5th Annual Soho Film Festival
New York City, New York
Village East Cinemas
May 15th- 22nd
SohoFilmFest celebrates cutting edge digital technology while honouring traditional forms or storytelling, encourages new and seasoned filmmakers from here in New York City and around the world to create and send in their fresh and annotative cinematic pieces. By enticing filmmakers and cinema lovers from America and across the globe, we expect to draw audiences to NYC, known for its artistic community and cultural sophistication.
Down River is the emotionally stirring story of three young women teetering on the edge between creative breakthroughs and personal breakdowns, and their connection with the older woman they rely on for guidance, support and inspiration.
Review of Down River
In a brilliant portrayal of women and their challenges, director Ben Ratner manages to keep his finger on the pulse of realism. There ware many films that show women how we “think” they are or who they might be. Ratner sketched characters that eerily on par. The filmmaker most know for capturing women is Woody Allen. Down River has that feel to it, great writing, no over acting and as a director Ratner never condescends to his audience. It is no surprise Down River has been playing multiple film festivals including (most recently) The Newport Beach Film Festival. Down River also garnered 13 Leo nominations which are the equivalent of Oscars in America.
An Interview with Director Ben Ratner
Paul Booth: How long did it take to shoot? How many drafts of the script? How long in development? Was it all Canadian crew?
Ben Ratner: Hey, you’re sneaky. This is 4 questions! It took 16 days to shoot Down River. It’s impossible to say how many drafts of the script, because I’d work on each draft over and over before deciding it was an actual draft worth locking, then I’d end up, of course, going back in and starting another draft. It’s a long process of hope and denial, but eventually you have to step away from the computer and start shooting. Our development process was pretty fast. My first feature was in development for 4 years and this one, maybe less than a year. And yes, our crew was all Canadian, and proud of it.
PB: Why did you feel the need to make Down River and were any aspects of the film autobiographical?
BR: Down River is inspired by my friend and mentor, Babz Chula, who passed away in 2010 after a long scrap with cancer. She was the coolest — she treated everyone the same, from Production Assistant to Executive Producer, people were all equal to her and she was a friend to one and all. She taught me a lot about life, art, and friendship, and I want audiences to think about the importance of mentors and friends … about overcoming fear in order to achieve your goals and live a fulfilling life … about how hard it is to be an artist, especially, in many cases, a woman artist, and that talent isn’t enough, it takes endless perseverance … about how fleeting life can be … about embracing life despite the hardships we all face … I want artists and lonely people and sick people and broken people to know they’re not alone in their suffering … that kinda stuff! Ultimately, the film is about overcoming fear in order to live your life as fully and as fruitfully as possible. And the importance of mentors to help point us in the right direction when we are adrift.
I like telling my own stories and I like feeling like I’m in control. As a kid I always felt loved, but I didn’t feel safe. Directing creates the illusion of control, and with that comes something that feels like safety. I once read that George Clooney said, “The director is the painter, the actor is the paint.” I think that’s an oversimplification in many cases, and doesn’t give the actors their due, but there’s a lot of truth to it. And I don’t like small talk. On film sets there’s a lot of small talk because things take a long time to set up. I like keeping busy. I like doing shit. The director is always busy.
PB: Was it union or non-union? It has a great pure indie feel to it, how did you capture that? (outside budget constraints).
BR: All the actors in the film were union, working for 100 bucks a day. The crew was mostly non union, and the union members on the crew worked on waivers. The only way to get these kinds of films done is by will and love, and we had plenty of that. Everyone knew Babz, and jumped on board to support this film made in her memory. The clothes, the furniture, the jewelry, it was all Babz’. Her husband, Larry Lynn, shot the film, and he’s a great DP with 40 years plus of experience. We captured a “pure indie feel” by making the film we wanted to make — the only compromises were due to our tiny budget.
PB: Please tell us how many festivals it has played?
BR: So far Vancouver, where we won the Audience Award for Most Popular Canadian Film, Sudbury, Calgary, Victoria, Newport Beach, San Jose, and SoHo in New York. Lots more to come. We also played The Film Market in Berlin, where we acquired our International Sales Company, The Little Film Company.
PB: Your film just received 13 Leo Award nominations. Can you tell us in which categories?
BR: Down River’s Leo Awards nominations are in the categories of Best Motion Picture (James Brown, Ben Ratner, Andrew Halliwell & Jack Ong), Best Direction (Ben Ratner), Best Screenwriting (Ben Ratner), Best Lead Performance by a Female (Helen Shaver), Best Supporting Performance by a Female (Jennifer Spence), Best Supporting Performance by a Female (Colleen Rennison), Best Supporting Performance by a Male (Brian Markinson), Best Cinematography (Larry Lynn), Best Picture Editing (Rob Wenzek), Best Production Design (Josh Plaw), Best Costume Design (Gloria Tsui), Best Musical Score (Chris Ainscough & Kevin House) and Best Overall Sound (Randy Kiss, Michael McDonald & Brian Lyster).
PB: Did you shoot it in Toronto, Vancouver, all over Canada?
BR: We shot the film all in Vancouver, right in our own neighbourhood, The West End. The scenes at the beginning and end of the film are literally moments from our front door. We are lucky to live in such an incredibly photogenic city.
PB: Who is your favorite character as a director?
BR: Akiko Uno, played by my wife, Jennifer Spence. She overcomes her fear in a beautiful and truthful way, and she’s funny and weird and cute as hell.
PB: What was the most challenging sequence for you to film?
BR: Shooting the scene with Harper singing to Molly in The Cobalt was almost the end of me. Smoke machine giving me massive headache, making me nauseous, tons of extras, not enough food or water for them, live music blasting all day, a massive shot list … I has hanging by a thread. But we got it all done and it’s one of my favorite sequences in the film. Larry Lynn, our DP did a fantastic job lighting it, and the gals’ performances were excellent. There’s a photo of me on the cover of the Reel West magazine issue that contains my director’s diary that was taken that day, and if you look closely at my eyes, it looks like I’ve been kicked in the head by a horse.
PB: Any key lesson you took from this film to use for the next one?
BR: Create a family. The film is the baby. The Producer is the Daddy. The director is the Momma. The rest of the cast and crew are big brothers and big sisters, helping to take care of the baby. As far as the cast goes, treat the actors as individuals — everyone has different needs. There’s some good basic tools, but there’s no instructions or manual. You have to use your intuition, moment to moment and learn as you go. Don’t try to come up with things to say if there’s nothing useful to be said. Some actors need space, some need a hug, figure out which kind you are dealing with, and know that these traits may change day by day or even scene by scene.
PB: Outside May 16th in Soho NYC, where can people see Down River?
BR: Down River will be released on VOD and iTunes in Canada in July 2014. Our International Sales Agent is in Cannes right now, so hopefully he will open up new markets for us abroad. And more festivals, TBA!
PB: Do you have an overall goal with the film? Is there distribution in place?
BR: It has been an exciting ride for Down River. We recently had a successful theatrical run in Toronto and Vancouver and received rave reviews from both audiences and critics alike. It made the list of Top 5 Canadian Films at the Canadian Box Office despite playing in only 2 theatres across the country. Our Canadian Distributor, IndieCan Entertainment, did a great job of bringing the film to Canadian audiences, so now it’s up to The Little Film Company to bring it to the rest of the world. Making a good film was the number one goal. That has been achieved. Now it would be great if we can pay back our Executive Producer, who financed the shoot, and Telefilm Canada who financed the post. That would be really great.
Down River screens Saturday May 16th at 6 p.m. at Village EAST Cinemas 182 ave. 12th st.
Article by Entertainment Writer, Paul Booth
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