Gil Kofman on the set of Unmade in China, which will be screened at the Edmonton International Film Festival. Photo: Supplied
Los Angeles-based filmmaker Gil Kofman went to China to direct a psychological thriller. Instead, he found himself starring in a documentary chronicling his descent into madness over the frustration of trying to get a feature film made in a communist country.
“It was crazy,” says Kofman of the experience. “The expression I heard most was: ‘This is not the China way.’ The whole thing was absurd.”
Chinese bureaucrats made wholesale changes to the script without his permission — and often without his knowledge. Police officers cast in the film could not be armed. The murder weapon went from being a knife, to a gun, to a baseball bat. In the end, the murder victim died from injuries inflicted by a bicycle pump. Halfway through production, Kofman arrived on set to find that a new actress had been recast in the lead role. Chinese officials also ignored contract language — per diems negotiated for cast and crew went out the window, as did scheduled days off (including pre-production and actual shooting) — and they wound up working 35 days straight.
Unmade in China is essentially a movie about a movie, showing the hoops through which Kofman was forced to jump to get the film he went there to make — Case Sensitive — actually made. Both films will be screened the evening of Monday, Oct. 1, at the Edmonton International Film Festival, which gets underway Friday. Best of all, Kofman will be on hand to answer audience members’ questions afterward. It promises to be an interesting discussion.
Unlike his jaunt to China, Kofman welcomes the opportunity to return to Edmonton, and the festival.
“It was such a lovely experience,” recalls Kofman of his first trip here in 2007 to screen his feature film, Memory Thief. “And it’s such a terrific festival. I’m really glad to get a chance to come back.”
Kofman, says EIFF producer Kerrie Long, is an example of everything the festival is doing right. Independent filmmakers have always been the stars in Edmonton.
“They’re our real passion,” says Long. “And they always get such a great reception from audiences here that they want to come back.”
Take Todd Berger, for instance. He premièred his first feature film, The Scenesters, here in Edmonton in 2009. This year, he’ll preside over the closing night film, It’s a Disaster, which stars Julia Stiles. Billed as a doomsday comedy, it’s the story of four couples who meet for brunch one Sunday only to discover they are stuck in a house together as the world is about to end. In addition to a recurring role in season five of the hit TV series Dexter, Stiles has starred with Matt Damon in several of the Bourne movies. Ugly Betty’s America Ferrera also stars in Berger’s film, as does David Cross, who’s in the Fox sitcom Arrested Development.
“Todd has moved up a level as a filmmaker and he’s now able to attract bigger star power to his films,” says Long. “He’s coming back here because he had such a great experience the first time.”
The nine-day festival kicks off with a gala Friday, Sept. 28, that features Becoming Redwood. Shot in the Greater Vancouver area, it’s a quirky and inspiring story set in the ’70s about a young boy who’s convinced he can reunite his divorced parents if only he can beat Jack Nicklaus in the Masters. The cast includes 14-year-old Ryan Grantham in the lead role, who delivers a mesmerizing performance. The teen will be in attendance Friday, along with director/writer Jesse James Miller and producer Joely Collins.
Altogether, says Long, EIFF is screening a total of 60 feature films this year.
“We also had an enormous amount of submissions from Alberta filmmakers,” says Long. “More than 100, in fact, which is phenomenal.”
Of those, three feature films have been programmed, along with three documentaries and 27 short films. They’ll be showcased during Our Own Backyard day on Sunday, Sept. 30, when both screens at Empire City Centre 9 will be devoted exclusively to Alberta filmmakers. Mapping Creativity, for instance, is a feature length documentary by Larry Reese and James Wilson that explores the creative process through interviews with several well-known Alberta actors, musicians, filmmakers and painters. Many of the people featured in the film are Edmontonians, including retired senator Tommy Banks, Holger Petersen, PJ Perry, Shaun Johnston, Fil Fraser, Gil Cardinal and Francis Damberger, to name but a few.
“We always have the big films in our festival that everyone’s talking about,” says Long, “but we also screen the fiercely independent dramatic films, too, by passionate filmmakers who come here because they know their work is going to be seen by a lot of people who appreciate the stories they have to tell.
“Who’s to say that one of them isn’t the next Martin Scorsese? There was a time when no one knew who he was, either.”