Trials and Tribulations of Independence

I am going to start writing about my struggle with a totally independent short film called DOGGONED.

This summer I decided to make the most of my life and be really productive. In May I made a short film called BROWNIE. From concept to DVD it took me 27 days to make Brownie. I wanted to meet the deadline for the Toronto International Film Festival. Yesterday I received word that Brownie was not selected by the festival programmers. Brownie was made for under $1000. It is a cute and funny little film. It has subversive elements such as the idea of an Arab protagonist in what is essentially a take on contemporary sitcom culture which is either black or white. Brownie is still in the festival circuit and I will be uploading it on my website in a few months.

In June I worked on some projects for other friends. I came across a really funny story from a friend of a friend. It was an instantly likeable story and I decided to make a short film out of it. It turned out to be an urban legend as well but I do wonder how many people have ever heard about it. We shall wait and see.

I incorporated the issue of work permits, legal status and student poverty into the film. So many of my friends, colleagues and family members have had to suffer through that at one point in life or another and it is an issue not commonly discussed in the media. International students right out of university have very few options; either get a work permit somehow, get married or leave the country.

I wanted to shoot Doggoned properly using super 16 film format and with a good budget. I asked a friend to play producer. He agreed on co-producer and that eventually fell through as pre-production started.

With less than 10 days to go, I still have to raise $4,000 of the $5000 budget of the film. It is stressful but I must now concentrate on the production and not on the finances. It is a terrible thing to have to wear the producer AND the director hat. I will avoid this in future projects. Right now, a crew of about twenty is looking up to me for guidance.

I have already gone through several auditions and three different leading ladies. We have settled on the lovely and charming Ulka Simone Mohanty- a Montreal dancer and theater actor. The cast and crew are serious up and coming talents in the Canadian film scene and our team is really strong. Let's see how well we work together.

Juggling finances, relationships and friendships. That is what life is all about. That is what being a full time filmmaker and independent artist is all about. Let's see how it goes.