Five years ago, prolific producer Niv Fichman of Rhombus Media hired me to write a film based on an idea of Pedro Morelli’s. I’d met Pedro at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2010, a brilliant young Brazilian director from exceptional pedigree – his father, Paulo, is an accomplished director and writer, and Fernando Meirelles, the award-winning director of City of God, is his business partner.
The story was called Zoom, and it was a crazy whirlwind of a film involving multiple realities. Since that fateful meeting, the script has changed and evolved countless times. It’s been a literal trip: I’ve even been to Brazil to work on the script. The film is a Canadian/Brazilian co-production, and is also set in both countries [see the trailer here].
The film is also a mix of nationalities with Gael García Bernal, Jason Priestley, Alison Pill, Mariana Ximenes, Tyler Labine and Don McKellar. And now, the film is set to premiere at this year’s TIFF, which is even more of a trip.
I’ve been attending the festival for nine years. The first time I attended was because of a chance meeting with John Waters on a plane. He ended up becoming a close friend, which led me to meet my long-time boss Charlotte Mickie, and a job in international film sales. My memories of TIFF have been a combination of complete exhaustion: working long days and nights prepping for the many films we were selling, to a lot of fun times.: party after party free drink after free drink morning hangover after hangover. (Aside: I eagerly await my Facebook feed of complaints from all my film friends, moaning about how they have another party they must dress up for and imbibe in more free booze and choke back more gourmet mini burgers. Problems, indeed, borne of champagne.)
This year, of course, TIFF will be a little different for me, and I’ll blogging my experience here at nowtoronto.com intermittently throughout the festival. When you work in film on the distribution side, you sometimes feel a little like a server – you’re there to help promote and facilitate the film – to get the food to the plate, as it were. This year, I’m part of the meal.
It’s an amazing process, making a film. I’ve found a good friend in Pedro, who is an intelligent and gifted director, full of incredible ideas and dedication and I’m excited for the world to see this wild movie he’s directed.
Like any film, there were always moments where you were worried about it being made – shooting was delayed a year at one point – or when it would debut. There’s a sense of relief when it goes to camera, and a sense of relief that the world gets to see it soon.
And now, will people like it? We will see. I am pretty proud of be a part of this incredible film, and I sure hope everyone enjoys Zoom.
But hey, even if they don’t, I still get a week of free drinks.
Matt Hansen is a writer based in Toronto. Zoom is his first feature film, and is in TIFF in the vanguard section. See more TIFF coverage here.
website@nowtoronto.com | @mattiojelly
