That's a Wrap for Alberta Film Industry

Mere days before the Alberta Film and Television Awards nomination deadline, movie people from across the province were hitting the dance floor, tossing back free cocktails, and engaging in shameless self-promotion at the annual industry fundraiser.

The 2009 Alberta Wrap Party took place last week at Calgary’s Aero Space Museum. The former hanger filled with vintage planes provided a perfect backdrop for this year’s theme – Take to the Skies. Thankfully, the food was well above typical airline standards. Cal-B-Que, the largest supplier of on-site catering to local production companies, provided a happy assortment of fresh oysters, sushi, pot stickers, cheese and veggie trays, and deserts. The Afro-Latin sounds of local band Cumako sent everyone’s shoulders a-shimmy.

The last few years have given this industry good reason to celebrate. Canadian productions like Passchendaele and Freezer Burn, as well as American films like Brokeback Mountain, Santa Baby, and The Assassination of Jesse James have been filmed here.

Chris McRae and Michael Gibney reminisced about working with Ang Lee and Heath Ledger on the set of Brokeback Mountain. “They were just great guys,” says McRae, who helped Ledger learn to drive a stick-shift for one scene. After years in the industry the pair has recently opened The Window, a production studio and backlot. Business – and the parties that go with it – is still thriving, they say. After a few glasses of wine, they were ready to head to an after-party hosted by the Trailer Park Boys.

Jeff Brinton of Alberta Film Commission says that “good locations, great crews, and attractive financial incentives” make this province hard to resist. But Craig McNeil, the LA-based producer behind Jenny McCarthy’s 2006 hit Santa Baby, had only one blunt word for it – “Money.”

“Money, money money,” McNeil repeated in jovial tones, adding, “Not only is this the most affordable place to make a movie, but the people are great. And the landscape is also very diverse.” His next project, Santa Baby 2, is currently in production, transforming the clean streets of Calgary into lower Manhattan.

Film financing has not been such a cherry issue for everyone lately. Rumors have circulated that Minister of Culture Lindsay Blackett would re-consider funding films critical of the province after a shortened version of Alberta-made documentary Downstream was nominated for an Oscar this year. The film explores the cancer rate among Aboriginal communities just south of major oil sands developments. Randy Bradshaw, a producer of the film who attended the Wrap Party, would only say that he’s “proud and excited” by its success.

Proceeds from the Alberta Wrap Party will be donated to the Alberta Screenwriters Initiative, and the Performing Arts Lodge in Calgary and Edmonton.

One might be surprised by a thriving community of creative, showy, over-the-top types deep within the Conservative heartland, mingling daily among the straight-laced and unpretentious citizens. But as the year wraps up, the economy turns down, and the glamour of award season begins, let us resolve to embrace their homegrown style of entertainment – and provocations – like never before.

Published in National Post, January 17, 2009