Ecstasy 1999
Ecstasy is the story of a Rave Girl in deepest suburbia. While on her way home from a Rave, Stacey encounters “God” and is given a special mission. Not quite sure how to deal with this, she tries her best; losing friends and gaining converts before a final, miraculous event transforms her from average Rave Girl into Stacey of Suburbia.
Ecstasy was a logistically challenging short film to make, with lots of locations, wardrobe changes, and a sizeable volunteer crew to feed and transport every day. It was made possible through the hard work of Producer Jill Riley, and my sister Marian Wihak, who in addition to being the film’s Production Designer, did a lot of work to pull in crew, locations, and art department materials for the project.
I set the story in Scarborough even though at that point I knew little about that area of Toronto. Michael Campbell, a friend from grad school days, grew up in Scarborough, and he would talk evocatively about the hydro corridors that crossed his neighbourhood. When I was writing the screenplay, a hydro corridor played a key role, and so I set the story in Scarborough. Years after making the film I wed a woman from Scarborough and started spending considerable time there.
Although the story is set largely in Scarborough, for logistical reasons it wasn’t shot there. We shot some of the exteriors of the film in Mississauga, in an apartment on St. Clair near Yonge Street, a few scenes in the Dufferin Mall (a block away from where I lived in Toronto), in Kensington Market, a student residence near Jarvis and Gerrard, at a rave in the basement of the Edgewater Hotel at Queen and Roncesvalles, and at the Speaker’s Corner booth at City-TV on Queen Street.
Ecstasy was shot on Fuji 16mm colour film. This is the first film I worked on where the picture editing was done on a digital, non-linear system. Editor Sarah Peddie and I used the Media 100 system that the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT) had recently acquired. A significant percentage of the budget was spent on creating the digital effect of a tree in a hydro field that appears at the end of the film.
Ecstasy was released and exhibited on 16mm. It premiered at the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival, and was later broadcast on CBC TV’s Canadian Reflections.
Ecstasy was made with the support of the Ontario Arts Council and LIFT, and the generosity of the cast and crew.
Fiction – 27 minutes
2K transfer from 16mm negative
1.33:1 aspect ratio
Mark Wihak: Associate-Producer, Writer, Director
Elisa Moolecherry
Karyn Dwyer
Anne Rasmin
Holly Dennison
Stan Coles
Nathan Carter
Nigel Hamer
Alan Zweig
Produced by Jill Riley
Associate-Producer Marian Wihak
Cinematographer Christopher Ball
Production Designer Marian Wihak
Picture Editor Sarah Peddie
Composer Jim McGrath
