Day 2 (Film Screenings and Filmmakers) - Hollywood North Film Festival
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HEIDY'S HOME IN BELLEVILLE - WHERE I STAYED FOR THE FESTIVAL DURATION, AVAILABLE ON AIRBNB
I woke up around 9:00am to accept Heidy’s offer of breakfast, and was met with all sorts of goodies: croissants, fresh jam, yummy cheeses, banana bread, yogurt, blueberries, and coffee in a scrumptious, Swiss-style breakfast. Heidy and her boyfriend were great company for the meal. We discussed all kinds of topics, including mental disabilities, Indians (or “First Nations” as they’re called here because American Indian would be misleading) and of course she wanted to know all about my family and in turn I learned about hers as well.
She was interested in my film’s subject matter and the topics of my openly discussing sexuality. Heidy and her daughter wrote an op-ed in the newspaper complaining after the paper published the faces/names of prostitute clients who had been busted because they were shaming these men in a way that would ruin their lives in a small town when they should have been shaming the pimps. In Switzerland prostitution is legal and so there is less trafficking and women have more rights. It isn’t looked upon with the same level of scorn. It was refreshing to hear someone of a different generation speaking about these topics in a well-read manner.
Unfortunately Heidy and her boyfriend were actually on their way out of town that day so this would be the last I saw of them. As if Heidy had not already done enough to make me feel welcome, she offered me the use of her car while she was gone so that I could get down to Picton where some of the festival events were. This is truly someone who goes above and beyond to make an individual feel welcome, and I couldn’t have picked a better place to stay.
Now it was time to explore Belleville. My film would be playing in the first block of short films at 2pm, so I had a solid few hours to get to know the town. Heidy lived a short walk from main street, and all I had to do to get there was go straight and cross a little foot bridge over a river.
FOOTBRIDGE TO DOWNTOWN BELLEVILLE
Belleville is like many small towns in that it has a small downtown full of boutiques and locally owned shops. It reminded me a bit of Cape Cod or upstate New York. I have been to Ontario once before this trip (on my road trip around the US I ducked into Canada briefly) and one distinctive feature of the region is the limestone buildings. They are all over the area.
Once in downtown, I strolled into a variety of shops and got my bearings. One particular feature of note: in every shop I entered, the owner of the store would greet me, and sometimes begin a conversation. I spent the most time at the Bicycle/Hobby store, where the owner was an old timer and we talked about model trains (you may or may not know I wrote a film about the subject). There was also a board game store with countless games I had never heard of. I learned this weekend that board games are much more popular here than they are stateside. The games all were complex and for adults – one in particular called “Ticket to Ride” had all kinds of expansion packs and clearly people kept up with them. In the back of the store a group of guys were sitting around tables playing some type of fantasy board game.
DOWNTOWN BELLEVILLE (NOTE THE LIMESTONE BUILDINGS, COMMON IN THE REGION)
Further along, I noticed the town’s dive bar had a prominent gay rights sticker, which I assume shows their support with recent events, which is a nice juxtaposition. But the most unusual mix was yet to come. It didn’t take me long to find that Belleville had its own sex shop! Considering I had flown in with a film on the very subject, I couldn’t avoid stopping here! The name of the store: Extasy Shops.
The inside of the shop was pretty standard. I told the owner I was screening a film on the subject in just a little while. His response, “Oh, interesting. Well, everything is 20% off today.” The best part of about the store was actually it’s location - I’ll let you see for yourself:
COMMUNITY OF CHRIST DIRECTLY ADJACENT TO ECSTASY SHOPS - ONLY IN BELLEVILLE I GUESS!
I’m happy that the two can be neighbors, and wonder what the story behind it is! It began to rain just in time for me to head to the theater. I welcome the sight of rain as it is a rarity in Los Angeles.
Films in Block #8: Waiting Game, Plastic Glory, Pietro’s Room, Don’t Tell My Mom
The audience was quite small, in part due to the fact that it was a large theater in which it was playing. I was no doubt the youngest in attendance, with most of the crowd in the 40+ demographic. This was the first screening I had done in front of people I didn’t know, and most did not know that I was in the audience. I was mostly thankful for one woman who managed to laugh at every joke – if she wanted, I would take her with me to every screening I go to.
At the Q+A run by festival organizer Jacob I was asked about the inspiration, and the process of making it. When opened up to the audience, they asked me about my interest in the genre of comedy as I had mentioned that I had favored drama but loved the story enough to pursue this one. I am glad I challenged myself, and it also helped to not take the filmmaking experience too seriously even when it was tense, and I believe the most pristine films can find elements of both genres (or are above categorization if you will). The last question was about the music, which I was happy to answer as it was a special point of pride. All of the music was 100% original and composed by my former roommate and great friend Bryan Hume, who I have collaborated with on three short films and am already working on a fourth with! It was a fun experience talk about the film and everyone seemed happy (and again surprised) I was all the way out in Belleville.
THE REGENT THEATER (CIRCA 2013, PHOTO FROM ERAARCH)
Now I was headed over to Picton for another set of shorts at 4:00pm. This was a 30 minute drive, and was again thankful to Heidy without whom I wouldn’t have a way to get over there. As I ventured on the rainy drive through the bay countryside, I had no idea how far along I was because of the very few signs. Fortunately it was a straight shot once I was on the right road. It was time to see another small town in the Bay of Quinte.
Films in Block #1: Fox Point (Filmmaker in attendance), Uncertain, TX, Figs for Italo (filmmaker in attendance), Companion, Winter’s Journey
At the Regent theater the volunteers informed me that there was a filmmakers section of the theater, and sure enough, they gave us the best seats in the house: a balcony with an unobstructed view of the historic theater above the rest of the patrons. Here I met the group of filmmakers who I would be spending the rest of my festival experience with: Bob Celli and Laura Delano, the husband/wife team from NYC behind Figs for Italo, Victor and Jodi Cooper, another husband/wife team local to Belleville behind Mercy, and Lesley Butler, local student film producer of Clinch. Needless to say it was fun to have a group of people who were similarly excited about screening their films.
The film block was introduced by one of the festival organizers Robert, whom I saw earlier that day. Robert runs a local movie theater, and every time I saw him or he introduced a film he exuded the passion that made this film festival unique: I could tell he was just genuinely stoked that the festival was even happening.
FIGS FOR ITALO, SHORT FILM BY BOB CELLI AND LAURA DELANO
There was a Q+A for Bob about Figs for Italo, a film based on his own family’s story and therefore a very personal short film, and then two filmmakers of Fox Point showed up just in time from Toronto: Jacq Andrade and Mark Cira.
After the block we had just under 2 hours until the evening’s feature, which most of us were planning on attending. What else to do but get dinner and drinks? 7 of us filmmakers went to a local bar. Representing filmmaking in Toronto, Belleville, New York, and Southern California, we all had plenty to discuss and enjoyed sharing stories and experiences. Because there were just a handful of filmmakers, we were able to get to know each other extremely well and actually spend more than one encounter together – this is extremely unique to a film festival experience. We’d not only share this dinner but plenty more the following day.
Our evening was followed with a feature film, Johnny Walker, a Marché du Film (subsidiary of Cannes) Festival alum. The Belgian film is a story of a self-indulgent writer attempting to form a connection with a pregnant woman who may or may not be his daughter. Once again, it left plenty of discussion for us filmmakers. After the film, I drove home to Belleville, this time in heavy rain, so for much of the drive all I could really see were the oncoming headlights of cars going the other direction. Regardless, made it home without any trouble, another successful day completed.
