A homegrown short made for 50 bucks and a case of beer will première next month at Toronto International Film Festival, where its Victoria writer-director will share the spotlight with such heavy-hitters as Spike Lee and Paul Thomas Anderson.
Connor Gaston's Bardo Light, a 10-minute drama inspired by the Tibetan Book of the Dead, was one of 44 films selected from 700 submissions in the Short Cuts Canada category, which carries a $10,000 prize.
Bad 25, Spike Lee's documentary on Michael Jackson, Walter Salles' Kerouac tale On the Road, Anderson's The Master, and Lee (Precious) Daniels's The Paperboy, a '60s-set film noir starring Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman, John Cusack and Zac Efron, are among the latest titles announced for the 10-day festival that starts Sept. 6.
Gaston, 23, described his short film as "a whodunit with bits of sci-fi and drama" about a son who maintains his innocence after being accused of murdering his father, an inventor. He claims the true culprit is a modified TV set.
"The modified TV idea began when the inventor wanted to get animals away from his crops," said Gaston, adding the TV was used to create an animatronic scarecrow that develops into human form.
His film's title refers to "the light you see at the end of the tunnel when you die," said the University of Victoria writing student mentored by Maureen Bradley, head of UVic's screen writing department.
Gaston said he spent part of last summer by himself "just waiting for wildlife to come along," to get the shots he needed.
His film, set in Victoria and on Gabriola Island, features local actors Chris Mackie and Shaan Rahman and cameo appearances by his family's dog, Sally, and his father, award-winning Canadian fiction writer Bill Gaston, who plays a hobo.
His volunteer crew included producer Sandi Barrett, directors of photography Daniel Hogg and Graydon Tait, sound designer David Parfit (The Whale) and Victoria filmmaker and visual effects wizard Denver Jackson (Somnius).
As for that $50, Gaston said it was spent on food and rental of a generator they didn't get to use because it broke down.
The young filmmaker, who recently attended TIFF's bootcamp for filmmakers in Toronto, will return for the festival.
TIFF audiences will also see Brian De Palma's thriller Passion, starring Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace; the robbery romp Spring Breakers, with Selena Gomez and James Franco; the Nick Cassavetes drug story Yellow, featuring Sienna Miller and Melanie Griffith; the Emily Blunt-Colin Firth vehicle Arthur Newman and Looper, the Bruce Willis time-travelling thriller.
Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries) has spent years on his adaptation of On The Road with Sam Riley, Kristen Stewart, Kirsten Dunst and Viggo Mortensen.
Lee's Bad 25 celebrates the anniversary of the seminal 1987 Jackson album, with unseen footage and content.
The Master stars Joaquin Phoenix as a naval veteran who returns from the Second World War uncertain of his future.
The festival will close with Song for Marion, the story of a grumpy pensioner (Terence Stamp) who doesn't understand why his wife (Vanessa Redgrave) is so involved in the local choir.
Other titles include Deepa Mehta's Midnight's Children; the Ben Affleck political thriller Argo, the Tom Hanks epic Cloud Atlas; and the Ryan Gosling drama The Place Beyond the Pines.
mreid@timescolonist.com
