autoerotica 2000
On autoerotica I once again paired up with Producer Jill Riley.
Jill and I received a Drama Prize from the National Screen Institute, which provided us with some training and access to a few resources to help make the film. Jill and I worked to build on these resources with the ambition of shooting it on 35mm film.
We secured a pre-license from CBC-TV’s Canadian Reflections, which gave us some cash flow. Jill managed to get Kodak to donate all of the film stock, and the late, great Tom Berner of Deluxe came through with everything else we needed including complete lab services and a full sound edit and mix in one of Deluxe’s premium mixing theatres.
It’s hard to overstate how many independent filmmakers Tom Berner helped out during his career. After wrapping autoerotica I initiated The Tom Berner Award to recognise contributions to independent filmmaking. LIFT in Toronto sponsored the award and for a decade or so it was given out during the Images Festival. Tom was the first recipient.
A central challenge of making autoerotica was that most of it took place in a moving vehicle. DOP Patrick McGowan and I worked to find different ways of looking at the car and its occupants for every scene.
We shot for three days with a volunteer cast and crew. Some of the derelict areas of the city we shot in around the old Canary Restaurant have since been replaced by condos, but the crumbling Gardiner of 2000 is still the crumbling Gardiner a quarter century later.
Brian Connelly of Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Plant and Atomic 7 did the original score for the film. We were also able to get permission to use some favourite tracks from Madder Rose, Lowest of the Low, Maddox Brothers and Rose, and Billy Bragg. These were still the days of VHS tapes, and I sent one off to an address on the back of a Billy Bragg CD along with a request to use one of his songs. One day I came home to find a message from Billy Bragg on my answering machine, and when I called back I got the man himself on the phone and he very kindly granted permission. It was so odd to hear the familiar voice of the Bard from Barking on the other end of a long-distance phone call. I still have a copy of that answering machine message.
autoerotica debuted at the Montreal World Film Festival, and after its festival run it was broadcast on CBC-TV’s Canadian Reflections.
HD scan from original negative
Mark Wihak Writer/Director
Jill Riley Producer
Michael McMurtry
David Hewlett
Fiona Highet
Faradee Rudy
Cinematography by Patrick McGowan
Production Designer Kaija Vogel
Editor Ian Harvey
Original Music Atomic 7 (Brian Connelly)
