Entries tagged with “elektra” from Centigrade

MONTREAL -

Hot. Muggy. Raining. Canadian summers never cease to amaze me.

If you like cities, and you’ve never been to Montreal… it’s a must. It simply can’t be touched above the 49th parallel. The people are alive, passionate and (with the exception of the cancerous taxi drivers) very friendly.

The festival, wonderful. No pretense or Hollywood bullshit, just great people with a great love for film. As for myself, Madison and Bri, there was a great love for our beds because the travel and jet lag was absolutely paralyzing. Unreal. The red eye, the time difference. At times I would hit a wall that was un-movable.

But to give a bit of a picture as to the ‘spirit’ of the festival… They have this massive outdoor screen in one of the town squares. At night the screenings are packed with people splayed out all over the square. Numerous ‘park benches’ brought out for the occasion are now lined up like church pews. Though many people were quite happy to stand or sit within the large rise of steps leading up to yet more plastic tables and chairs.

Anyway, what I wanted to mention was that one night it began raining. Only instead of everyone scattering like ants (hell bent on saving their hairdos), instead, umbrella’s just began ‘popping up’ everywhere. Nobody moved. No one made a sound. They just popped open their umbrellas and continued intently focused on the illusion being projected onto the screen.

That’s my kind of festival. My kind of people.

As for ‘our first’ screening?

Fantastic. Full house. We handed out CENTIGRADE thermometers. Basically, a plastic key chain with a real thermometer in it. We brought 500 of these puppies and handed them out to everybody. (The other 500 went to Palm Springs where my Dad, Sister, Mom and Brother in Law are battling 120 degree heat to get the word out.)

Attendance in Montreal? Awesome. Granted, the press and audience percentage that was in the house was primarily there for the feature we were partnered up with, Kuru Obi (Black Belt), but unfortunately I don’t think the the press stayed very long. But it was OUR short that came up FIRST. And it worked.

Very proud.

The house lights dimmed, our opening credits began to roll and Madison, Bri and I all held hands… then held our breath for the next 17 minutes and 40 seconds.

And it was awesome. Remember, this was the first time anyone had ever seen the film. (And our first time in ‘seeing’ people see it.) Add it was great. Everyone responded in all the right places and it looked GREAT. The transfer looked better than ever.

Colin Cunningham and Madison Graie, Montreal 2007. © Turn Up the Heat Productions 2007

Madison and I were especially proud. This began with her. She was the person who said we should try for KICK START in the first place. She’s the one who put together all the paper work. The entire development of the project. If anyone has ever earned the credit of Producer, it is her. That’s why I insisted that her credit be FIRST up. Not mine. One cannot direct thin air. So, it was a great thing. But we also reminded ourselves that this was just the warm up. Our first screening was more of a ‘press screening’. There was the big massive theater to be screened in later that night. Theatre Maisonneuve.

Jonathan Tyrrell was there as well, having flown in from Vancouver the Friday before and we all began the task of getting the word out, finding strategic places for posters, post cards, etc.

Bri had set up a radio interview for me at one of the most listened to radio programs in Montreal. Time? 7am. Ehhh. So, the next morning we were up at 5:30 and making our way to the studio.

The shows producer, Andrea, was fantastic, but apparently had a bit of trouble getting me on as a guest. The head jock Andrew, simply felt that there was too little time to do anything. So, she rattled off a few of my credits.

Elektra?

“Nope.”

DaVincis’?

“No time.”

6th Day, X Files, Stargate?

“STARGATE!!!!”

Well, turns out the guy is huge fan of Stargate. Been trying to get ‘Andrea’ to watch the show for months. I had to laugh ‘cause the guy said that anytime he sits down at home to watch tv and that first shot of the ‘gate’ comes on, his wife shouts out, “NO SPACE!”

Anyway. I’ve worked on many shows, a thousand credits. But it was good ol’ Paul Davis that came through for me.

So…

Note that the French are very proud of their culture. (As so they should be.) But what that means to an outsider is that it’s in your best interest to at least make an attempt to speak French. The odd ‘bonjour’ and ‘merci’ never hurt anybody. But the one thing I DID need to pronounce was the name of the place our film was playing at.

The artistic hub of the festival is the Place d’ Arts. (Pronunciation, “Plas d’ Ars”.) So, Bri wrote up the phonetic pronunciation for me and away I went.

Well, apparently in my bid to sound cool, I declared to 150 thousand listeners in Montreal that CENTIGRADE was now playing at the ‘Plastic Arse’. Perhaps not the strongest start to my radio career.

But it’s been work. And that’s why I haven’t written a thing. At times we had to ‘remind’ ourselves to have a little fun. We were in Montreal after all. Speaking of which, our screening at the ‘Arse’ wasn’t technically our ‘first’ screening in Montreal.

Two nights before, Madison, Bri and I went out for a celebratory drink. The place, Bocconcino’s. There, we were befriended by Georgio (bartender extrordinaire) and Jimmy, the restaurants owner. Two of the greatest guys you’ll ever meet. Hospitality off the chart. Anyway, we had a few drinks and promised to come back with a DVD of the film as thanks for such a great night.

So, the next night (late Friday night) we went back and before you know it Jimmy had locked the doors, cranked up the sound and played the film to about a dozen or so people on the 5 jumbo-tron televisions above the bar. Our own private screening at Boconccinos. Unreal.

Jimmy opened some very fine bottles of wine, a few whiskeys were poured and I cannot remember what time we got home.

What I ‘do’ remember was that I was a tad hung over for our World Premiere. Not the most noble beginning I admit, but if it’s not all about the people, then what the hell? The beauty of making something like a film is the experiences that come about because of it. The people. The places. The other filmmakers. The camaraderie. Sure we were there to work, but we were also there to laugh. And we did. Then I took a Tylenol.

Thank you Georgio and Jimmy. Much appreciated.

Palm Springs, here we come.

C.