Director/writer: Philippe Falardeau * Executive producer: Joseph Hillel * Producers: Luc Dery, Josee Roberge * Diary by: Louise Leger

Director Philippe Falardeau’s first feature film, La Moitie Gauche du Frigo (The Left Half of the Fridge), started out as a concept for a documentary based on the filmmaker’s real-life experiences. However, after Falardeau brought the idea to the producers at Montreal’s Quatre par Quatre Films, it morphed into a ‘faux doc’ or ‘mockumentary.’

‘It’s based on Philippe’s real experience with a roommate and it deals with people of our generation and our relationship to work,’ says producer Luc Dery. ‘We’re all in our mid-30s and we all changed careers a couple of times. We all have friends who started out being lawyers and switched to the arts, and those who have masters degrees and are on welfare. Work is such a big part of our lives, but it’s not like 20 years ago when you chose a path and stayed on it.

‘Because Philip had documentary experience and is politically and socially engaged, he put a lot of meat on the bone of this subject.’

The film, with a budget of $800,000, was shot on digital video with a 35mm blowup and a theatrical release in mind from the start.

The story involves 30-year-old Christophe, an unemployed engineer who shares an apartment with Stephane, an activist and actor. Witnessing Christophe’s daily job-hunting efforts, Stephane decides to make a film about his friend, who is suffering one setback after another and is questioning his whole life.

While the subject is sombre, the film is not. ‘It is very humorous,’ says Dery. ‘It doesn’t take itself very seriously. But we hope it will make people think.’

Fall 1998: Falardeau goes to Quatre Par Quatre producers with documentary ideas. One idea based on this theme of being unemployed and looking for work catches the producers’ attention.

‘We talked about the idea, but the time wasn’t right to do it as a documentary and we twisted it around to make it a mock documentary,’ says Dery. ‘It was an interesting idea to work with the mechanics of documentary, which Philip had a lot of experience with, but to make it fictional.’

November 1998: Philippe begins developing the project and writing a script.

March 1999: The film is presold to Radio-Canada and Super Ecran, and Film Tonic comes on board as distributor.

The team first submits a treatment of the project to Telefilm Canada and sodec for funding. La Moitie, budgeted at $800,000, is planned so that it is shot in digital video but financed as a feature film.

April 1999: The key roles of Christophe and Stephane are cast: Paul Ahmarany, Stephane Demers.

May 1999: The producers hear that Telefilm and sodec are on board and the funding is in place: 40% from Telefilm, 25% from sodec, 20% a provincial tax credit, and the rest from a small federal tax credit, Quatre Par Quatre and Film Tonic, with src and Super Ecran.

‘Funding is a painful process in a way because you apply and you have the follow-up and they have questions about the project and the budget,’ says Dery. ‘There’s an official meeting and we have to defend the project to both sodec and Telefilm – and it still takes at least a month after that.’

July 1999: Casting for all the parts is completed. Falardeau meets with art director and dop candidates and hires Andre-Line Beauparlant and Josee Deshales, respectively.

August 1999: Preproduction begins. It is the first feature shot in Montreal to be planned as a digital shoot going into a 35mm blowup.

‘We took the opportunity to try out a few ideas and experiment in terms of art direction, colors and textures to see how it would look eventually on film,’ says Dery, adding, ‘There were times at the beginning where we thought we weren’t going to make it. Even though it was shot on digital, $800,000 is still a small budget for a feature. We shot for 27 days and right before shooting it seemed that every aspect might go over budget. But once shooting started, it went surprisingly smoothly.’

Late September 1999: Shooting begins in Montreal and runs until Nov. 10, with the last few days taking place in Vancouver, where part of the story is set. ‘The film ends in Vancouver and we wanted to have the real Vancouver, we didn’t want to try and fake it,’ says Dery.

The film is shot in long takes, documentary-style. ‘You don’t get as many changes and different angles and close-ups, so if the lighting changes or the sun disappears during the take, it doesn’t matter,’ Dery explains. ‘Much more lighting and more technicians are needed on a film shoot, whereas for a digital shoot, there is a smaller crew, which helps with the budget.’

January 2000: Sophie Leblond begins editing the film.

June 2000: Although the final editing and versioning is not quite complete, La Moitie Gauche du Frigo is sent off to tiff.

July 2000: The film is blown up to 35mm.

September 2000: La Moitie Gauche du Frigo debuts at tiff.

‘We’re very happy for the film to start its international career at the Toronto festival,’ says Dery. ‘Not that many Quebec films are selected [for tiff] and right now we’re happy to be with Maelstrom as one of two French-track [with English subtitles] films at the festival. Last year we had a short film, Decharge, that won best Canadian short, so it is sort of a lucky festival for us.’ *