Gemini Nomination!
On the day of the Gemini Announcement Phil and I (both in our respective cities of Toronto and Vancouver) woke up to our blackberries buzzing with emails and calls from people letting us know we had received a Gemini Nomination for Best Direction of a Documentary Program. The Geminis are the Canadian version of the Emmy’s, and since 65_RedRoses is our first film for television we are extremely honored and humbled to be nominated this year! Our category includes some amazing filmmakers, including Niles Diamond who made a wonderful film called Reel Injun (which we totally recommend checking out!).
Major thanks goes out to Force Four Entertainment and CBC News Network, especially our amazing Commissioning Editor Andrew Johnson (we’re all pictured above at Hot Docs 2009).
65_RedRoses had it’s broadcast premiere on the documentary program The Passionate Eye last year and now we’re getting ready for it’s up-coming Canadian broadcast on The Knowledge Network in November. Knowledge will be airing the feature version in its entirety, which is amazing and wonderful since the original, longer cut shows more of Meg and Kina and Eva’s relationship with them. I spent the afternoon yesterday recording an update that will air after the film is broadcast. When I was asked to come in and record it on camera I didn’t think twice about saying yes. I thought it would be easy, Phil and I have both done a lot of interviews the past few months, and I get emails and messages every day about 65_RedRoses and Eva. But yesterday it just hit me that I was going to be the one telling viewers that she’s gone. As I stood on the mark facing the camera all I could think was, she should be the one in front of the lens. This update should really be her talking about life and all the adventures that she’s been on. In many ways it feels like there is no normal anymore, it feels wrong even talking about her in the past tense. I knew I was going to have trouble with the update, but I didn’t expect the sadness to just spill out of me, emotions uncontrollable. In the end I am happy the director only did one take. Whatever they captured came from the heart, and I can honestly say it was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do as a director on this film.
Lots of love to Eva wherever she may be.
