipse unspooled, Podeswa and friend Camelia Frieberg, stop to see an old friend of Frieberg’s and she meets the love of her life. The seed is planted for Podeswa’s next film, The Five Senses, which Frieberg will ultimately produce.

Winter 1996: The Five Senses is the first Canadian screenplay ever accepted to the Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab. Following an intense week of meetings and discussions, which the director says had an enormous impact on the script, the story evolves. Podeswa returns to Toronto for some intensive writing and soon receives a Canada Council writing grant.

Podeswa is invited to take his Five Senses script to Rotterdam’s Cinemart and to the New York Independent Feature Film Market No Borders Program.

Early 1997: Alliance Communications and Telefilm Canada come on board with development money. More money follows from TMN-The Movie Network, the Harold Greenberg Fund, cbc and fund.

Podeswa spends the majority of the year pounding on a keyboard, creating his story.

‘There was a lot of script revision,’ recalls associate producer Shimmy Brandes, ‘It was very important for Jeremy that he had reached the ultimate story and the ultimate script. We had actra workshops with the script and he worked with script editor Daniel MacIvor for about a year.’

Winter 1998: A very long casting process gets underway. Podeswa spends Christmas and New Year’s in Europe searching for the faces of his French and Italian characters.

Before meeting with casting agents in Rome and Paris, Podeswa does his research and compiles a list of actors he would like to see. He knows exactly what he’s looking for, but doesn’t see it on first glance in either city.

After auditioning many Italians for the role of Roberto, he chooses Marco Leonardi (Cinema Paradiso), who, ironically, he doesn’t actually see in Italy since the actor is now living in l.a. Roberto is an Italian who travels to Canada intent on winning the heart of Rona, whom met while she was vacationing in Italy.

In Paris, he casts Philippe Volter (The Double Role of Veronique) in the role of Richard, a middle-aged French eye doctor who finds out he is going deaf and attempts to build a sound library in his mind. ‘Philippe was not on my original list,’ says Podeswa. ‘The casting agent in Paris brought in a lot of actors, but I just wanted to make sure I was really thorough and saw everyone. I stopped on a photo of Philippe and said, ‘Who is this guy and why haven’t I seen him?’ ‘

Summer 1998: Canadian casting begins. Daniel MacIvor, the film’s story editor, is first on board as Robert, a house cleaner with a keen sense of smell.

Rounding out the cast is Molly Parker as Anna Miller, mother of the missing child; Gabrielle Rose as Ruth, a widowed massage therapist whose daughter Rachel (Nadia Litz) is inadvertently responsible for the girl’s disappearance; and Mary-Louise Parker as Rona, an independent cake decorator.

The script continues to evolve. ‘As we were going through casting, some things became clear. There was an actress we didn’t end up casting, [and] since I couldn’t use her, I rewrote the part; it was just one of those things where I couldn’t imagine another actress playing that role…it just wouldn’t work,’ says Podeswa.

Nov. 4, 1998: A ‘hellish’ 25-day shoot begins with plenty of long days and heavily dressed locations.

Dec. 7, 1998: Shooting wraps and an intense post-production phase commences. The goal: to meet the deadline for the Cannes Film Festival.

May 17, 1999: The Five Senses debuts at Cannes and receives a standing ovation.

‘I have been to Cannes four times with films and it was probably the most thunderous applause I have ever witnessed in all my years,’ says Frieberg.

September 1999: The Five Senses makes its North American debut as the opening night film of the Perspective Canada program at tiff. Odeon Films is distributing domestically and Alliance Atlantis has international rights.