Preview
HANK WILLIAMS FIRST NATION
Starring Jimmy Herman, Gordon Tootoosis and Colin Van Loon
Written and directed by Aaron Sorenson
Opens Friday, May 20
Uptown Screen
Pull Quote: "Telefilm talks about how they want to achieve box office goals. I mean, in box office numbers, we’ve outdone both Child Star and Phil the Alien. We are actually the biggest grossing Canadian film of the year at this point"
Hank Williams First Nation is going to go down in history as one of those films. You know, the ones that, according to all the rules of the business, should never have been made, let alone succeed. But succeed it seems determined to do, despite the best efforts of the notoriously unhelpful and non-visionary Canadian film industry.
The film began as the brainchild of Aaron James Sorenson, a 38-year-old career dilettante who, by his own admission, was a musician who was "always too busy working on my backup plan." Not able to commit to the life of a musician, Sorenson drifted into teaching school, driving trucks and working the oil rigs. Increasingly miserable, he went to grad school, hated it and dropped out.
One day he was participating in the filming of a music video near Edmonton. "There I was, jumping around in a field, lip-synching to this song," Sorenson remembers with amusement, "and the cameraman had this vintage camera that sounded like a machine gun. I was fascinated by that camera. I figured that of the two of us, he had the better job that day."
Sorenson bought himself a 16mm camera on eBay. He studied books and magazines – anything he could find to learn how to use it. Eventually, of course, he wanted to make a film. "I just wanted to make a small film with my friends and neighbours. But I figured I needed a good story first. So, I thought I’d better write one.
"I’d lived among the Bigstone Cree in Wabaska for years and I wanted to write about them," he says. "It took me about a year to finish the script – I went through 15 drafts of it – and when I was done, I sent it to some producers and a couple of actors."
Producers liked the idea of the film, which has been described as a road trip movie from the point of view of those who stay home. But none of them seemed to appreciate the film’s essence, wanting to change key elements and characters. They all wanted to make it into a movie of the week in hopes of making the picture more eligible for government funding.
"It was all about getting the Telefilm grant," Sorenson says. "And the whole discussion started sounding silly to me. I could have made the changes they were asking for, but I didn’t see why I should. I liked the story I had written. So I told them all, ‘No,’ and decided to produce it myself."
Sorenson had a stroke of luck, though. One of the actors he sent the script to was veteran Canadian actor Gordon Tootoosis. Tootoosis didn’t waste any time replying that he loved the script and wanted to play the character of Adelard Fox, the family patriarch. Tootoosis being on board meant that the movie had to be a union movie, using members of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Televison and Radio Artists – a significant hike in the potential price tag of the movie. Sorenson still wasn’t fazed.
"I just decided to go ahead as though I had the money to make the movie. I cast all the roles, I scouted all the locations." Modelled on a bare-bones film outfit out of New York City, Sorenson put together a business plan (which entailed making the film for peanuts, and promising everyone involved a share of the profits if the movie succeeded) and he went looking for investors. He started filming with a budget of $200,000.
And Hank Williams First Nation was born. A quiet, whimsical gem of a film, it tells the story of a family and centres on an ancient uncle who decides to make a pilgrimage to the grave of his hero, Hank Williams Sr. in Nashville. Far from moralizing, or telling easy clichéd stories about the characters, the movie manages to maintain a human, humorous, tender tone throughout.
Sorenson decided to enter the film into several prestigious independent film festivals, the first being the American Film Institute Festival in Los Angeles, where the film made it through 3,200 films to the shortlist of 12.
"We were up against films like Hotel Rwanda and Merchant of Venice," Sorenson says. "We lost the audience choice vote to Hotel Rwanda." The little film from northern Alberta was getting some big respect south of the border. Distributors met with Sorenson, showering him with praise for the gorgeous cinematography and luminous storytelling. Unfortunately, they felt the story was a bit too small and "too Canadian" to support wide release in the U.S. But Sorenson came back to Canada buoyed by the film’s reception, and confident of finding a Canadian distributor for Hank Williams First Nation.
"It came as a bit of a nasty shock to find that I couldn’t convince Canadian distributors to even watch the film," Sorenson says. "I mean, they wouldn’t even look at it – none of them. So I said to myself, ‘I guess I have to do this myself, too.’"
Sorenson was told that in order for a film to succeed in Canada, it had to be released first in Toronto. Period. But having broken all the rules so far, Sorenson was not disposed to follow this piece of advice either. So he decided to open in Grande Prairie, instead. To date, the film has opened in 15 small towns across Alberta and B.C. Last weekend, it hit its first big city – Edmonton. It sold out.
"This weekend, we’re actually on four screens, two in Calgary and two in Edmonton," Sorenson says with a certain amount of satisfaction. They’ve held it over in Edmonton, because it’s the biggest grossing independent Canadian film the Princess Theatre has seen in ages.
"And still, the distributors won’t talk to me. Telefilm talks about how they want to achieve box office goals. I mean, in box office numbers, we’ve outdone both Child Star and Phil the Alien. We are actually the biggest grossing Canadian film of the year at this point."
But somewhere along the way, Sorenson has started to enjoy the challenge of doing what everyone has told him can’t be done. And because of the bare bones budget, the film is already making money, supporting its own publicity campaign.
"I want to raise some undeniable word of mouth about this film. It seems like all I have to do is get people into the theatre and everyone leaves with this almost euphoric reaction to the film. If I can get enough people talking about it, they can’t ignore us forever.
"The joke among the cast and crew now is that we’re going to open in every small town and city across Canada," Sorenson says with a laugh. "And as we’re driving on the 401 into Toronto, we’ll all look at each other and say, ‘Naaah. I think we’re done.’" |
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