Luis De Filippis’ script for Canada-Switzerland coproduction Something You Said Last Night triggered an impassioned response from key international buyers to help finalize funding, says the film’s producer.

Making its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the feature about a 20-something aspiring trans writer who goes on vacation with her family was written and directed by De Filippis, and produced by Jessica Adams’ JA Productions and Switzerland’s Cinédokké. The other producers are Adams and De Filippis, alongside Michael Graf, Harry Cherniak, Rhea Plangg, and Michela Pini.

Adams (pictured far left) tells Playback Daily that the film got support from Ontario Creates, CBC, Crave, Elevation Pictures, tax credits, the federal fund in Switzerland and Eurimages, which provided €230,000 (about C$300,000). Meanwhile, Paris-based international sales agent Memento International came on board after meeting with the team in 2019 and was insistent on putting in a small minimum guarantee (MG) for their international rights.

Naima Abed, Memento’s head of production and finance at the time, “was always very passionate about the film and Luis, and even with the pandemic hitting and it was a tough time for them, they were still very adamant about putting in a small MG into our film,” she says.

Graf, who’s one of the Swiss producers, was also a fervent supporter of the film. Toronto-based Adams says she first met Graf in 2019 at the Rotterdam coproduction market CineMart, where Something You Said Last Night had been selected to participate. Graf was working for Bankside Films in the U.K. but considering leaving.

“He met Luis and he loved the project and told her that he was leaving Bankside to become an independent producer and said, ‘I know I’m here representing Bankside. But I’m telling you, as an independent producer, I really want to be a part of this project,'” says Adams, whose other producing credits include Amy Jo Johnson’s features The Space Between and Tammy’s Always Dying.

The film team initially worked with a Danish company, but when the funding didn’t work out in Denmark they circled back with Graf and his team in Switzerland.

“It just felt like there was such synergy, there was such passion, and we had such a great relationship,” says Adams. “I think they came on board end of 2020. So they’ve been with us for a couple years now. This was my first coproduction and it’s really opened the door to the benefits and the excitement and the potential that can come out from a coproduction versus keeping everything in Canada.”

Something You Said Last Night is the debut feature of De Filippis, a Canadian-Italian filmmaker whose short drama For Nonna Anna received a Special Jury Prize at Sundance. The feature was part of the first-ever Trans Filmmakers Summit x TIFF, which took place on Sunday (Sept. 11).

The film’s executive producers are Francesca Silvestri, Kevin Chinoy, Andrew Adams, Jennifer Konawal, Jeremy Smith, Omar Chalabi, and Charlie Hidalgo.

Adams says she went to Toronto Metropolitan University with De Filippis and reconnected with her through a mutual friend. Adams was “blown away” by For Nonna Anna and the two subsequently met in coffee shops over the next few months, talking about films they liked and what De Filippis was working on, including Something You Said Last Night.

“Immediately when I read it, I knew that this film had to be made and could be made,” says Adams. “Sometimes you read a script and you just know it’s ready and you can see a path and you just believe that as a producer, you can put it together. So I felt strongly that I could do that and I wanted to do that. I was so inspired by Luis and her kindness and felt that I could really, as a producer, just enjoy working with her.”

Photo: Jessica Adams, Paige Evans, Ramona Milano, Joey Parro, Carmen Madonia, Luis De Filippis, Harry Cherniak, Michael Graf, Rhea Plangg, and cinematographer Norm Li attend the Something You Said Last Night premiere during the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival at TIFF Bell Lightbox on September 10, 2022 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Araya Doheny/Getty Images)