MetroMan
Senior Member
Toronto plays itself, for once
Team of youthful filmmakers try to create a cinematic mythology for the city by showcasing some of the many distinct personalities in its cultural mosaic
Nov 11, 2007 04:30 AM
BRETT POPPLEWELL
STAFF REPORTER
Toronto's streets and skyline have long been used as stand-ins for numerous cities on film.
But if the aspirations of four youthful local directors are fulfilled, the city's anonymity will soon be replaced by a showcase of the distinct personalities that make Toronto a unique town unto itself.
"There are many great filmmakers who have worked in the city but their visions are not necessarily representative of these streets," says Toronto-born director David Weaver.
Weaver, a veteran from behind the lens of TV cameras, has joined forces with fellow 30-somethings Aaron Woodley, Sook-Yin Lee and the Gemini Award-winning Sudz Sutherland to capture the city's essence in a series of love letters to Hogtown.
It's called Toronto Stories, and much in the vein of New York Stories and Paris, je t'aime, their film promises to be a tribute to Toronto.
The film was conceived by Weaver and Woodley over drinks one night when they decided the city wasn't properly represented in cinema.
"I think where Toronto differs from other cities in the world and even from Montreal is that it lacks its own mythology, maybe not in literature and maybe not in music, but certainly in film," says Woodley, who made his mark in animation before turning to directing.
Creating a cinematic mythology for the city is precisely what the four directors have set out to do.
"Forget about trying to emulate Hollywood. Let's tell our own stories," Lee says.
Splitting their film into four chapters – one for each director – the team has created a narrative that captures some of the many faces of Toronto.
Opening with the confusion of the arrivals lounge at Pearson Airport where an immigrant boy goes missing, the film travels into the city through the eyes of a child and records everyday and extraordinary stories that occur on our streets.
The crew has been filming in landmarks such as Union Station and the Royal Ontario Museum and has incorporated the Polkaroo of TVOntario fame and the infamous Cabbagetown Monster, a fictitious underground creature once said to have lived in the sewers beneath Rosedale, into the narrative.
Highlighting some of Toronto's most posh and grungy areas while giving importance to the city's major landmarks as well as the local people you might pass on the street, the directors have set out to, in Sutherland's words, "create something which feels real."
Sutherland, who will be filming this week in and around St. Clair Ave. and Vaughan Rd., hopes the film will instil an appreciation of the city to viewers both familiar and unfamiliar with Toronto.
"You know, a lot of people out West hate Toronto. A lot of people even in Newmarket hate Toronto. To give them some sort of an insight into what Toronto really is, is part of our goal," Sutherland says.
Filming of Toronto Stories is set to wrap on Friday. Producers hope to release the film, with its $1 million budget, in time for the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival.
According to Lee, the timing for the project is ideal. She says the city is going through a cultural renaissance and it's about time that rebirth is captured on film.
"I moved here in the mid-90s from Vancouver and it really struck me as an intense, working city. In terms of the arts, a lot of the people were into the rock scene but it was just like Toronto was no fun," she says.
"But I have found in the last few years an incredible incubation of amazing musicians and artists, homegrown and coming from other places like Halifax, Calgary and Vancouver to Toronto and injecting a new kind of life to the city."
Weaver is fascinated by the idea that 50 per cent of Toronto's population were not born in the city and says this fact has given its streets a certain buzz.
"I'm very interested in this idea that Toronto's sort of a cusp city, like it's right on the edge of something that's happening," Weaver says.
In capturing the essence of this "cusp city," the directors have brought their own approaches to the project.
Lee describes her chapter of the film, shot mostly indoors using handheld cameras, as a postcard look at the seldom-profiled interior of Toronto.
Woodley's chapter deals with his own experiences as a wondering child going in search of the Cabbagetown Monster. In his piece, shot on dollies in and around the Don Valley, he aims to capture a rural face of the city not often recognized by those who view Toronto as a concrete jungle.
In Sutherland's chapter, the city is seen through panes of glass in representation of his experiences as a child coming into the city from Scarborough via the subway.
"Toronto was always downtown for me. It was always a place I would travel to, always seen at first from a moving vehicle," he says.
Weaver's chapter of the film is inspired by true events and aims to tug at our social conscience as it tells the story of a university professor, fallen from grace and living on the streets outside Union Station.
Filming at Union overnight in the pouring rain earlier this week, Weaver looked like a man dedicated to his self-imposed duty of showing the trueness of the city through the eye of his lens.
The project has hit a couple of snags, for example, the logistics of filming in places such as the ROM, which necessitated a call to area MP Olivia Chow, and at Union Station, which can only be shut down at night for shooting – not to mention the unique challenges of accommodating the vision and schedules of four directors.
But Weaver says the team's passion for the project is of a grander nature.
"There's a lot of pressure that we feel because this is the first time this has been done and it's important to get it right," he says. "But that's also pretty exciting to us."
Team of youthful filmmakers try to create a cinematic mythology for the city by showcasing some of the many distinct personalities in its cultural mosaic
Nov 11, 2007 04:30 AM
BRETT POPPLEWELL
STAFF REPORTER
Toronto's streets and skyline have long been used as stand-ins for numerous cities on film.
But if the aspirations of four youthful local directors are fulfilled, the city's anonymity will soon be replaced by a showcase of the distinct personalities that make Toronto a unique town unto itself.
"There are many great filmmakers who have worked in the city but their visions are not necessarily representative of these streets," says Toronto-born director David Weaver.
Weaver, a veteran from behind the lens of TV cameras, has joined forces with fellow 30-somethings Aaron Woodley, Sook-Yin Lee and the Gemini Award-winning Sudz Sutherland to capture the city's essence in a series of love letters to Hogtown.
It's called Toronto Stories, and much in the vein of New York Stories and Paris, je t'aime, their film promises to be a tribute to Toronto.
The film was conceived by Weaver and Woodley over drinks one night when they decided the city wasn't properly represented in cinema.
"I think where Toronto differs from other cities in the world and even from Montreal is that it lacks its own mythology, maybe not in literature and maybe not in music, but certainly in film," says Woodley, who made his mark in animation before turning to directing.
Creating a cinematic mythology for the city is precisely what the four directors have set out to do.
"Forget about trying to emulate Hollywood. Let's tell our own stories," Lee says.
Splitting their film into four chapters – one for each director – the team has created a narrative that captures some of the many faces of Toronto.
Opening with the confusion of the arrivals lounge at Pearson Airport where an immigrant boy goes missing, the film travels into the city through the eyes of a child and records everyday and extraordinary stories that occur on our streets.
The crew has been filming in landmarks such as Union Station and the Royal Ontario Museum and has incorporated the Polkaroo of TVOntario fame and the infamous Cabbagetown Monster, a fictitious underground creature once said to have lived in the sewers beneath Rosedale, into the narrative.
Highlighting some of Toronto's most posh and grungy areas while giving importance to the city's major landmarks as well as the local people you might pass on the street, the directors have set out to, in Sutherland's words, "create something which feels real."
Sutherland, who will be filming this week in and around St. Clair Ave. and Vaughan Rd., hopes the film will instil an appreciation of the city to viewers both familiar and unfamiliar with Toronto.
"You know, a lot of people out West hate Toronto. A lot of people even in Newmarket hate Toronto. To give them some sort of an insight into what Toronto really is, is part of our goal," Sutherland says.
Filming of Toronto Stories is set to wrap on Friday. Producers hope to release the film, with its $1 million budget, in time for the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival.
According to Lee, the timing for the project is ideal. She says the city is going through a cultural renaissance and it's about time that rebirth is captured on film.
"I moved here in the mid-90s from Vancouver and it really struck me as an intense, working city. In terms of the arts, a lot of the people were into the rock scene but it was just like Toronto was no fun," she says.
"But I have found in the last few years an incredible incubation of amazing musicians and artists, homegrown and coming from other places like Halifax, Calgary and Vancouver to Toronto and injecting a new kind of life to the city."
Weaver is fascinated by the idea that 50 per cent of Toronto's population were not born in the city and says this fact has given its streets a certain buzz.
"I'm very interested in this idea that Toronto's sort of a cusp city, like it's right on the edge of something that's happening," Weaver says.
In capturing the essence of this "cusp city," the directors have brought their own approaches to the project.
Lee describes her chapter of the film, shot mostly indoors using handheld cameras, as a postcard look at the seldom-profiled interior of Toronto.
Woodley's chapter deals with his own experiences as a wondering child going in search of the Cabbagetown Monster. In his piece, shot on dollies in and around the Don Valley, he aims to capture a rural face of the city not often recognized by those who view Toronto as a concrete jungle.
In Sutherland's chapter, the city is seen through panes of glass in representation of his experiences as a child coming into the city from Scarborough via the subway.
"Toronto was always downtown for me. It was always a place I would travel to, always seen at first from a moving vehicle," he says.
Weaver's chapter of the film is inspired by true events and aims to tug at our social conscience as it tells the story of a university professor, fallen from grace and living on the streets outside Union Station.
Filming at Union overnight in the pouring rain earlier this week, Weaver looked like a man dedicated to his self-imposed duty of showing the trueness of the city through the eye of his lens.
The project has hit a couple of snags, for example, the logistics of filming in places such as the ROM, which necessitated a call to area MP Olivia Chow, and at Union Station, which can only be shut down at night for shooting – not to mention the unique challenges of accommodating the vision and schedules of four directors.
But Weaver says the team's passion for the project is of a grander nature.
"There's a lot of pressure that we feel because this is the first time this has been done and it's important to get it right," he says. "But that's also pretty exciting to us."
