Among the praise attracted by James Dunnison’s critically acclaimed Stuff (produced by Toronto’s Bull’s Eye Films) was this from Toronto urban entertainment weekly eye: ‘possibly the greatest Canadian film you’ve never seen.’

Not for want of trying though. One of several Vancouver filmmakers who have recently taken to wearing a distributor’s hat, Dunnison made sure he got his first feature on at least one screen.

In Dunnison’s case, the need to take on his own distribution activities came indirectly from his choice of technology: having shot on digital, he was adamant that a 35mm print of his film had to be made. Although he generated buzz for his festival favorite, he found distributors shied away from the extra financial commitment.

‘We had tons of distributor interest. We had really exciting conversations with three distributors that went quite a distance. The bottom line was that none of them wanted to pay for a blowup because it was such a heavy investment on a first feature. I think they started doing the math and realized it was a huge commitment.’

Dunnison no longer thinks a blowup is as pivotal to the look of his film as he once did.

‘I wanted a blowup initially. I thought the same as everyone else [that digital wasn’t theatrical quality]. I didn’t understand the technology well enough. I assumed that everybody would end up with a 35mm print. And then I changed my song and started to read articles about this digital revolution and how the distribution process is going to be revolutionized. It came to the point where it no longer seemed necessary to do a blowup.

‘I think the audience wants to see entertaining movies and good movies, and once you get into the story of a movie, it doesn’t matter how it looks, they’re going to pay money to see it and they’re going to be happy they paid the money.’

Dunnison’s persistent argument now is: ‘Why would you pay $65,000 for a blowup when you could buy a digital projector for $20,000?’

But having come around to the other side, Dunnison discovered the distributors weren’t interested anymore: ‘You’re only hot once’

‘What I often say about Stuff is that it fell through the cracks in the advancing technology,’ he says. ‘We were one of the earlier films to be shot in digital video and people couldn’t get it. Filmmakers are ahead of the industry on this one. We realized it was a very viable medium and an exciting medium. We’re thrusting ahead and the distribution system is stumbling to catch up.

‘We ended up taking the bull by the horns and distributing the film ourselves.’

In concert with another Vancouver filmmaker, Marc Retailleau, whose feature debut Noroc was also shot on digital, Dunnison approached the owners of a new cinema in downtown Vancouver for a screen for one week for a percentage of the house. A loaned projector (which had to accommodate the fact that the more traditional projector was actually bolted in place) made the showings possible.

As did the fact that with no presales and a crew that worked for either ‘a piece of the film’ or nothing but food, ‘there were no liens on it. We were able to do whatever we wanted with it. It was a tremendous luxury.’

The exhibition deal – whereby the day’s five shows were split between the two films – was struck with the Texas-headquartered chain Cinemark, which okayed the films on the basis of sample tapes and press kits.

‘They gave us a week to see what we were going to do,’ says Dunnison. ‘Usually they watch the numbers and on the basis of the numbers you get in the first weekend they hold you or not.’

The numbers were good, despite Dunnison’s virtual non-budget ($40) for promotion. ‘Our film’s done better than most independent films,’ says Dunnison, with the only media support being some reviews and interviews in the local press. Despite ‘having the numbers’ they needed to be held at the theatre for another week, the two small films were bounced in favor of Brad Pitt’s Snatch.

Several months ago, Dunnison secured a deal with London’s 3DD to take Stuff to market. ‘They have worldwide rights, with non-exclusivity in the U.S. and they don’t have Canada.’

Dunnison also reports signing with TMN-The Movie Network and being ‘in negotiation with Superchannel.’

‘One regret that I have is that I don’t know how to do a video release and my personal feeling is that Stuff would have done well on video,’ says the filmmaker.

Even though the experience was an eye-opener, he has no plans or desire to repeat it. ‘I’ve learned tons. It’s demystified the distribution system to me and I think that’s important, but I would much rather be making my next movie than tracking down TV buyers and theatre owners.’

That next movie is likely to be Sweet Jane, a film currently in development that Dunnison says he is ‘writing with the camera instead of the computer.’ *