Mongrel Media Presents
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Mongrel Media Presents FALL A film by Terrance Odette (100 min., Canada, 2014) Language: English Distribution Publicity Bonne Smith Star PR 1028 Queen Street West Tel: 416-488-4436 Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M6J 1H6 Fax: 416-488-8438 Tel: 416-516-9775 Fax: 416-516-0651 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] www.mongrelmedia.com High res stills may be downloaded from http://www.mongrelmedia.com/Fall Fall – Synopsis Father Sam Ryan, (Michael Murphy), an aging Roman Catholic Priest living contently at a Niagara Falls parish, receives a letter forcing his complacent life into descent. The letter, from ‘Christopher’, confronts him about an incident that happened 40 years ago. Father Sam was a young, charismatic priest, serving a remote, Northern Ontario parish. Christopher was a 14 year-old adolescent, whom Sam mentored. The letter asks Father Sam for the truth: what did take place all those years ago? Were lines blurred or crossed? What choices were made? Forgiveness, redemption and sin are the dominant themes of FALL. All the characters whom Father Sam encounters – through his parish duties and from his suppressed past - force him into deeper reflection: ‘Chelsea’, a restless bride- to-be; ’Michael’, a repentant addict; ‘Reza’, a gay, Iranian grieving his recently- deceased mother; ‘Sheila’, Sam’s free-spirited, benevolent sister; and finally, ‘Catherine’, the shattered wife of enigmatic Christopher. Now haunted by his memories, for the first time in his life Sam is compelled to reconcile himself; more than as a Priest…as a man. Did a sexual encounter happen? Can a moral custodian of the faithful; a dispenser of God's grace, transcend his own FALL? FALL is at once intimate and remote - both revealing and concealing - richly filmed in wide-screen/anamorphic to capture the majestic power of the Niagara Falls of Sam’s present, in contrast to the vast, frozen Northern Ontario communities of Sam’s past. The award-winning, creative team of writer/director Terrance Odette (Heater, Saint Monica, Sleeping Dogs), producer Mehernaz Lentin (Portrait of a Serial Monogamist, Invisible City, Heaven on Earth), director of photography Norayr Kasper (Calendar, Sarabande, Trudeau) and lead actor Michael Murphy (Manhattan, Tanner '88, This is Wonderland) collaborated on this ambitious, artistic and very personal chamber drama. The ensemble cast features internationally recognized Katie Boland (Reign, The Master), Joel Bissonnette (Zodiac, 24), Cas Anvar (Source Code, Lost), Wendy Crewson (Air Force One, Saving Hope) and Suzanne Clément (Laurence Anyways, L'Audition). Fall - Tag Line “Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.” - William Shakespeare Fall - Log Line The memory of a teenage boy haunts an aging Catholic Priest after he receives a letter confronting him about a time they spent at a winter cottage 40 years ago. Fall - Encapsulated Story Father Sam, an aging Roman Catholic Priest living contently at a Niagara Falls parish, receives a letter forcing his complacent life into descent. Now haunted by the memory of a teenage boy, Father Sam must reconcile the truth: did a sexual encounter take place 40 year ago? Can a moral custodian of the faithful; a dispenser of God's grace, transcend his own FALL? Vatican II The Second Vatican Council or “Vatican II” as it’s referred to, was held in Rome’s Vatican City between the period 1962 to 1965. It was a call by Pope John the XIII and closed by Pope Paul V. It gathered all the Bishops, Cardinals and Theologians to discuss, for the most part, the Roman Catholic Church’s relationship to the modern world. For the average Catholic it was a breath of fresh air let into a stuffy room where the windows had been closed to modern thought by ritual and tradition in some cases for almost two millennia. The strict rules of the clergy and religious where eased. Nuns ditched the heavy dress codes and priests came down from their pulpits to the people they served. Change blew in along side the sprit of the 60’s: equal rights, youth focus, anti-war and the sexual revolution. Christ was seen in the new iconography, less as the “Crucified” and more as the “Risen Christ”. The church tried to be seen as less authoritarian and more in communion with the world around. As ill prepared as he was, Father Sam embraced the new spirit. And so he falls for the first time. Remarks from writer/director Terrance Odette “I was raised Catholic, was an alter boy, Folk Choir Director and married in the church 32 years ago. I remained an active member throughout half of my life. After many years of struggling, I am simply what one might call a cultural Catholic and at best, fit the profile of an agnostic. I knew and know these men who are and were Priests, even some real Father Sams.” “One of the questions I want to explore with Fall is what does it take to be forgiven and receive redemption? All the characters are looking to reconcile something within themselves or outside of themselves. They are all slightly unfinished. That is the ambiguity of the film.” How do you balance being both the film’s writer and director? "Choice is always better in a story than ‘something that happens to somebody’. If something happens to someone, that is just an obstacle. It is not a great way to continue a story or end a film. If you have an actor lead the viewer to be involved with them for 90 minutes as they make choices - so that people can look at that and think about it - you’ve ended your film properly. You have made something.” “If you read the screenplay you will get a good idea of what this film is: An Intimate Portrait of A Roman Catholic Priest. However, that was just a script, and the film was yet to be made.” “There is a certain amount of pride you take in your work, but, I am probably the first person to dismiss the writer (who is me); I don’t mind changing the dialogue or changing what is going on. There is a vision of what the film should be, but, how we get there changes.” “The idea for Fall started off as a short; the very first, full-length draft of the script had more plot, with the character buried in it, and not very much detail. Over the last two years, after partnering with producer Mehernaz Lentin, more and more plot was removed to make room to describe character and shape the thing; it was fairly sparse, with a lot of subtext. “I also worked on the script extensively with lead actor Michael Murphy, who is in every scene of the film. As we got closer to production, the more he wanted to evolve the character into how he saw it, and I was very open to that; you pick the right actor and the right people to work with, at some point you let it go. With Michael Murphy it was letting him get rid of dialogue he did not feel comfortable with, and shaping the dialogue into his voice. He is a very natural actor in how he reads a line, and so it had to ring true when it came out of his mouth.” “The ending of the film, the last scene is dramatically different from the script; it happened through a series of events and trying things, and it wasn’t my idea. Me, a stripped-down camera unit and Michael Murphy were driving around Sault Ste. Marie, looking for shots because the weather was perfect. director of photography Norayr Kasper said that there was this great spot at the end of the Lake. We found it and Michael was like," I am going to f-king walk all the way to the end, I am going to keep walking, you just film me!” He is on Lake Superior, frozen for the first time in 37 years, without safety. The original ending was going to be a huge production with cops and cranes and here we were like a fourth-year film school crew, and it was brilliant. The joy was that it was just a camera and sticks and an actor. You realize that the power of film is an image, and that image does not have to include a whole range of things.” What was the approach to filming FALL? “The approach to shooting the film was a creative and aesthetic choice, and, it was also a practical choice. We wanted the film to look a certain way, (we were using Bergman and Haneke and recent Turkish cinema as an influence), however, we had to have our vision match our budget. We were always going for a better camera; a better set of lens; the choice to film in anamorphic… it was part of the language that we developed.” “Because of the character and the subject matter, it had to be a first-person narrative film; we cannot use the camera in a way that is unmotivated; the director cannot show himself off. So, it all became very spare. Maybe we can only light one room, but, we can light it really well. We are going to get some pretty basic coverage, but, we will look for that perfect camera angle so that everything does mean something, so that everything is content.” “That dictated how the editing was going to happen, which then becomes spare, and then the score…if you get busier in this film, it is just not going to work.” What was your biggest challenge throughout production? “Both I and Mehernaz risked an awful lot, but, you don’t get much if you are not willing to risk it.