autoerotica 2000
autoerotica followed close on the heels of Ecstasy and 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 workshops 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 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 in these days before online crowdfunding, we hosted a fundraising night at Ted’s Wrecking Yard, and Jill recruited Ron Hawkins and Hawksley Workman to perform.
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. You can find out more about Tom Berner on the Other Stuff page.
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, and then did a day of second-unit driving shots. Some of the derelict areas of the city we shot in around the old Canary Restaurant have since been replaced by condos, but the crumbling Gardiner of 2000 is still the crumbling Gardiner a quarter century later.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.
I wrote Billy Bragg at an address on the back of one of his CDs with a request to use his song Wish You Were Her in the film. One day I came home to find a message from Billy Bragg on the answering machine, asking me to send him a cut of the film. These were still the days of VHS tapes, so I sent off a tape with a rough-cut. A few weeks later, the phone rang and it was the the familiar voice of the Bard from Barking on the other end of a long-distance phone call, telling me we could use his song.
autoerotica debuted in February 2000 at the Local Heroes Film Festival in Winnipeg. Normally, Winnipeg in February wouldn’t be a desired destination, but that festival was the best one I’ve ever attended, with its focus on Canadian films and filmmakers from across the country gathering at the Fort Garry Hotel to watch films and socialise. After its festival run autoerotica was broadcast on CBC-TV’s Canadian Reflections.
Michael McMurtry, David Hewlett, Fiona Highet
Cinematographer – Patrick McGowan, Production Designer – Kaija Vogel
Editor – Ian Harvey, Original Music – Atomic 7 (Brian Connelly)
Producer – Jill Riley, Writer/Director – Mark Wihak
HD scan from original 35mm negative.
