础听feature film shot partly in 麻豆社国产about a man with the unpredictable ability to see two minutes into the future has just been announced in the Whistler Film Festival lineup this December.
The 85-minute film, Patterson鈥檚 Wager, was written, directed, produced, edited and entirely self-funded by award-winning Vancouver filmmaker Corbin Saleken; it is his first feature film.
He says Patterson鈥檚 Wager is a film he鈥檇 want to see and one he hopes others might, too.
鈥淵ou never really know whether you鈥檙e going to be able to translate what you want to do, but my overriding element was that I knew I would like this movie,鈥� he says.
鈥淭o me, though, the hardest thing was just deciding to do it.鈥�
The decision wasn鈥檛 made overnight, Saleken explains; at first, he put out feelers to gauge the feasibility. The big push began after Fred Ewanuick, an actor who has starred in Corner Gas and Dan for Mayor, read the script and said yes.聽
鈥淭hat was essentially the moment when I gave myself the green light.鈥�
The shooting took only 12 days, and although his meticulous, pre-production planning led to things going incredibly smoothly and efficiently, it wasn鈥檛 without challenges, the biggest of which was filming inside a casino.聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to get into a casino as a big-budget filmmaker, but as a low-budget filmmaker, there鈥檚 just no way鈥� and because the film is about a guy who has the unpredictable ability to see two minutes into the future, the logical extension to that is you鈥檙e going to go to a casino. I couldn鈥檛 write it any other way鈥� it wouldn鈥檛 make any sense.鈥�
He tried, without success, to access the bigger casinos near Vancouver (鈥淚 had to hound them just to get a rejection,鈥� he says). Then someone suggested Chances in Squamish.
鈥淚 called them and they said, yeah, it鈥檚 possible鈥� I couldn鈥檛 believe it,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he casino here was just so amazing; they were so accommodating, it was just incredible.鈥� Some of the casino workers, he says, even gave their time to appear as extras in the film.
Making a feature film is the dream of every film school graduate, he says, and 80 per cent of his crew on Patterson鈥檚 Wager were Simon Fraser University students and graduates.聽
鈥淭hey were working with highly trained, professional actors and crews, so I think everybody got something out of working on it.鈥�
So far, the film, which Saleken describes as thoughtful, heart-felt, funny and 鈥渧ery West Coast B.C.,鈥� has been featured at several North American film festivals including Winnipeg Real to Reel, where it won Best Independent Feature Narrative; the Big Island Film Festival in Hawaii, where it won Best Foreign Feature; and the Oregon Independent Film Festival, where Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress awards were won by Chelah Horsdal and Michelle Creber respectively for their Patterson鈥檚 Wager performances.
Getting into festivals is much easier said than done, he explains, but the Whistler Film Festival is probably the pinnacle of them all. 鈥淚鈥檝e gone to smaller festivals, which are fun鈥� but Whistler is a big thing, so it鈥檚 kind of fun that people are going to be able to experience it on that scale,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd I鈥檓 thrilled that a lot of the cast and crew can go up, and that my friends and family can see it.鈥�
The 15th annual Whistler Film Festival takes place from Dec. 2 to 6.聽 For details about tickets and feature films, visit www.whistlerfilmfestival.com.聽
