Following on the critical success of their first features, Vancouver filmmakers Carl Bessai (johnny), James Dunnison (Stuff) and Reg Harkema (A Girl is a Girl), begin production May 15 on a trilogy of experimental low-budget digital films called Bang!.

In the vein of dogma films, the three projects are following a strict set of rules. However, Bessai (whose feature johnny was the first Canadian film to be shot in the Dogme 95 style) describes the restrictions devised by the three filmmakers as being far more creative in nature than the technical rules usually ascribed to Dogme films.

The rules include: no script, only three characters, no continuity, no locked-off locations, and the director shoots and edits his own film.

In what the filmmakers are dubbing ‘cinema verite with actors’ there will be no written scripts and no rehearsals. Instead, each filmmaker has chosen a theme for his film and a created a central character. Each director will then work with the three actors to explore his chosen theme and shoot the process of working out the storyline.

‘We are using the camera like a pen,’ says Bessai, explaining that each director will then edit his own film, with the narrative formed in the editing room, as opposed to on the page.

Bessai’s film revolves around love addiction, with Katrin Bowen cast as his central character, Mia, a woman who lacks self-esteem and acquires relationships like some acquire merchandise. Dunnison has cast Christine Taylor and Robin Black in his exploration of unconditional love through the main character of a glam rocker while Harekema’s film looks at the structuring of identity and how beautiful women are viewed as commodities. He has cast Aeryn Twidle in the role of a woman with two identities – the person with the beautiful exterior and the woman with a very different inner identity.

The genesis of this trilogy began several months ago when the trio realized they had more in common than just being Vancouver-based. The three filmmakers have spent the past year traveling the festival circuit with their first features and all now face the daunting task of financing their follow-up films. But, most importantly, they each did not want to wait three years to pull together the money for the next project – they wanted to remain fresh and shoot something this year.

The low cost of shooting digital allows filmmakers new financial freedom, says Bessai, and the opportunity to experiment not just technically but creatively.

‘Everyone is talking about the digital revolution in terms of getting rid of the expense of 35 mm but no one is talking about how digital changes the content,’ he says. ‘Each of our first features took narrative risks and avoided linear storytelling. With this project, we are trying to push the limits of traditional narrative even further. But you can’t do this type of experimentation when you are trying to finance a $1 million film. By working in the digital format, however, we can. The digital camera has empowered filmmakers to work differently. Technology has put the means back in the hands of filmmakers.’

The films are being financed for under $10,000 without government funds, broadcasters or distributors attached. Free from any financial and business aspects, the exercise will focus entirely on the creative.

‘We have all made first features that were critical successes – we are in a privileged position,’ says Bessai. ‘We have a responsibility [to tell] – this is what counts – a good story that speaks to people.’

The aim is to premier the trilogy next November at the Montreal Festival du Nouveau Cinema. Harkema’s feature A Girl is a Girl has been picked up by Mongrel Media for release in Toronto and Vancouver June 30. Bessai’s johnny will open this month in Vancouver through Blackwatch Releasing.