TIFF premiere a smashing success!

Sunglasses at night, 

practising not being me!

In an earlier post, I mentioned one of the f ilms in which I had a principal role was having its North American premiere, an event which occurred on September 11, 2012 in Lightbox 3 at 10 p.m.

The first two photos are of me - and the comment about sunglasses a night, pretending to be someone else, is just my idea of a joke. I'm a long way from being a 'movie star' who gets stopped on the street!

Yours truly, sans shades

I think all of us who participated in the making of "Tower" can echo the sentiments of one of the leads, who was interveiwed on stage, that to "get from an audition at a coffee shop to the stage of one of the world's premiere film festivals one year later" is quite a ride!

The "Tower" of the film title...?

Guests at the party

I'm enclosing some photos of the event. Prior to the screening, we all enjoyed a cocktail party on the roof deck of a building not far from TIFF Lightbox and then we went to the Lightbox itself for the screening, which was well attended.

As for the film, the producers, MDFF, are hoping for a general release some time this fall. To make certain you learn when, it may be best to go directly to the source and keep in touch with them; dan@mdff.ca is the contact.

L-R:TIFF's Agate, MDFF's Dan & Director Kaz, Leads Nicole & Derek

After the screening

Copyright Deborah C. Sawyer

Tower: World Premiere On The Horizon

Back in January 2011, I started working with two young filmmakers, who had embarked on their first feature film.

This film, "Tower", is now through post-production and is slated for its World Premiere at the 65th Festival de Film Locarno in Switzerland, in August.

My role in this film was Diane, the mother of the protagonist. The footage was shot over several months and subject to a lot of stop-start-stop, as all personnel were volunteering their time for much of the production.

One interesting aspect to this production is that the Director, Kaz Radwanski, allows his actors to improvise all the dialogue. That is, no scripts, no lines to learn. At times, some of the "takes" ran for 20 minutes as we improvised based on the direction we had been given.

MDFF, the company producing "Tower", has set up a site where you can learn a little more about the film. But, be warned, the website seems to be set up for mammoth screens only. You can find the details at the following link.

http://www.mdff.ca/tower

All being well, I've included a couple of snaps of two of my co-stars, one I worked with directly in the early days, and one I never met! (I'll let you guess which is which!)

Fore more details about the Locarno premier or about the website, Dan is the contact @mdff.ca

Copyright Deborah C. Sawyer

Lottery film takes working at home to a new level!

Back in August 2011, I landed a part playing the mother of a young man who is confronting various life experiences.





Due to challenges around scheduling and locations, shoot dates kept getting delayed. In the end, to facilitate things, I offered my house so we could shoot the pivotal scene where the protagonist comes to visit his mother, who is very ill. We wrapped the scene in about 4 hours on April 18, 2012.

Well! Talk about a great working location! Not only did I not have to leave home, I even got to lie in bed to do the scene.

Hope all those gurus, who talk about how we need to commute less to reduce pollution, are taking note of this option.

I'm showing some stills taken during the shoot. One of me in my mother role and then one of the guys setting up in my guest room.

On-camera are center, Daniel Shulkin (director) and left, Shawn Nova, cinematographer. Slightly off-camera are left, Robert Eaton (actor) and right, Spencer Still (sound).

When I have some film footage, I'll create an additional post.

As for what's wrong with "mom" and what's happening to her "son" David, you'll have to wait until the film is released!

Copyright Deborah C. Sawyerk

Whatever Became of... The Janitor...?

Back in September, I had the opportunity to portray Marylin Dixon, an office manager at a collection agency.

But not just any collection agency; this one was hiding some dark secrets - all unbeknownst to my character.

The production was directed by Rob Kellermann and produced by Sean Thomas, under the auspices of the Trebas Institute.

Rather than write at length, I'm adding some rough cut footage, to show just my own small part of the film.

I actually have two clips but, if you only see one below, it's because Blogger has rejected the second clip.

When the film is formally released, I'll post another update on my blog.

Copyright Deborah C. Sawyer

Behind-the-scenes at Der Kandidat

Loads of props were stashed all over the ground floor

In early November 2011, I had the opportunity to play a small part in a very ambitious independent/student film. In fact, it seemed that the whole class from the college in question, Humber College, was taking part but the Wardrobe Mistress assured me, No, this was just part of the class, there was another production going on involving her other classmates.

Ironing Nazi flags!

The scene I was involved in was shot on a Sunday at the Estates of Sunnybrook, in the Mclean House. This is a heritage house on the grounds of Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto and is frequently rented out for different functions.



My part of the Nurse - or Krankenschwester - was originally listed as SOC, meaning Silent on Camera. However, after I had been dressed in my costume, made up and had my hair done, and was waiting for my scene, the director remembered that I speak some German. So my role was expanded - to just one line in German: Herr Doktor, bitte, helfen Sie mir!

The Krankenschwester herself!

Given the ambitious nature of this production - all speaking parts were in German - I'm hoping the students will finish the film and allow those of us who contributed to have a copy of the DVD. (One of the chief failings of student productions is that the film often ISN'T finished, meaning there will never be the promised DVD.) If I do get a copy, I'll create another post with some video footage.

In the meantime, I'm posting some stills of the "behind-the-scenes" action.

Copyright Deborah C. Sawyer

I Wanna Know - when there's a video being shot at the Danforth Music Hall!

Casting calls for most music videos are looking for people in the 18-24 age range - which is why it was a change to see a casting call for a part in my playing range.

Now, after a 12+ hour day, I can say I've taken part in a music video, portraying Grieving Lady.  When the DVD is available, I'll create another post with some live footage of my scenes in the cemetery and attending a music performance.

 Here are some backstage shots...

I was glad we had dressing rooms (top photo)... and, even better, some of them came equipped with facilities (second photo)! (This might not seem newsworthy but... I've not only been to auditions where there were no washrooms available, I've also been on all day shoots in the middle of nowhere, in minus ten weather, with no toilets near at hand!)

The view from the dressing rooms was only so-so (third photo) but at least we could see daylight!

Most of the video was shot on location at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto under director David Mewa. NE Inc. was the production company.

The Danforth Music Hall, ready for its close-up!

The performers included members of The Trews, Rich Kidd and Maestro Fresh Wes.

Much of the footage was shot in the lobby of The Danforth Music Hall )(photo at left).

Maestro kindly posed for us while we were waiting in the dressing room; in this shot, he's wearing "his pea coat look". Like most of the performers, Maestro had to supply his own wardrobe. For my cemetery scene, I wore my dark burgundy winter raincoat, as Director Dave said he liked its "upscale look".

Suzka came from Vancouver to play violin. Here are a couple of shots, taken from the wings, showing her in action.


(If you are noticing some of the shots have a kind of smoky patina, that's probably due to the special effects that were in use during the day.)

And, here's a shot showing what everyone does best... waiting! (At left, actors, crew, director of photography Samy Inayeh, AD Patrick Hepburn, and more) are all just...waiting!




Copyright Deborah C. Sawyer

Under The Circumstances: teachable moments

One of the films I appeared in, in the summer of 2011, was "Under the Circusmtances" by Undertoe Productions.

It is a docudrama, telling the story of what happens to an innovative teacher when he engages his students in a school, located in a very conservative community.

My role was that of what I call the School Secretary, although I've been corrected and told I should refer to her as the Office Administrator. (That's interesting, if only because the word "secretary" includes the word "secret", implying confidentiality - and I think that should still be an important part of the job...)

Following is a video clip, edited down from the original although, hopefully, not too much of the context has been removed. It's a scene where the innovative teacher has been called in to see the principal and is about to be declared "surplus"...

Copyright Deborah C. Sawyer