November 2004

Whoever said you have to be based out of New York or Los Angeles to be associated with the Palm d’Or-winning film at the Cannes Film Festival?

Sometimes you think you don’t need any help, that you can do it on your own. That’s exactly what I was thinking before I started shooting my new feature, Ur4Given. I should have known better. I had a Sony PD-150 given to me by my brother Spike (yes, Spike Lee) and some tape stock. I wasn’t going to sit around and complain about not having enough funds to shoot, because then I’d have never gotten the film shot.

If anyone captured the spirit of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, it was the codger who hoisted a placard that read: “The Toronto Film Festival is Satan’s Idea of Entertainment.” This middle-aged gentleman was part of a 150-person demonstration protesting the premiere screening of Casuistry: The Art of Killing a Cat. This ominous documentary by Montreal filmmaker Zev Asher relates, in sobering detail, the story of Toronto art student Jesse Power, who in 2001 enlisted two friends to help him videotape the murder of an innocent feline.

Dear Doc Doctor:

All I can afford in terms of marketing my documentary is my Internet connection and email account. What’s the best way to use them?

I spent June of this year in Ghent, a small town near Hudson, New York. Hoping to rent some John Sayles movies one night, I headed into town, pulling up alongside a group of heavily pierced teenagers—your average counterculture youth. I asked them where to go to rent a video, and they suggested the Hollywood Video on Route 9. I asked if there wasn’t an independent video store nearby, because Hudson has an arts scene and a wealth of antique stores and seemed like a good candidate for one. They directed me to a strip mall across from the Hollywood Video.