Aparita

Toronto Star

The DJ spun the latest pop and r ‘n’ b tunes as two young girls in frilly dresses looked on. Elsewhere, volunteers handed out pizza and pop to a snaking line of children and their parents.

It was a movie festival opening gala with a difference.

The second-annual International Teen Movie Festival (ITMF), being held at the AMC Interchange 30 in Vaughan, had a festive start last weekend. The festival continues this week, with screenings every day. There will also be a series of lectures by entertainment industry professionals.
The closing gala screening will be held Aug. 23, followed by the ITMF awards show the next day at the Danforth Music Hall.

“It’s great to be able to show my film on the big screen,” smiled lanky 19-year-old Daniel Epton, whose Fast Track played at the opening gala. “It’s incredible. And getting together with all these kids who’re making films and having them shown in the theatre, it’s amazing.”

Epton, who got into filmmaking through a course at his high school, had a whole row of fans in the theatre, including parents, grandparents, his sister and her boyfriend, and friends, watching him film.
For 14-year-old Evan Kosiner, the evening was a chance to mingle with other filmmakers before addressing them as a speaker.

“Last year I started my own production company called Carabiner Productions,” says Kosiner. “It started as a teen filmmaking thing and now will be going into doing shows for High School Television. We’re doing a show called Fred TV, which is based in L.A., with all the big stars. Wherever there’s a red carpet, there’s Fred TV. And there’s another show called Price Tag. So, life’s kind of busy.”

Earlier in the evening, bright-eyed teenagers, accompanied by proud parents and the whoops and cheers of younger siblings, sent off dozens of helium balloons into the azure sky.

They then poured into the cinemas to watch five movies by what the organizers of the festival, siblings Jonathan and Naomi Hiltz and Myles Shane, like to call the “Spielbergs of the future.”

“Steven Spielberg was 16 when he made his first war film and I read in a recent biography that he wished there was someplace where he could have shown it at that time,” says 27-year-old Shane, who was a researcher at ABC News in New York before he partnered up with Hiltz Squared Entertainment.

A production company, Hiltz Squared Entertainment, was created by Jonathan and Naomi in 1998. Since then the company has diversified into M.A.S Media (a publishing house), Hiltz Entertainment (a distributor), MNJ (a record label), Hiltz Productions (the original production house) and ITMF.

“Myles and I were in Los Angeles producing one of our latest feature films,” says 27-year-old Jonathan, when asked how ITMF started. “Myles was reading a paper and noticed an article by a 15-year-old. He said, ‘Teens are doing a lot of things today,’ and passed me a napkin with the words ‘International Teen Movie Festival’ written on it. I knew exactly what he meant.”

On their return to Toronto, the three partners set about seeking sponsors from many countries, including Canada, and the festival was born. Even in two years, it has grown.

“We’ve grown not only in terms of submissions, but also in terms of where these movies are coming from,” says 24-year-old Naomi, whose own film, Jack’s House, is currently showing on Movie Network and Movie Central. “We had submissions from Lebanon, Russia, the U.K.”

“I got an e-mail from Lebanon saying that filmmakers there were making films about the life in refugee camps. I told them to send it along,” adds Shane.

Easier access to film equipment and the advent of digital technology has made it easier for teenagers to make films - and they have ideas they want to share through the medium. This year’s festival, which is showing “just under 300 films” out of 1,800 submissions, indicates several issues on teen minds.

“There are movies about 9/11, bullying and peer pressure, and many things teenagers deal with,” says Naomi. “But the films also offer solutions and hope.”

Besides offering networking opportunities to young filmmakers, the festival also functions as a talent search for companies such as Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox. Miles Fisher, the winner for the Best Actor award in last year’s festival, recently got cast in a new Gene Hackman film.

For other filmmakers, such as 19-year-old Justin Haigh, the festival is a great forum to showcase movies made on a shoestring budget.

“I am really proud of my dramatic short, A Pact With God,” he says. “It’s about a girl who is so angry with the state of affairs that she starts to question God. I got my friend, who is an actor, to act in it. The props were mostly found in my closet or garage sale. The only cost I had was the filming equipment I had already bought.

“My advice to other young filmmakers is to give it try. You can find most of the things in your basement, although you can’t always get every idea perfectly done. And be realistic in terms of writing a story.

“Don’t try to write Star Wars.”

The Toronto Star

He’s traded in the short hair with shaved lines and shaved eyebrows for dreadlocks. It’s a personal choice, says Brit-South Asian singer Steven Kapur, better known as Apache Indian.

“I’ve always wanted long hair,” he says. “The lines in the hair, that was a fashion thing. I’ve grown up now.”

Sitting in a Mississauga restaurant, 35-year-old Apache Indian sips tea as he speaks about his career as an artist who mixes bhangra beats with reggae grooves, Punjabi lyrics with patois rhymes.

It’s been 10 years since the Handsworth, Birmingham native’s appearance on the British charts with his debut album No Reservations and his first performance in Toronto. He’s back again to perform tomorrow night at the Bhangra Bash at Wild Water Kingdom in Brampton.

In the last decade, Apache Indian has launched six albums, including Make Way For The Indian and Karma, has been nominated for four Brit Awards and starred in his own documentary series on Britain’s Channel 4. Currently he’s working on two new albums, Just Like That and Storm, collaborating with artists such as Boys II Men and Bollywood playback singer Asha Bhonsle.

His success still amazes him.

“I made my first track just for myself, in my cousins’ recording studio,” says Apache Indian talking about “Movie Over India.”

“I made 500 copies, gave 10 to friends and the rest to record stores. Next thing I know, the song has topped Birmingham’s reggae charts. People were asking who’s this guy? Is he Indian? Is he black? Is it two guys? I was just playing the music I had grown up with.

“I had Indian influences because of my background but I loved reggae music. Handsworth had a lot of Jamaican influence.

“I wrote simple songs, my Punjabi’s not the greatest. There was no formula but something worked. Then someone asked me to make a second record. I took a really simple Punjabi phrase from my first song and made “Chok There.” That topped the charts too. Then some guys called me from Toronto to perform here. I never imagined I would be going outside of Britain for a gig.”

His first few records caught the attention of Island Records, Bob Marley’s label, and Apache Indian was sent to Kingston, Jamaica to record an album. Working with some of his reggae idols, he came out with No Reservations, which included the track “Arranged Marriage.”

“I talk about the things happening around me, but I have fun with it,” says Apache Indian. “I respect my parents’ culture, but I also question it.”

Surprised by his newfound success, Apache Indian was elated the first time he toured India in 1993.

“When I signed on to a major label, that was huge,” he says. “Then suddenly I’m in India performing in front to 60,000 people. And I’m meeting the Indian president. I couldn’t believe it.”

The last couple of low-profile years have been a deliberate attempt to mature as an artist, says Apache Indian.

“I just wanted to tour around the world and work with a live band. I never stopped what I was doing, just stepped out of the limelight. I made a hell of a lot of mistakes, so it’s been nice to be able to take a step back to go forward.”

The Toronto Star, [08/16/2002]

Cecil’s Journey part of Filmi festival at Harbourfront

It started out as an intellectual exercise: Go to Sri Lanka to document the current situation, maybe throw in a few family references. But nothing had prepared filmmaker Rohan Fernando for his journey to the country he left when he was 5.

Cecil’s Journey, the story of the 29-year-old Halifax resident’s passage to Sri Lanka, typifies the immigrant experience - of journeys between countries, cultures and even generations.
Fernando’s documentary screens this weekend at Filmi 2002, part of the third annual South Asian film festival being held as a part of Masala! Mehndi! Masti!, a three day South Asian cultural festival that starts tonight at Harbourfront.

Cecil’s Journey is typical of a growing phenomenon, as lower costs of filmmaking lead to many more independent movies being produced by the growing South Asian Diaspora. Their stories include documentation of the immigrant experience, the trials and tribulations of second-generation South Asians caught between two colliding cultures, or even playful shots at Bollywood.

This phenomena is one of the reasons Mohit Rajhans co-founded the first Filmi film festival in 2000.

“We like to call it the Sundance of Bollywood,” jokes 26-year-old Rajhans. “There’s a niche of independent South Asian cinema that’s influenced by both Bollywood and (North American) cinema. It needs to be explored not just for the South Asian market but also for a more mainstream market, so that they can realize just how diverse we are.”

Growing from a one-day event the first year to four days this year, Filmi 2002 has eight countries represented and several directors coming to Toronto.

“We have a Filmi perspective where we show the first and most current work of a filmmaker of international acclaim,” says Rajhans. “This year it’s Mira Nair. And we have something for everyone whether it’s a documentary by Lalita (Krishna) on battling hate crime or a German take on Bollywood. We also have films dealing with journeys, such as Bollywood Bound and Cecil’s Journey.”

Fernando’s journey - the name Cecil in the title of the documentary refers to the name he was given when people couldn’t pronounce Rohan - started off as a casual chat with producer Peter d’Entremont about going back to Sri Lanka for inspiration for his paintings.

“Peter thought it would be an interesting story to document,” says Fernando. “We got some interest going and managed to get some development funds. A producer asked me whether I was going to visit my family. I said no. She said I should. I said maybe, in between shoots.”

Growing up in Canada, Fernando didn’t have much perspective in the country of his birth. He’d had a need to suppress “that part of (his) identity” that made him different. His family never talked about the war in Sri Lanka because of the pain associated with the topic. The research for his documentary, into the recent violent history of his homeland, left him “blown away.”

Although he wanted to deal with these issues, it was the sensual shock that hit him when he arrived in Sri Lanka.

“It was literally like going back in time,” says Fernando. “The smells, the tastes, the colours, everything took me back to my childhood. Although I was trying to hold on to the documentary sense, I just wanted to belong to this place. But I was also frustrated because I was like an outsider there as well. I was being questioned as to why I had come back.”

The hour-long debut documentary eventually became a personal journey, informed by family stories, snippets about the war and picturesque montages. The labour of love - the production aspect came together only last year with assistance by the National Film Board - has allowed Fernando to answer some questions about his identity.

“This journey leaves me in a very different place,” he says. “It’s turned my life around and allowed me to accept a lot of things - my cultural heritage, the colour of my skin.”