If Connor Gaston wins a prize for Godhead at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, he’ll have a newspaper carrier to thank.
Gaston, 25, said it was an elderly carrier’s actions that inspired him to make his new short film about a broken family that learns valuable lessons from a son who displays tendencies associated with autism.
The University of Victoria fine arts graduate’s own family was alerted to a house fire when someone rang the doorbell and woke up his mother, he recalled.
“The fact he walked away and didn’t stick around to be a saviour I thought was an interesting character move,” Gaston said.
“He just woke people up and continued on his way like it wasn’t a huge deal. There was some deeper wisdom there.”
Other elements drawn from Gaston’s own experience include toy boats triggered by memories of “these old-school, remote-controlled boats my cousin brought to our cabin on Gabriola Island,” he said.
Gaston, whose film screens Sept. 11 and 12, arrived in Toronto armed with the Norman McLaren Award, which he recently won for his 2013 film ’Til Death at the Montreal World Film Festival.
“Last year’s winner won $5,000 and a nice camera, but there’s been budget cutbacks, so I got three roses and plaque,” Gaston said, laughing. “But, hey, I’ll take the recognition.”
’Til Death, about a boy determined to bring his lost soulmate back to life, also won the Metropol Audience Favourite short film award at this year’s Victoria Film Festival.
Godhead’s TIFF showcase marks the second time one of Gaston’s films made the cut.
He was last there in 2012, after surviving a TIFF boot camp for filmmakers, with Bardo Light, his 10-minute drama made for “50 bucks and a case of beer” about a young man who, after being accused of murdering his inventor father, insists the culprit is a modified TV set.
When Gaston received a text from a programmer saying Godhead had been accepted, he said he originally thought it was because of “a technicality” related to its submission.
“I danced around the house a bit and went for a run because of all that nervous energy,” he said, recalling his reaction when officials confirmed it was one of 40 films chosen from 840 submissions.
“It’s definitely good for the ego and it can be a bit of a launching platform,” said Gaston, whose film will also be shown at upcoming film festivals in Calgary and Vancouver and as part of The Shortest Day, Telefilm Canada’s cross-Canada program celebratiing short films.
The exposure likely helped Gaston and producer Daniel Hogg receive a feature film grant from Telefilm for The Devout, a “crisis-of-faith movie” based on his master’s thesis.
He credits the late UVic film instructor Brian Hendricks with “igniting my passion for filmmaking” and building his confidence.
“He was always very open to the kind of projects you wanted to do. It was learning by doing, which is always the best way.”
Gaston’s chief mentor at UVic, associate professor Maureen Bradley, is among other local filmmakers whose works are being celebrated at festivals, online and in mainstream cinemas this fall.
Bradley’s feature debut, Two 4 One, a bittersweet romantic comedy starring Gavin Crawford, Naomi Snieckus and Gabrielle Rose about the complications that arise following a one-night stand between a young woman and her transgendered friend, is part of the B.C. Spotlight showcase during the Vancouver International Film Festival that begins Sept. 25.
So is Black Fly, Jason Bourque’s thriller about the bloody mess that ensues when a troubled teenager, haunted by the mysterious deaths of his parents, is reunited with his older brother on a remote island. Before becoming a prolific features and documentaries director, Bourque planted the creative seeds for his passion project here in the 1990s with actress and screenwriter Dominika Wolski.
Victoria native Corey Large has also had a busy year, his most high-profile current project being the Pierce Brosnan thriller The November Man, on which he was an executive producer.
Other projects Large executive produced include Revenge of the Green Dragons, Martin Scorsese’s crime saga starring Ray Liotta and Justin Chon premiering at TIFF, and It Follows, which premièred at Cannes.
Poker Night, the crime drama starring Beau Mirchoff, Giancarlo Esposito, Ron Perlman and Titus Welliver that Large produced in Victoria last year, also debuts in December.
Meanwhile, online buzz is building for Jackhammer, writer-director Mike Hanus’s comedy making its global online and Video-on-Demand debut this week through Reelhouse.org and other partners.
It was the lead item Wednesday on community publishing platform LiveJournal. Subtitled Russian and Spanish versions are being released and it has a “huge” eastern European presence, Hanus said.
