All in a day
Gay filmmakers join Toronto's newest film festival success

After the international success of Zero Patience and the Genie award-winning Lilies, director John Greyson should have little trouble putting together another big feature film. So why is his new movie, This is Nothing, only eight minutes long and shot with a video camera? For the excitement of "going back to the sandbox," he says. "They offered me a chance to play, to do things with my actors and with Kim Derko, my cinematographer, and if it doesn't work, tough!"

"They" are the organizers of the fourth annual On The Fly film festival, a collection of 10-minute video pieces created under the tightest of deadlines: one day to shoot the film, one day to edit the film. That's it.

Greyson explains the experience was "like going back to school -- you've got to get it in on time!" Nevertheless, "I love deadlines," he laughs, "you can't get anything done without them!" The urgency of the project infused his script: "It gave me a chance to respond to the NATO bombing of Belgrade, to build a story out of the headlines." In keeping with his eclectic style, of course, Greyson's film is hardly a political rant -- he adds a transatlantic gay love affair, Noam Chomsky and CIA assassins into the mix -- and he credits the On The Fly format for "lighting the fuses of creativity."

First-time filmmaker Jason Lowe found the pace exciting as well. "I had to write every day and prepare right up to the day of shooting," he confides, "but I enjoyed that it was so intense." His stylish piece, Son of Denmark, is described quickly as "Hamlet meets Edward II," the familiar tale "refashioned as a homosexual love story." Lowe wanted to give Hamlet both "an escape from his doomed fate and the expected demise of the gay lover" -- a plot device depressingly common in period films. "If you're in costumes," he jokes, "the gay people don't end up in good shape."

Another gay-themed short didn't start out in good shape. Lindsay McGregor found her filmmaking experience just as intense, but for all the wrong reasons. Her documentary subject backed out at the last minute and, desperate, she turned to Anonymous, a "funny and cynical" dialogue between two men in a clinic waiting for HIV test results. McGregor managed to carve the one-hour play she admired into a 10-minute film script just before the shoot day.

Despite the drama, McGregor is happy with the result and says she learned a lot. According to organizer Scott McLaren, that 'learn- as-you-go' attitude was responsible for the festival's beginnings: Andrew Bee got a small group of fellow young filmmakers together to share equipment and locations as a fast and cheap way to shoot a short film. McLaren signed on to help organize the second that festival, held at the Phoenix, and following that second success, Angelina Vaz from TV Ontario joined them as a 'master organizer whipcracker, McLaren praises.

The festival has since grown quickly. This year there were 308 applicants, with 28 chosen by random lottery. Judging which pieces will be screened during the festival's first showing at the Bloor Cinema on Aug. 4 are some of Canada's most accomplished filmmakers: Patricia Rozema (When Night is Falling), Don McKellar (Last Night), and Deepa Mehta (Fire), along with Kathryn Emslie from the Canadian Film Centre. No one gets left out, however -- the remaining films will be screened at a later date.

Lowe confirms that the organizers were tireless in helping during the shoots, always willing to offer their expertise when asked. While Son of Denmark was being filmed at Osgoode Hall someone called the organizers to complain about the sight of two men kissing and was met with a bored, "Yeah, so?

"They stand by you 100%" beams Lowe, who was also pleased with the gay-positive attitude of everyone working on his film. "I had 30 to 40 straight people wanting to help me tell this story."

If there is a queer esthetic in the On The Fly festival, it has less to do with any planned vision than with a desire to simply leave the artists alone to work.

"A lot of our stories don't get told because some producer or censor says, 'No biting this guy's nipple!' This festival gives young people a chance to work together and it's more exciting for the audience -- they're getting something pure, raw, directly from the source,' says Lowe.

For Greyson, the festival offers a nice balance between rules and freedom and, hopefully, a return to "a real sense of a video/art community and an excitement about the medium." Ultimately, adds Lowe, the festival proves that it's more possible now than ever for young gay filmmakers to tell our stories. "It teaches everyone that you really can just pick up a camera and make a movie!"


The On the Fly film festival will be held Aug. 4 at 7:30 pm at the Bloor Cinema, with a party to follow. Tickets are $6 and available at the box office and at Suspect Video.