loading...
Canwest News Service
At the ripe old age of 30, Jacob Tierney is a screen veteran. The former child actor and son of producer and director Kevin Tierney ( Bon Cop, Bad Cop), he has worked with production designers and cinematographers who've been in the industry longer than he's been alive.
The opportunities to learn and grow from people with such experience can be exhilarating.
But it isn't nearly enough, he says. It's never enough.
"Directors always need a mentor. We always have to keep learning new things," Tierney says in a telephone interview from his native Montreal.
He seems to have already hit a high point with his sophomore feature The Trotsky, an absurdist coming-of-age comedy opening the Whistler Film Festival Dec. 3.
The Trotsky, a story about a teenager who mimics the titular revolutionary with a little too much zeal, arrives in Whistler surrounded by buzz after winning audience-choice awards at the Tokyo International Film Festival and the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax.
Tierney is typical of the filmmaker the Whistler Film Festival wanted to attract this year, says festival director Stacey Donen. Donen praises Tierney as "one of the bright lights of Canadian filmmaking, a director whose work seems to straddle commerce and art."
Now in its ninth year, the Whistler Film Festival screens 80 films, 80 per cent of which are B.C. premieres. The lineup includes 36 features and mid-length films and 44 shorts, and the festival will award more than $54,000 in prizes and commissions.
Donen, a filmmaker-turned-film-programmer, specialized in bringing Canadian features to the Toronto International Film Festival until this year, when he joined the Whistler team.
"One of the reasons I wanted to come here is because the focus is so squarely on Canadian cinema. To me, working with burgeoning filmmakers and making them the focus is what I want to do with the festival.
"Coming from filmmaking and understanding the process, I understand the complexity of making a film and putting your heart out to the world."
The visiting directors and the connections they can create with an audience at an intimate festival builds buzz and electricity, says Tierney.
"The smaller the festival, the easier it is to meet the audience and the other filmmakers, and the more fun it is."
Tierney's next movie, set for a January shooting schedule, will be graced with the work of a cinematographer with more than 35 years of experience, and a production designer who learned his craft from the likes of Louis Malle and Brian De Palma.
It's from these people, and fellow filmmakers across the country, that he gets the tips and experiences to satisfy his hunger about his craft, he says.
"The day you stop learning and wanting to learn new things is the day when your thirst for creative filmmaking is gone.
"Making a film can be isolating. You write alone, then while you're filming you're surrounded by people, but then you're back to being alone in a room editing with another guy. One of the risks of that process is you can get your head up your ass."
A small festival could also offer a chance for directors to watch audiences' reactions while the film screens. Tierney says he'd rather bow out of that process.
"I care too much. Every cough in the audience means something to me. You want everyone to listen to everything and to hear everything. It's like writing a book or composing a song: making a movie is a plea to communicate. And if you're not reaching an audience, it can be devastating."
So far, Tierney's been spared any pain. He usually walks into The Trotsky screenings 10 minutes before the final credits roll.
"People are usually smiling at that point, and that's pretty cool."
mfhill@vancouversun.com———
At a glance
Whistler Film Festival
Dec. 3 to Dec. 6
Multiple venues, Whistler Village – Get updates on events, programs and screenings at whistlerfilmfestival.com,or at the Festival info line at 1-877-838-FILM (3456). The info line will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily until Dec. 6. – To buy passes and tickets, go online to whistlerfilmfestival.comuntil Dec. 5. – In person, buy tickets at the festival box office in front of the Whistler Conference Centre, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Same-day tickets for all screenings may be purchased at theatre box offices starting 30 minutes before the first screening of the day at that venue. – Filmgoers require a Whistler Film Festival Society membership to get into films and events. No fear: They cost only $3 at festival venues, including Village 8 Cinemas and the Whistler Conference Centre.
