The Flurries of February

Batten down the hatches...

I knew February was going to be intense, but so much seems to be happening all at once now that our (really well-reviewed!) album has been launched this week, the film is poised to close the Rendez-vous festival tomorrow night and then is scheduled to come out in Quebec theatres next Friday - with a preview screening this Monday thrown in for good measure ...

Marked by the opening of the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois and interview requests starting to trickle in from across Canada, finishing the French version of the film (have I mentioned how really good it is?), hammering out the finicky details of the poster in both official languages, preparing the film's coming out in Quebec and then R.O.C., this whole, foreshortened month of my birth as well as my film's, has been a breathtaking whirlwind.

But the winds of whirl turned up to hurricane force this past week...

Our young star Julia and her fabulous mom, Sue (notably referred to as "Ju and Sulia" by yours truly during a thank you speech recently!) landed in town on Tuesday just in time for the album launch party. Then along with Macha and Barbara, we spent the next day doing a carousel of multi-media interviews at a great Mile End diner called Nouveau Palais. You have to be in it to believe it, but the game of musical chairs they call a "press junket" I can only liken to "speed dating" - of marathon proportions.

For Julia and I, this was our first press junket experience. So we were both a bit nervous. But at the end of that long day (10 am to 3:30 pm) of sitting in a booth in front of one journalist, telling our story into a microphone (or cell phone, or camera), getting the tap from Mélanie Mingotaud (publicist extraordinaire) to get up and move to the next booth and start all over again... after doing that ad inifinitum all day, we were naturally exhausted. But also, exhilarated.

For the most part, it seemed that the journalists really wanted to talk about the film. Many of them talked to us about their experience watching the film, how they felt, what touched them. Unless these reporters are better actors than my actors - whose performances many of them noted are downright remarkable - I think there was a very positive vibe in the room. Okay, those warm, homemade mango-cranberry muffins supplied by Nouveau Palais might have softened a few of the crustier types up, but all in all, if this HAD been a speed-dating event, I'm pretty sure we would have got lucky!

Since then, it's been a non-stop sprint toward the first of our many imminent finish lines, the closing night gala screening of our film tomorrow. This "closing" marks our beginning... the first time our film will go out in the world, on its own. In the flurries of February.

I feel nervous and protective and excited. I'm trying very hard to stay "in the moment". Every single one of the many million of them. Wanting to soak all of this goodness, all this newness, up.

There is only ever one "first time". And so far, mine has been ALREADY been all I could hope for - and more....

Happy Birthday, little movie. I love you and wish you, many, many happy (box office) returns.

Swinging Both Ways

In the wake of Arcade Fire's now infamous French/English thank you speech at the Grammys AND the sound mix of the frankly fantastic French version of our film, let me tell you, "Bi" is in, baby!

Okay, time for full disclosure here - I've always been straight. Always liked my movies the old-fashioned way : original, the way the creator intended them. Don't give me any of this foreign monkey business - laying strangers' voices over actor's faces. It's just wrong. And downright unnatural.

Here in Quebec, this kind of thing is a far more common occurrence than many of you living in less "bi-friendly" places may realize. For example, all the big Hollywood films are dubbed into French by local actors so that when Tom Cruise or Julia Roberts or Brad Pitt opens their mouth, someone else's voice and language and even breathing comes out!

Lots of people are fine with that. But for my money, even if the whole movie's in Serbo-Croatian, it's always better to experience the original version with subtitles. That way, even if the specific meaning of their words escapes me, I still hear the actual actors' voices, intonations, colours, subtleties. So I can rest assured that the original intentions of the people on the screen - and behind the scenes - are intact.

Well yesterday, I took a walk on the wild side and have to come clean about something ...

It's actually not so bad once you try it.

But - and this is a big but - it really depends on WHO you try it with.

And as I understand it, ours was not your run-of-the-mill dabble in alternatives. This one was special. Yes, we had a wonderful director and team taking care of us. And yes, we had great actors who specialize in the very particular art of oral filmmaking - the most outstanding of whom is Macha who can actually "dub" herself...

But the final outcome still goes far beyond just a reasonable French "copy" of the original. It is instead, its very own, original "version" of the original. With its very own particular charms and subtleties and delights. The French version of our English film is, in my wide-eyed opinion, every bit as faithful to the creator's intentions as the original.

And like I say, it all depends on who you do "it" with. There's no doubt in my mind that this first experience and the finished product was largely so gratifying and successful because Barbara never once lost sight of the film's essence, never once let go of any step in the process - from the translation to the casting to the performance. Not a single detail. Along with a team that was able to rise to this rather unprecedented challenge, she achieved what could be, and hopefully will still become, the gold standard for this necessary step in our national cinema - creating a living, second language alternative that can stand toe to toe with the original. And offer up its own set of goodies for those in the club.

Dolly has a line in our film that goes something like this: "I don't care if you're black or white. Or both. I don't care if you're gay or straight, bisexual or whatever... Whatever you are, just be that. And be good at it!".

As usual, Dolly has her finger on the right pulse...

An Offspring is Born!

...or at least, delivered...

Early this week I packed my car with a very small but precious cargo, printed out a Google map and drove very carefully, following many convoluted directions, to a barren building on the side of an industrial freeway just outside of Montreal.

I protected my thin little bundle from the frigid winter winds by holding it under my coat all the way across the vast parking lot. Once we got inside the building, I carefully cradled it in the palm of my hands, transporting it across the lobby, up the stairs and through the doors to a non-descript office, where I personally handed off the MASTER of our soundtrack to the woman who will see that it goes forth and multiplies - into many beautiful, bouncing CD's!

What this all means, is that the OFFICIAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK of The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom featuring Dolly Parton, Nelly Furtado, Martha Wainwright, Coral Egan, The Wailin' Jennys, Geneviève Toupin and Luc Sicard's original score will be obtainable, listenable, available to everyone by February 22nd - four days before the film premieres at Les Rendezvous du cinéma québécois!

The long and completely joyous process of "building" this creation officially came to an end last Sunday night when Luc and I finished the mastering of the album with the mother of all masterers Ryan Morey (check him out at: http://www.ryebreadmastering.net/, he's worked on some of the most groundbreaking indie albums of our time).

And now, in a matter of a few short weeks, it's all going to be out there for the listening... and the talking about.... across the whole country.

Stay tuned here and on the Facebook fan page for exclusive sneak previews of some of the coolest cuts COMING SOON!

Big News Day!!! (or "Here Ye, Here Ye!")

Not only did one of our favourite sons and his film, "Incendies" just get nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category - yay, Denis! (and cast and crew) - but a relatively small, quiet, powerful film written and directed by a woman got four major nominations, not least of which is Best Picture. Bravo, "Winter's Bone"!

Also, members of our own extended family, Dolly distributors Mongrel Media and Métropole Films boast a total 7 films in official Oscar contention. Congratulations to them!

Oh, and even closer to home, a huge exclusive just hit our Facebook Fan Page!!! Click HERE to be one of the very first people to see the official trailer for "The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom" - hot off the ... - machine of some kind - and not yet in theatres. Let us know what you think!

You might think all that excitement would be enough for one week, but wait - there's more!

Tomorrow, Barbara, Macha and I are heading up to St-Sauveur in the Laurentians for a very important event called, "Ciné-Québec". This annual film distributor's convention is a 24-hour do or die "do" where the province's distributors get to showcase their roster of upcoming films for theatre owners in the market for movies to show.

So, splashy theatrical trailers, big artwork, name actors, producers and directors will be on-site for theatre owners to look at, listen to, do a little tire-kicking thereof, and thereby decide to which films they want to give screens, and then how many and for how long. It's a mighty big deal.

But we feel pretty prepared - as you know - we already have ourselves a trailer! (Have you seen it lately, by the way? If not, you can check it out again here...) We also have a pretty rocking banner-sized poster and one of the best speech-givers in the business (hint: Barbara).

So, Macha, Barbara and I will have a few minutes to get up and do our little pitch during a luncheon hosted by our Quebec distributor, Métropole Films (whose name you will have noticed in our trailer when you last saw it - what's that? You didn't notice their name? Well, then, why not check it out again here and make sure I've got my facts straight?)

And, once that's all done, we'll move into another room, where a rumour of alcohol has been circulating to speak with journalists, who will hopefully be interested in talking to us about our film.

That's tomorrow.

The next day, my attention comes back to putting the finishing touches on the soundtrack album - whose launch, you will of course hear about here first! And, maybe even get a little preview, a taster, an appetizer of the full meal deal before it hits stores and the cybersphere at large!

Y'all come back now, y'here?

Closings and Openings

Well, it's now official!!! I can say it out loud! The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom has been selected to be the Closing Gala Film at Les Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois!

This is a very special invitation for many reasons... Les Rendezvous is a hometown festival that celebrates Quebec production and nurtures homegrown talent. They gave me my first window on the world way back in 2001 when my short film, Killing Time was screened in front of Denis Villeneuve's much acclaimed second feature, Maelstrom. And look where it got Denis! (for those of you who aren't familiar with his name, Denis is the director of a very important and by now almost notorious film, Incendies which is Canada's Oscar entry this year).

Seriously, though, beyond the fact that they have been very good to me in the past, and despite the visibility this kind of prestigious platform will provide our movie in Quebec, it is very significant and, in my mind, very courageous of the programmers to select an English language film to close this particular festival. However, Ségolène Roederer, the elegant director of Les Rendezvous admitted she is possibly most excited about the "female factor" of this film. She is totally grooving on the unabashed "chickness" of not only the story, but the crew and the cast that put it together. Apparently this is still a rare recipe in the indie cinema world!

Anyway, no matter what made the package extra attractive, I know both Ségolène and her colleague Dominique Dugas first loved the film enough to invite us to close their festival.

And that can only open other doors!

Merci beaucoup aux Rendezvous! And if you're in Montreal on February the 26th... Rendez-vous!

Dolly Déja Vu All Over Again

We're baaaack!

First thing this week, a valiant few of us emerged from our cozy warrens, where we'd retreated to take a little snowy r and r over the holidays and we jumped right back in where we left off... The album!

Still with a little glow-on from the amazing musical compliments that Dolly sent along just before Christmas (see previous post), we began the New Year by mixing the last remaining cuts destined for our soundtrack album - specifically, six tracks of selected score from Luc's original compositions...

Just before Christmas, we were faced with the difficult task of having to pick only half a dozen out of 15 equally beloved pieces of score that would make it on the album. About as easy as choosing favourites among your children... But with a little creative mixing, matching and titling, we managed to come up with ways to group the cuts that I think really respects the palette of the whole score - and leaves very few children out.

Then over the holidays, Luc found time to revisit those lucky cuts. By tying a few movements together in inspired ways, re-playing and re-recording some instruments to give the occasional track a longer life or more elegant end, he came up with the final 6 mixing templates.

And so as I write this, Élie (Ely) Jalbert is madly sliding back and forth across the floor in front of his analog mixing board at Studio Victor - balancing, tweaking, wetting, drying, delaying and washing his way through the lush, intimate instrumentation that characterizes our score. Getting closer and closer to a real, honest to goodness record all the time...!

That full, finished album - which combines Luc's original compostions with Dolly's tunes (as reinterpreted by Nelly Furtado, Martha Wainwright, Coral Egan, The Wailin' Jennys and Geneviève Toupin) - is due out a few weeks before March 4, which is when the film is scheduled to hit screens in Quebec and then the rest of Canada soon after.

So even as we finish mixing tonight, we're already looking towards mastering the album with Ryan Morey next week, finalizing poster art and graphics with Alexandre Renzo, designing the CD cover and inserts, oh, and attending a press conference where a very special announcement will be made - (more on that when I can officially talk about it...!)

So far, feels like a very Happy New Year!

The Year Christmas Came from Nashville

So as soon as our film was mixed, Luc and I put together a special CD of our five finished Dolly Parton "remakes" (as arranged by Alex Cattaneo and interpreted by Martha Wainwright, Coral Egan, Geneviève Toupin, The Wailin' Jennys and Nelly Furtado), and we sent this very limited edition (1 of 1) CD to Dolly Parton - care of her fantastic right-hand gal in Nashville last week.

Believe it or not, in her mind-bogglingly busy schedule, Dolly actually took the time to listen to our offering right away... And this is the little Christmas miracle that came back over the fax last night!

So, with the spirit of Dolly filling my heart to the brim, I want to wish you all the magic and abundance of this Christmas season...

Enjoy your families, your friends and your feasts, but rest up!

2011 is going to be a big movie-going year!