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11 World Premieres at TIFF!

August 11, 2009

Stop what passes for the presses these days! We interrupt watching the rain fall upon our final City Sonic film shoot today (with Divine Brown at the Rex Hotel) to trumpet the news that 11 City Sonic films will have their World Premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival next month. As part of TIFF free outdoor programming at Yonge and Dundas Square, City Sonic shorts will run before some of the best music features ever made (including two of my favourites, Rattle and Hum and Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man) – all for the low price of Free!

The lucky 11 City Sonic films include:
Geddy Lee of Rush at Massey Hall (directed by Bruce McDonald)
Care Failure of Die Mannequin at 102.1 The Edge (directed by Bruce McDonald)
Laura Barrett with Martin Tielli of the Rheostatics at the AGO (directed by Peter Lynch)
Sarah Slean at the Rivoli (directed by Rob Pilichowski)
Serena Ryder at the Dakota (directed by Robert Lang)
Divine Brown at the Rex (directed by Charles Officer)

Come back for the complete list of films and schedules, to be revealed here imminently. Then join us every day from September 10 to 19 at Yonge and Dundas Square to be the first to see these new City Sonic docs as we celebrate the best of Toronto music and film.

Posted in Anita Doron, Bruce McDonald, Charles Officer, George Vale, Laura Barrett, Peter Lynch, Rob Pilichowski, Robert Lang, Sarah Slean, Serena Ryder | 5 Comments »

City Sonic: Danko Jones at Maple Leaf Gardens

July 31, 2009

Director: George Vale, 2009
Growing up, the ultimate goal for Danko Jones was to play Maple Leaf Gardens. By the time he did in 2000, the venue was closing – his band became the last local act to perform on its stage. Returning home after one of his lengthy European tours, Danko revisits the Gardens and offers a personal rock ’n roll eulogy to the historic arena.

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Interview with Director George Vale

July 31, 2009

Director George Vale sets up to shoot Danko Jones in the back of a Toronto cab.

GEORGE VALE knows everybody. He has shot music videos and more with everyone from Broken Social Scene and Stars to the Rolling Stones and Alice in Chains so it was no surprise that he already knew Danko Jones, aka the Mango Kid. In fact they once shared an apartment.
George also attended the historic Maple Leaf Gardens show in question so he was the perfect choice to recreate the story for City Sonic.

LL: Give us your “elevator ride” pitch: the concept for your film in three sentences or less.
GV: Danko Jones gives a Henry Rollins-styled taxicab rock rant that explains his KISS cred and how he was on the last bill to play Maple Leaf Gardens but almost missed it. Sometimes funny but always honest, Danko Jones talks about what it meant to play the Gardens, over top of some of the best music he’s made.

LL: Any advice for other filmmakers on how to work within the 4-minute time limit?
GV: Four minutes is a long time for a music video or for just someone talking shit, but it goes by real fast when it’s both combined into one documentary-music form with an open creative license. Also get ready to edit, edit and edit and then edit it down again.

LL: How do you see the future of films made for mobile?
GV: There are already HD capable cellular phones out there in Japan so I can imagine a whole wave of content being produced by mobile phones.
It will probably take something like porn to popularize it but for most people the better the web playback quality the more they will be interested in watching and making TV on their phones.

LL: Do you have an “I was there!” Maple Leaf Gardens story of your own?
GV: I was 15 in 1976, old enough to stare rock’n’ roll in the face. That year a concert floodgate opened for me: I saw The Who with Keith Moon, KISS and Bowie there and went to the House of Lords for a shag-styled trim before every show.

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Production Diary: Danko Jones at Maple Leaf Gardens

July 29, 2009

Danko on the Monitor

Maple Leaf Gardens stopped having concerts in 2002. It’s now owned by Loblaw Companies, who tightly restrict access to the historic building. We were pretty bummed at being shut out of filming inside the Gardens despite our best efforts but when you’ve got Danko Jones around, you don’t need much else besides his mouth to make storytelling magic. Director George Vale found some innovative ways to take us inside anyway. Find out how he does it with behind the scene photos on our Flickr page.

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Interview with Director George Vale

July 16, 2009

Director George Vale

GEORGE VALE has shot music videos and more with everyone from Broken Social Scene and Stars to the Rolling Stones and Alice in Chains. For his first City Sonic film we sent him to Sneaky Dee’s to uncover Brian Borcherdt of Holy Fuck’s stories about Wavelength.

LL: Give us your “elevator ride” pitch: the concept for your film in three sentences or less.
GV: Brian Borcherdt gives a brief history of the scene surrounding Sneaky Dee’s, focusing on the Wavelength series and how it brought so many musicians together. Set to the music of Holy Fuck’s first LP, the episode graphically illustrates the connections between the individual artists and the paths they took to become the bands they are today, using Brian’s personal story of how influential Wavelength was to him and to many other successful bands.

LL: What was the biggest challenge shooting in this location?
GV: Trying to find a place to draw our Toronto indie rock hall of fame in Sneaky dee’s bathroom. It’s graphed up so much we had to peel one of the mirrors off the wall to find some open real estate. Now everyone’s going to be trying to find the map right? Or someone will find it in ten years when everyone included in the map is famous and living in LA and they declare Sneaky Dee’s bathroom wall a Heritage Site making the place impossible to tear down.

LL: What did you learn about Brian that surprised you?
GV: That he was as shy and funny as he was. Maybe that’s ‘cause I know him from playing guitar and jumping around on stage as much as he did in By Divine Right and his new music’s pretty lit up as well, so his on-stage persona is a bit of stretch when you meet him off stage. His solo record is more like Brian’s personality.

LL: Do you have any favourite vintage film “toys” to play with in your work too?
GV: The only old-school film thingy that I use that could compare to Brian’s sound/film synchronizer is some old scratchy leader I layer to give images a fatigued, period or documentary look. The leader’s been digitized so it’s not even in its natural form so I guess my vintage gag is a bit lame compared to Brian’s. Sorry, lovin’ digital technology too much these days, but I do know where to get a hand crank movie camera and some arc lights.

Posted in George Vale, Holy Fuck | 1 Comment »