Jun. 17, 2017 "Film explores immigrant angst over long-distance family ties": Today I found this article by Fish Griwkowsky in the Edmonton Journal:
As an immigrant who’s lived in Canada for 25 years, Edmonton filmmaker Eva Colmers knows something about long-distance relationships.
Her new short film, Happy Birthday, Mango!, tells the story of a live-in Filipino nanny struggling to stay connected to her son, who still lives back home. Colmers, let’s be clear, is not a Filipino nanny.
“That’s correct,” she laughs. “But I am an immigrant and can very much relate to the theme of not being there where the majority of your loved ones are — how do you reconcile that?
“It doesn’t really matter if your parents are 10,000 km away in Germany or just on the other side of Canada. The question remains, how can you remain close to the ones you love?”
The film stars Nathania Bernabe as Almara, a housekeeper who dearly wants to sing happy birthday to her overseas son, Pepo (Alaister Sison). She affectionately calls him Mango.
Having used up all her phone data, tension pours in as Almara has to go hat in hand for some time on the computer from her employer Claire (Samantha Grant), who is too busy to pay attention to her own daughter — never mind worry about her housekeeper’s problems.
Colmers notes, philosophically, distance can exist even within a household. “The film not only touches on physical closeness, but emotional, too.”
Director and co-producer, Colmers was partially inspired to write the story while witnessing a tiny drama over at a friend’s place. “The little girl fell and hurt herself and ran immediately to the nanny in order to find comfort, rather than to the mom who was sitting right there,” she recalls. “It’s not always easy.”
In the film, the director included subtle rivalry between her Claire and Almara. To understand her subject matter, Colmers had multiple meetings with Filipino advisers and workers who shared their stories. “To the audition, lots of Filipinos came and said, ‘This is my story, this is my story’.”
Claire’s daughter Alex is played by Sherwood Park hip-hop dancer Taylor Hatala — on tour with Janet Jackson at the time of filming.
Colmers explains, “When she was 11 or so she was doing her dancing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. I wanted to give her an opportunity to hone her acting skills, but the fact is she was away on a world tour. And then Janet Jackson got pregnant and they cancelled the tour, and her mom asked, ‘Are you still looking?’
“That was fantastic. She has millions of likes, way more than any of us put together,” Colmers said.
Filming was done in three days, frugally. “Budget is always an issue. A nephew of mine was shooting a documentary in Somalia so I asked him to get me a shot from the ocean — but everything else was done in Edmonton, from the Groat Bridge with our skyline behind to the Muttart, which provided the background for the lush jungle. The house,” she says with a laugh, “is actually my house — that’s how strict we were with cash.”
Wes Miron did a terrific job shooting. Filming on the bridge, capturing a moment of perfect golden light, “we had to shoot with walkie-talkies — we couldn’t be in the way. And all those bicycles that came through!”
With more than 14 films on her resume, three of them documentaries for the National Film Board, Colmers said, “My wish is that I’m not repeating myself with short films any more. I just want to do long format. It‘s now or never.”
She’s on the phone at Banff Media Fest as I interview her, definitely on the independent side of the industry conference — but seeing what she can learn about broadcast as she eyes turning Mango into an ongoing series.
“I’d love to bring to our city a series, that concept to branch out — you could talk about the politics of immigration, about the family. I’m not quite ready to full-blown pitch, but that’s what I’m here for: I’m trying to learn.
“If some of us do well here it raises us all.”
A screening at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at Metro Cinema of Happy Birthday, Mango! is a sneak preview fundraiser for cast and crew — although the public is welcome to come support the film.
The film officially premieres June 23 at the 14th annual Female Eye Film Festival at the Fox Theatre in Toronto, which is associated with the Canadian professional development initiative Women in the Director’s Chair.
Colmers said she never felt held back as a female director in Edmonton. “No, not at all. It bugs me when I hear the low percentages of female directors, and barely anybody produces in the mainstream — but I do not experience that in Edmonton or Alberta.
“There is a different way men present themselves compared to women, but sometimes we need to be a little bit louder. I just was at a Q&A session and they didn’t see my hand right away, so I had stand up and then they saw me — Here’s another questioner, this fragile little woman.”
Colmers is also working on a documentary about a teenager transitioning genders as she pitches Mango! to the festivals, and begins to write episodically.
Always on the go as one of Edmonton’s most prolific filmmakers involves, Colmers said, “throwing lots of spaghetti on the ceiling and crossing my fingers that some will stick.”
Dec. 28, 2019 My opinion: I know Taylor Hatala and her dancing, because I like dancing.
I thought the name Eva Colmers sounded familiar, and it turns out I did read and article and posted about her on my blog:
Sept. 9, 2017 "Film fund had a bit part, but made a lasting impression": Today I found this article by Simon Houpt in the Globe and Mail:
A key equity-investment program bows out of Canadian moviemaking, underscoring how every dollar of backing counts
There’s a saying among actors that “there are no small parts,” but the maxim extends to the action behind the scenes, too: When it comes to financing a Canadian independent film, every little bit helps. So, producers were alarmed last month when a small but vital not-forprofit agency announced that it was ending decades of funding film production.
The Harold Greenberg Fund (HGF) has made equity investments in some of the highest profile Canadian films on the horizon, including Kim Nguyen’s Eye on Juliet and Kathleen Hepburn’s Never Steady, Never Still, both of which will be at the Toronto International Film Festival, as well as Xavier Dolan’s English-language debut The Death and Life of John F. Donovan.
And money from the HGF was key to getting last year’s breakout Canadian hit, Maudie, on the screen, as well as Dolan’s It’s Only the End of the World, which won the Cannes Grand Prix.
But in late August, the fund sent a note to producers explaining that “In response to our internal financing outlook,” its equity-investment program would cease activities this month. Although the amount in question may seem small – in its 2015-16 annual report, the fund said its equity program had invested a little over $1.1million, spread among 10 features – producers say it can make a big difference.
The change comes as other major players in the industry have fallen by the wayside or been severely crippled in their activities, including the pay-TV service Super Channel, which entered bankruptcy proceedings last year.
As well, the country’s oldest pay-TV service, the Movie Network, took over its Western counterpart, Movie Central, further reducing the number of outlets that might buy a project before it goes into production.
That is a particular challenge since government agencies, which provide the lion’s share of funding to Canadian feature films, often look for presales to broadcasters as a signal of a project’s viability. Producers say TMN has been picking up fewer films at the prebuy stage, as it has shifted toward projects with higher profiles, such as the Oscar-nominated dramas Room and Brooklyn.
The Harold Greenberg Fund, named after one of the founders of Astral Media, was created by that Montreal-based company in the 1980s when it owned the pay-TV network First Choice (now known as the Movie Network), to support screenwriters and producers during the crucial development stage with small no-interest loans.
During its existence, it has supported thousands of projects, cutting small cheques – the current rate for a first draft is up to $10,000 – that allow writers to pay the rent while working on scripts.
Most recently, it helped writer director Mina Shum develop
Meditation Park and supported the adaptation of Richard Wagamese’s acclaimed 2012 novel Indian Horse, both of which will be at TIFF this year.
The HGF has told the industry that, even as it reduces its overall spending, it will continue its development program, which can include paying for the rights to a book or play, writing first or second drafts, hiring a story editor, and “polish and packaging,” which might involve scouting locations or attaching a director or actors to a project.
Producers applauded that assurance, praising the Harold Greenberg Fund for the expertise of its staff and board, and as one of the few agencies to recognize the importance of spending time and money upfront.
“The funding they do and the support they give for development is really, really important, to be able to continue to make projects in Canada and to do independent film, because there’s almost no other avenues to access,” said Tyler Hagan, a producer of Never Steady, Never Still, which received money both during development and an equity investment of 10 per cent of its budget from the Harold Greenberg Fund.
“Without development funding, there’s nothing [producers] can do to provide the amount of time it takes to really dial in a new script,” noted Mike MacMillan, a producer of Don’t Talk to
Irene, which will have its world premiere Monday night at TIFF. HGF funding helps “make sure we have a couple of bucks in the pocket, so that writers aren’t starving, so that you can afford to get someone to help with putting together budgets, hiring casting directors – these things are all absolutely crucial to getting films off the ground.”
Mary Young Leckie, a producer of Maudie, noted that, as with most countries other than the United States, China and India, “we don’t have an environment of risk capital investments in feature films in Canada.” Maudie received about 3 per cent of its budget – roughly $200,000 of the $7.4-million of its production cost – from HGF as an equity investment, and made up the rest of its budget primarily from federal and provincial government sources, as well as the Irish Film Board.
“If there’s someone out there who wants to be a risk capitalist and invest in my next five films, you can give them this phone number.”
MacMillan suggested that continuing to support development is the smartest use of the HGF’s shrinking funds. “If you get a great script together, you can go attract a co-producer internationally, or go south of the border and try to find money from companies that are used to putting actual cash into their projects. All of that starts with how good is the script.”
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