The marathon of Katharine Hamer Contributing Writer “MATING rituals among the Vancouver indie rock scene,” was how director Reg Harkema described his new film, A Girl is A Girl. But getting that film made was a long and arduous process, as Harkema and his producers, Christine Haebler and Christina Margellos, told an audience of young hopefuls at the Vancouver International Film Festival Trade Forum last Saturday. New Filmmaker’ s Day is set aside at the end of the Trade Forum to give aspiring auteurs access to those who've already made ir. Harkema had ycars of experience as an editor, on films like Hard Core Lago and Last Night — but A Girl is A Girl was his first outing as a director. -The idea for the film came ro him when he was “stuck in a ‘hotel room in Toronto in the spring of 1996.” * With several hours to kill between post-production ses- sions on Hard Core Lago, Harkema decided to give himself a crash course in the work of renowned American director John Cassavettes. “hn film school, you're inundated with Orson Welles,” he : said. “I wanted to find a different way of doing cinema.” After 26 hours of Cassavertes, Harkema was hooked — and ready to. write his own screenplay. Along with Haebler and Margellos, he started to shop >the -Séript’ around — and with his background as 2 succcess- ful editor, managed to win the confidence of City TV's . Diane Bochme.: “Instead of talking to (Margellos and Harkema) about the project, she just handed them a deal memo and said ‘P?'m on board!”” said Hacbler. Bur landing a broadcast licence for the film was only the first step. Gerting film financing in Canada can be tricky — and Harkema’s produc ets had to do a fot of legwork to secure the rest of their budget. Haebler told the audicuce she'd hoped the remainder of the money would “cither come from Telefilm and tax credits —or an angel.” Their angel came in the form of Shawn Williamson — an independent producer who'd recently joined Vancouver's Shavick Entertainment and was looking for new film pro- jects. “T called him up and said, ‘I have the project for you!” _said Hacbles. In the end, it was Williamson’s 2] year old daughter who — “being a bit of a punk rocker herself,” as Haebler said — convinced him to pick up the film. “It was 2 big sigh of relief (when the financing finally came through),” said Christina Margellos, for whom A G irl is A Girl was her fisst stint as preducer. “You feel like you've just run a marathon — and then you go into production.” Haebler, an experienced producer herself, warned the audience to avoid private financing. “Reg came to me and said, ‘I can get $60,000 on my credit card and $20,000 from my family. I would hate to have that dark cloud hanging over my head. They might never sce the moncy again. Harkema began casting his film before his full budget came through. “I was inspired by Werner Herzog, who said, ‘Make your vie industry faces digital dawn ‘4 expezimentalism of new wave film into the new millennium. | mer’s sleeper hit The Blair tee Project highlighted j just how oe - Macey's Sports. effective simple tools can be in compos- ing a successful narrative and striking appearance. - According to Peter Broderick, presi- _ dent of American distributor Next Wave Films, only three out of 16 docu- _mentary films shown at the Sundance Festival are shot on film stock. Feature filrris aren’c far behind. ~ “Studio executives get up every morning and wonder about the i impact Blair Witch Project has on them,” said Broderick. Star Wars guru George Lucas is at the forefront of digital development. " He hopes to see digital video capable o running at 24 frames per second (the ~ same speed as 35 mm fiim) available in See Filmmaking page 2° ”-KIUMER PARK: KIRKSTONE PARK ' “LILLQOET PARK NORSEMAN - MCCARTNEY CREEK’ “ DELBROOK - ~” RIDGEVIEW. The North Shore News. . Tomahawk Barbeque’ Odium Brown Limited - Lenarduzzi Soccer: North ‘America Sports. Hanks to the following companies for their generous donations: : «Roman Tulis Soccer. | Davies Medical Supply : : The Gas Man : * Hildebrand’s Trophies: * BCTel Motility ° © Simon Showell Creative independent financin film and money will come along behind like a vapping dog’,” he grinned. ‘Among the more unusual tactics employed by Harkema were the casting of a completely inexperienced actress he found while “moping into my beer at Subeez” one night, and turning to David Cronenberg for advice on filming love scenes, “actually think some of the love scenes in Crash were ~ quite sensitively and beautifully handled,” he said. 7 As a former editor, Harkema said he tried to make every- thing run smoothly during post- production. Loe “Everything was designed so I could sleep in in the morning,” he said. Naturally, the editing process had a few more glitches’ _than that — but the team managed to get their hands ona. finished print of A Girl is A Girl in time for its premiere last month at the Toronto International Film Festival. -. “It was a long, painstaking process,” said Christina Margellos, “but everyone has a first project. Everyone has ¢ do it. Go to mentors, ask questions. Don't be afraid to!" =". approach people. You have to be persistent, or you won't get out alive!” ~ frie sone tides fies Cub There dain Wang Dang Boodle, arcof raisin’ jump jie sobesar Hi Cap (cllege Performing October: 5 1999 was ths 3th Anaiversary of the first The title of this television program was “Whither Canada?” pred preeemrsperrenyre atte : /1°1139 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver V7M 2544 before Oct. 15/99, Fay to: 995-3227 Limit of 1;