Director/writer: Colleen Murphy * Producer: Elizabeth Yake

* Cinematographer: Christophe Bonniere * Diary by: Dustin Dinoff

desire represents Toronto writer/ director Colleen Murphy’s fourth trip to the Toronto International Film Festival – the second time as a feature director. The filmmaker/playwright’s first feature, Shoemaker, graced tiff screens in 1997, and prior to that, two of Murphy’s short films (Putty Worm and The Feeler) also screened at the festival.

On its surface, Murphy’s desire is a dark love story about an elementary school teacher and a lounge singer. She says the film was difficult to get off the ground because of its mature nature.

‘desire is risky because it is dark and dark doesn’t necessarily sell,’ says Murphy. ‘Dark sells if it is cool, but if it isn’t cool it is questionable.’

The production team is more or less the same for desire as it was for Shoemaker, with Christophe Bonniere behind the camera, Elizabeth Yake of Subjective Eye producing, Bill Thompson composing the music and John Hazen working the sound. Director Murphy, who has a none-too-secret fear of flying, had to network on two continents and between provinces to get her film made, but it is ready for screening at this year’s tiff.

October 1997: Director/writer Colleen Murphy and producer Elizabeth Yake take their film Shoemaker to the Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival in Germany for a screening. Murphy has an early draft of desire with her for the festival’s Coproduction Meetings. Shoemaker wins a number of awards at the festival, putting the filmmakers in ‘a good position to shop the script,’ says Yake.

They meet a pair of German production dignitaries: Jurgen Mueller from German public broadcaster zdf and Christian Beutel from Bioskop Film. Both are interested in desire.

After returning to Toronto, Murphy and Yake receive development money from the Harold Greenberg Fund.

February 1998: Talks with Bioskop continue at the Berlin Film Festival during another Shoemaker screening. Bioskop and zdf have been keeping in constant contact with Yake after the initial meeting in October.

October 1998: With desire’s projected budget at $2.2 million, Yake and Murphy travel back to the Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival and meet once more with Bioskop’s Beutel. By this time, Bioskop and zdf have become German coproduction partners on the film.

The project is very close to moving forward as the trio begins discussing monetary issues pertaining to the film.

‘We are just getting ready to wrap up the meeting and leave town when Christian [Beutel] says, ‘We were thinking about our contribution to the film,’ ‘ recalls Yake. ‘At this point we were expecting we would maybe get 20% or 30% of the production costs. He says, ‘We’ve decided we would like to contribute 50% of your budget.’ ‘

Late Fall 1998: Murphy and Yake meet German film star Katja Riemann about the project, offering her the female lead in the film.

February 1999: Murphy finishes the script’s final draft, and Riemann accepts the part. desire will represent Riemann’s first trip to Canada and her first role in an English-language film. Zachary Bennett agrees to fill the other leading role.

‘[Bennett] is really making his screen debut,’ says Murphy. ‘Prior to this he was on Road to Avonlea for seven years. This is his breakthrough role.’

Over the course of the spring, the film is presold to TMN-The Movie Network and Showcase.

April 1999: Yake brings on Kathy Avrich Johnson as executive producer. The film’s budget has since risen to $3.2 million and more funding is needed.

Yake recalls a conversation she had with Carole Vivier, head of the Manitoba Film and Sound Development Corporation, about making the project an international and interprovincial coproduction. Yake contacts Buffalo Gal’s Phyllis Laing and brings her aboard as a coproducer, thus granting Murphy and Yake the opportunity to pitch Manitoba Film and Sound for additional equity funding and tax credits.

It is determined the film will shoot in Winnipeg, pushing preproduction back by a month.

July 1999: Preproduction begins in Winnipeg, lasting four weeks, with representatives of Subjective Eye, Buffalo Gal Pictures, zdf and Bioskop in attendance.

August 1999: Production on desire begins in Winnipeg, lasting 24 days in total. Murphy says the shoot is relatively incident-free, with only two hours of overtime on the clock at the end of shooting.

Spring 2000: Yake and Murphy make distribution deals in Canada with Remstar Distribution and in Germany with Kinowelt.

Late summer/early fall 2000: desire has its world premiere at the Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival, before its North American premiere at tiff. *