MONTREAL - Montrealers Patrick Boivin and Olivier Roberge have a sweet little debut feature film called Enfin l?Automne (Fall, Finally). Good for them.
A feel-good love triangle where friendship trumps jealousy, it stands on easy dialogue, crisp cinematography and direction; fine performances from Christine Beaulieu, Louis Tremblay, Jacques Laroche and famed former Montreal DJ-turned-thespian Dean Hagopian; and romance-worthy tunes from local bands like Timber Timbre, Misteur Valaire, Ricky Eat Acid, Magic Man and Foxes in Fiction. And all this with a princely budget of $45,000. Fantastic!
But Quebec filmmakers have been known to make first features once in their lives; underknown actors have deferred salaries for exposure and experience; and the new technology makes shooting and editing a relatively inexpensive process for creatively nimble digital wizards like Boivin and Roberge.
No, what makes Enfin l?Automne stand out in this thin crowd ? what makes it unique ? is that it is the first Canadian feature to have YouTube as its platform, with the benediction of the Internet giant and something it calls a Partnership Program.
As Boivin explained it, one week and 11,500 hits after his 70-minute, English-subtitled work was uploaded (to youtube.com/user/PatrickBoivin), the three-year partnership gives the filmmaker access to the platform ?for things you have rights to, and they get the right to piggyback commercials on them.?
Boivin is no stranger to YouTube (check out his channel for short films, bio and more), the Internet or the camera. This is how the self-described autodidact explained his life?s progress and the four years it took to bring Enfin l?Automne to the Web:
?I started drawing comic books when I was 15 years old and soon found it was easier to communicate with a camera. I did a lot of different things over the next 15 years ? TV, commercials, videos ? and got tired of them. Then I discovered YouTube and knew I wanted to do something with it, but wasn?t sure what.
?My first clips were viral clips and they generated a lot of interest. (Boivin?s channel has attracted way north of 1,000,000 views.) Bands contacted me, and I did clips for Indochine, Iggy Pop and others. Google and Pixel called me, and I did a lot of viral clips for those companies and others, as well as personal clips for myself.?
Boivin described the great leap forward to features. ?The idea for making a film without any money made sense because we knew we had an online fan base. Plus, I was making good money with YouTube and reinvesting it in equipment.?
Most important, he and Roberge had a story to tell that was near and dear to their hearts, and would ring true on small, medium or large screens.
?The story is about us, in our 30s, wanting to have girlfriends and start families, but having nothing. We were alone. Olivier and I actually got involved in a triangle that worked out well ? a happy triangle ? and we decided to make a movie about it.?
It would feel right. It would feel real. It would be a feel-good film about the power of friendships. ?We didn?t want any guns or special effects, and every scene is shot in documentary style, so it felt like it was really happening. ?
The two were blessed with access to leads Beaulieu, Tremblay and Laroche, who agreed to work for nothing in exchange for worldwide exposure. Locations fell into place, and the mother-of-necessity decision to make the film for virtually nothing meant time was on their side.
?Normally, Canadian movies are shot in five weeks. We took 10, waited for all three actors to be free, and rehearsed till we had it right.? The music was a charm as well, with a dozen bands offering songs for free in trade for links to their websites.
The delivery system was another no-brainer. Bricks-and-mortar theatrical distribution was out of the question. ?With no money, we had no choice. The Web was obvious for us. YouTube offers something incredible. We can show our movie to the world.
?We had no expectations, because we didn?t want to be disappointed, but we?re really proud of it. We didn?t make it to be popular. It?s not an easy movie for everyone, but it really talks to people in their 30s.?
For a couple of guys with nothing to lose but their optimism, Enfin l?Automne has already surpassed whatever modest goals were set for it. And its appeal has reached at least one Canadian cultural bureaucrat with access to public funding, Boivin revealed.
?We?ve got money to make another film. A real one this time!?
johngriffin@bell.net
? Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette
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