Acquired Vanguard Films, High Five!

So TIFF is officially over. Womp, womp, womp. Yesterday was spent in denial--either sleeping or cleaning apartments or tying up any festival loose ends. But today, Tuesday, we all have to face the harsh reality that it's really over. Colin even cleaned his fridge; what is the world coming too?!

It's always bitter sweet when the Festival comes to an end, but we're quick to get excited again at the prospect of seeing some of our favourite Festival films out there in the world. So far, four of our Vanguard films were acquired either before or during the festival. Fingers crossed we won't have to wait too long before these ones hit the big (or small, depending on their distribution deal) screen.

Jeremy Saulnier's Blue Ruin was acquired by Radius - TWC for North American distribution after its premiere at Cannes and we couldn't be more excited for the rest of everyone see this deft, tense revenge story.

Alex van Warmerdam's Borgman was also picked up after Cannes by the always awesome Drafthouse Films for U.S. distribution--a perfect fit for the disturbingly dark and hilarious film, if we do say so ourselves.

Magnolia Pictures was wise to snatch up U.S. rights to Ti West's The Sacrament--news that we're sure had Ti West fans around the world rejoicing.

And if a terrifying docu-style movie about a cult isn't enough for you, IFC Midnight acquired the North American rights to Zack Parker's Proxy--a chilling, powerful thriller centred on a pregnant woman. (Best idea ever, but maybe also the scariest: screening a double feature of The Sacrament and Proxy.)

Lastly, even though it was technically in the Wavelengths Programme, we'll always love Ben Wheatley and we were pleased as punch to hear the psychedelic mind-trip A Field In England was also picked up for US distribution by Drafthouse Films last spring.

Congratulations to all of these Vanguard films and the rest of the films that were purchased during the Festival. There are still many films we're hoping gain distribution and we're sure you feel the same. We'll keep our fingers crossed if you do too.

Interview: Ti West, Director of THE SACRAMENT

Writer-director Ti West (The House of the Devil, The Innkeepers) trades in his Ghostbuster gear for religious fanaticism in his latest film, The Sacrament. Produced by horror icon Eli Roth, The Sacrament sends two journalists -- played by frequent Ti West collaborators AJ Bowen (You’re Next) and Joe Swanberg (Drinking Buddies) -- to a rural cult just outside the United States as they document one man’s (Kentucker Audley, V/H/S) search for his estranged sister (Amy Seimetz, Upstream Color). 

Prior to The Sacrament’s North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, we were able to have a quick chat with Ti West about cults, his regular collaborations with other genre filmmakers, and Jonestown.

SJ: How does it feel to be a member of the horror equivalent of a Christopher Guest troupe? You've worked with Joe Swanberg and AJ Bowen many times before. Can you explain your regular collaborations with the Swanberg, Bowen and Adam Wingard? 

Ti West: Perhaps you could call us a cult? It's funny; I actually explained to someone recently that the style of The Sacrament is a little bit like a horror Christopher Guest film. 

As far as the collaboration goes, I think when you come up doing everything yourself, you just want to be surrounded by talented people who have the film’s best interest in mind. We can trust each other and we can all offer our own unique sensibilities to each other's projects. But nobody is trying to hijack the movie for their own benefit. For instance, in The Sacrament, Joe, AJ, Amy, Kate [Lyn Sheil], and Kentucer are all there to be in my movie, and to help make it as good as they can. They all understand what I am going for and believe in that, as opposed to having their own agenda. When you have those types of relationships, you then develop shorthand communication, and the process becomes very simple and efficient. I think we make great movies together, and also enjoy each others company. Makes it well worth it. 

SJ: Are we right to assume that "Father", the leader of the cult in The Sacrament, was inspired by Jim Jones, who led hundreds to a mass suicide at Jonestown in 1978? 

TW: He was a prototype for the kind of cult leader I was after. I updated many of his ideologies -- as well as changed a lot of the dynamics between him and his followers to sort of form my own new cult -- but there are numerous instances, references to Jim Jones, as well as as other famous cults, cult leaders in the film as well. I tried to encapsulate a lot of historical familiarities to give the audience something to latch on to and think about. 

SJ: There have been quite a few cult themed films in recent years, like Martha Marcy May Marlene, Kill List and even The Master. Were there any films that influenced you while directing? 

TW: Not directly. I like all those films though. Basically, if there was any specific influence, it was Jonestown. I have always been deeply fascinated with the People's Temple and what happened in Guyana. I didn't want to tell that story exactly, but I wanted to use that story as a reference point because I think it is misunderstood by too many people. I also feel like a lot of what led people to Guyana in the 1970s is still relevant today. 

SJ: How did you approach the topic of religious fanaticism within the confines of genre filmmaking? 

TW: Honestly, I never considered the confines. That may be why some people are hesitant to label the film a tradition horror film and lean on the psychological thriller angle. To me, what is most important is a film that shows a cult as something more than mindless zombies. I want the audience to relate to the members of the community -- not be afraid of them. That is what makes the film horrific. These people don't deserve what happens to them. 

SJ: Several of your movies involve people being terrorized in a rural or unfamiliar setting. Why does this kind of scenario appeal to you? 

TW: I think it likely has to do with existentialism. When you are in a rural or unknown place you quickly realize how small you are in the world. You realize that your safety is mostly up to you, and that responsibility can be overwhelming for a lot of people. There is nobody to call if you need help. You are forced to confront your fears, whether they are physical or psychological. 

SJ: Eli Roth (also at the Festival for The Green Inferno) is one of The Sacrament's producers. How did that come about? 

TW: Eli was looking to produce a new film with Eric Newman; They had just done The Last Exorcism. We have been friends for nearly ten years, and I randomly told him about this idea I had. He loved it and was adamant he could get it financed quickly. Turns out he was right. He brought the film to Worldview, and next thing I knew we were shooting. He has been a strong supporter of mine over the years and, as a producer, he was an ideal collaborator. He really helped create an environment where I could make my film the way I wanted and have all the resources and protection to do so. It's very exciting to be finally premiering the movie with him. I think it is fun for both of us to have a movie we are proud of that also subverts expectations of what people are used to seeing from us individually. 

SJ: What films are you looking forward to watching at the Festival this year? 

TW: The Double is one I really don't want to leave here without seeing. 

Ti West's The Sacrament stars AJ Bowen and Joe Swanberg, and premiered at this year's Toronto International Film Festival within the Vanguard programme. Further information about the film can be found on the Festival website.

THE SACRAMENT Final Screening:

Friday, Sept 13th, 8:45 PM SCOTIABANK 3

Joe Swanberg can also be seen in PROXY

Thursday, Sept 12th, 5:00 PM SCOTIABANK 1

Saturday, Sept 14th, 8:00 PM SCOTIABANK 9

THE SACRAMENT: Five Questions for AJ Bowen

If you've seen any AJ Bowen movies (The Rites of Spring, The House of the Devil, A Horrible Way To Die, You're Next), you already know he's a good actor. But his interviews help explain why. He's not only witty, he's also a genuine fan of classic genre films. He's in Ti West's new film The Sacrament, which screens as part of the Vanguard Programme at this year's Toronto International Film Festival, so we came up with some good questions for him.

SPOILER ALERT: His answers are pretty good, too.

1. You've gone on record as saying Black Christmas is your favorite horror film. What other Canadian horror movies do you consider faves?

Canadian horror is actually a love of mine, but in the spirit of brevity I will mention Visiting Hours. I am consistently surprised there isn't more love for that film, and am often imploring friends to check it out. A great proto-feminist genre picture with great atmosphere and an amazing monster in the form of Michael Ironside, who I worked with a couple of years ago and who I forced to sign my DVC. He did, begrudgingly.

Also, the first horror movie I ever saw was Happy Birthday To Me, so I guess I've always been living inside Canadian horror films. And as someone born in 1977, a lot of the gateway films that introduced me to the genre as a young person in the '80s s were Canadian, like Terror Train, Videodrome, Scanners, etc.

Visiting Hours

 2. You've made a lot of genre/horror movies, but you haven't yet been in a horror movie remake. Would you be in one if the circumstances were right and what would those circumstances be?

I was a stage actor before I was in film, so I have always been less opposed to the concept of a remake than a lot of people--I guess I always felt like we were consistently telling the same five to ten stories in some shape or form. I would work on any type of movie, given the right circumstances, and those circumstances would always be the talent involved, and most importantly, the script. If I like a script and I get the sense the filmmakers can pull off the intent/promise of the story, I am pretty much always in.

3. I read up on Jonestown recently and it depressed the hell out of me. Did you have to do any research for The Sacrament on the Peoples Temple or were you already well versed in the story?

Given my age I was acutely aware of Jonestown. As a child of the American South, religious fanaticism was something I was both experiencing and dually fascinated by. Jonestown went right along with learning about fringe cultures that were dominating the news, such as satanic panic. I've always been fascinated by cults, and I had watched everything on Jonestown many times before we ever began the process of making this one, so I intentionally stayed away from reacquainting myself. It was unnerving to see the detailed world our production designer Jade Healy crafted. What I DID do was watch every VICE Guide To Travel. Many times.

4. The Sacrament is another movie that you're working on with that same group of directors, writers, and actors you work with all the time. Do you feel sort of like an ensemble team by this point, the horror equivalent to the Christopher Guest mockumentary folks?

It's a strange thing to talk about--I am not sure the reality matches the idea. It makes sense in indie film to collaborate with your friends, for practical reasons. But it's also a work thing--I typically don't see any of those guys other than Ti and Amy beyond being on set, and I think as these filmmakers are moving into bigger budgets the group of people naturally adapts/changes. The last time I worked with some of those guys outside of The Sacrament was You're Next, and though it only came out recently we shot it well over two years ago.

I can say that if Ti or Joe or Amy asked me to work with them I would always do it, sight unseen. We have a good working relationship and I think they're really talented storytellers.

Resolution: The beardy guy is NOT AJ Bowen, but an amazing similacrum!

5. And will your next movie be a horror mockumentary? If not, what are your upcoming projects?

Ah yes, it's a funny thing to mention but raises a good point about the life of an independent film actor--to be honest I have no idea what is next. It hasn't revealed itself yet. Whenever you wrap picture a part of you believes it is the last time you will be on a set making a movie and it is the last character you will play, unless the next project is already lined up.

I wrote a screenplay with my partner Susan Burke (who wrote Smashed) and we are looking to shoot that next summer. It's possible I will make something before then, though I do not know what that may be. Our script is a comedy, and I've been stepping outside the genre a bit, so were I to do another one right now it would have to be someone I really want to work with, like the filmmakers behind The Battery, or Resolution. Stuart Gordon and I have been trying to get a movie made for a couple of years now so if we are able to fool an investor into paying for it we will make that one. 

The House of the Devil: "Are you not the babysitter?"

There you have it, a peek into the mind of the guy who made, "Are you not the babysitter?" one of the creepiest movie lines of all time.

We strongly urge you to see The Sacrament at this year's Festival. Here are the screening dates and times so you can add it to your schedule.

THE SACRAMENT Screening Times:

Sunday, Sept 8th, 5:15 PM THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

Tuesday, Sept 10th, 9:45 PM SCOTIABANK 7

Friday, Sept 13th, 8:45 PM SCOTIABANK 3

THE SACRAMENT: Flashback to Jonestown, Part II

Jim Jones and members of the the Peoples Temple

As a means to understand the real-life tragedy that inspired Ti West's new film, The Sacrament (screening at this year's Festival) we take a closer look at the events at Jonestown in 1978. This is the second and last installment in the series. You can read Part I here.

It wasn't just the outsiders that seemed to have it in for Jones and his followers, it was also several former members, under the umbrella of a group called the Concerned Relatives, who painted the Peoples Temple as a cult who brainwashed and abused people. Around this time, Jones, whose role in the management of the Peoples Temple had diminished, began to become more and more paranoid and delusional as well as heavily addicted to drugs.

In 1978, Congressman Leo Ryan became emotionally invested in the bitter, protracted custody case of John Victor Stoen, the child of two former members of the Peoples Temple. (To complicate things further, Jones claimed to be the biological father of the child.) Ryan received permission from the State Department in November of that year to visit Jonestown as part of his "official oversight plans for the year," along with members of the media and the Concerned Relatives.

Photo of the visitors to Jonestown at Port Kaituma
on November 17, 1978 taken by Leo Ryan

The visit was tense, but overall, Ryan felt that Jonestown was not holding people against their will and said he'd report as much when he went home. In fact, during the short visit (which lasted less than 48 hours), several people expressed their desire to leave the compound and return to the United States with Ryan and his entourage. One of these people was Larry Layton.

At the Port Kaituma airstrip, the members of the visiting party and the soon-to-be-former members of the Peoples Temple were boarding planes at the airstrip, when Layton took out a gun and started firing. At that same moment, a truck full of members of the Temple's security force—The Red Brigade—pulled up and also opened fire. Congressman Ryan, a reporter named Don Harris, NBC cameraman Bob Brown, Examiner photographer Greg Robinson, and Temple member Patricia Parks were all killed, while ten others were wounded.

That night, Jones responded by staging a mass suicide, only instead of the mass suicide practice drills he'd been ordering at random intervals throughout the previous months, this time the fruit punch was lethal: laced with cyanide and tranquillizers. According to his last recorded messages and the testimony of members of the Temple who escaped, Jones ordered the hit at the airstrip so he could carry out his plan of mass suicide. In an even more tragic twist, the children were ordered to drink the punch before their parents.

Jim Jones and children from the Peoples Temple in happier times.

For some insight into Jim Jones and what went so wrong, check out this interview with Jim Rieterman, a journalist who was present during the events of November 1978.

A more detailed account of the events leading up to the founding of the Peoples Temple and the events at Jonestown--and my major source for this post--can be found in Dr. John Walliss's article on the San Diego State University's website, which has many resources for learning more about Jonestown.

THE SACRAMENT Screening Times:

Sunday, Sept 8th, 5:15 PM THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

Tuesday, Sept 10th, 9:45 PM SCOTIABANK 7

Friday, Sept 13th, 8:45 PM SCOTIABANK 3

THE SACRAMENT: Flashback to Jonestown, Part I

Peoples Temple member Venus Harris

"We didn't commit suicide, we committed an act of revolutionary suicide protesting the conditions of an inhumane world."

--The Reverend Jim Jones, founder of the The Peoples Temple Full Gospel Church

“Revolutionary suicide does not mean that I and my comrades have a death wish; it means just the opposite. We have such a strong desire to live with hope and human dignity that existence without them is impossible. When reactionary forces crush us, we must move against these forces, even at the risk of death.”

--Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party

In November 1978, more than 900 people died in the largest mass suicide/mass murder in history (before September 11, 2001). The location of this grisly event was Jonestown, a religious commune in Guyana. Jonestown was inhabited by about a thousand followers of the Reverend Jim Jones, who had founded The Peoples Temple Full Gospel Church in the 1960s. 

Ti West's latest film, The Sacrament, is screening at this year's Festival and bears many similarities to this real-life tragedy, so let's take a closer look at whathappened.

In the mid-1950s, Jim Jones had quit his job as Assistant Pastor at the Lauren Street Tabernacle in Indianapolis, Indiana because the church board refused to allow integration of African-Americans into the congregation. He started the Peoples Temple soon afterwards to deal with social issues like racism and class inequality, but it was also a way for Jones to communicate his Marxist beliefs.

The beginnings of the Peoples Temple were auspicious: Jones established nursing homes and developed projects in the inner city to help both poor and homeless people, in addition to donating money to humanitarian and political causes such as the anti-apartheid movement. In 1960, Jones was even appointed the Executive Director of the Human Rights Commission, but the constant harassment and death threats from racists caused so much mental and physical strain that he left the position the next year.

The Peoples Temple had a reputation for practicing what they preached: a "human rights ministry." Yet soon, cracks in the beautiful façade of the Peoples Temple began to show. Eight former members of the church (referred to as "defectors") told stories of surveillance, forced confessions of bad deeds, physical abuse, and blackmail.

By the time the 1970s rolled around, Jones's Communist teachings became more obvious in his sermons and he renounced what he called the "Sky God" in favor of a new "apostolic socialism." He argued that no benevolent God would allow his children to suffer and saw the Bible as a "text filled with lies." He promoted the idea of the "Divinity of Socialism," in which love was the "central ordering of society."

Eventually, Jones appointed himself as the manifestation of the God personification of Socialism, claimed to have supernatural powers similar to those of Jesus Christ, became increasingly obsessed with the Apocalypse and Judgement Day, and openly condemned capitalist governments. Soon, the rest of the world became less tolerant of the Reverend and the Peoples Temple, particularly the media.

Article from the San Francisco Examiner

After being excoriated in the as a fraud with a messiah complex and denied tax-exempt status, Jones set up a new compound for the Peoples Temple in Guyana, and by the end of the 1970s, there were close to a thousand people living there. But the attempt to escape from their persecutors proved futile for soon the Peoples Temple was being pursued by the IRS, the Social Security Administration, and US Customs.

Stay tuned to the Vanguard Blog for Part II of"Flashback to Jonestown."

THE SACRAMENT Screening Times:

Sunday, Sept 8th, 5:15 PM THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

Tuesday, Sept 10th, 9:45 PM SCOTIABANK 7

Friday, Sept 13th, 8:45 PM SCOTIABANK 3

THE SACRAMENT: Director Profile: Ti West

Is there anything Ti West can't do? He's a director who's also written, shot, produced, and edited his own movies as well as collaborated on the score for one (2004's The Roost). As an actor, he's appeared in films by Adam Wingard, Simon Barrett, and Joe Swanberg (You're Next, Drinking Buddies, All the Light in The Sky, Silver Bullets). The Sacrament is his latest film, and it will premiere as part of the Toronto International Film Festival's Vanguard Programme

 

In 2004, West made his feature directorial debut with The Roost, which has a classic horror premise. On Halloween night, four teenagers on their way to a friend's wedding manage to get their car stuck in a ditch. They walk to an abandoned farmhouse and run into killer bats, zombies, and in a bit of self-reflexivity, a TV horror host played by Tom Noonan.

2007's Trigger Man, in which three friends go camping in the wilderness only to find themselves stalked by unseen prey, has the vibe of the film Rituals. Even the final shot in the trailer resembles the dam in the underappreciated 1974 Canuxploitation classic..

West's next endeavor, writing, and producing the 2009 sequel to Eli Roth's Cabin Fever, didn't have a happy ending, even for a director whose movies don't traffic in them. He wanted Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever to goin one direction, but the producers had a different idea, so he exited the film, leaving them all of his shot footage.

Fortunately, for Ti West, 2009 also saw the release of his superlative flick The House Of the Devil. A college student needs to make some quick cash in order to put a deposit on an apartment, so she takes an unorthodox babysitting gig in a giant, old house out in the country. If reading the premise gives you a nervous feeling in the pit of your stomach, be warned. The film creates an environment of excruciating tension heightened by quick bursts of terror that is nearly unbearable.

The House of the Devil is set in the 1980s, but as West notes in Interview, "it's not kitschy, video-killed -the-radio-star Eighties. It's brown, feathered hair, wood-paneling Eighties."  Such attention to detail makes it all the more effective.

Would you be interested in film like this? A couple of hotel employees are stuck working the last weekend at a soon-to-be-closed hotel. They kill time trying to prove the existence of the ghosts rumored to haunt the place and are warned against going into the basement by a creepy visitor. Did you answer yes? Then you should see The Innkeepers, West's 2011 film. Of course, the above synopsis doesn't encompass everything that happens. Things do get weirder and scarier from there (this is a Ti West movie, after all).

The 2012 found-footage anthology V/H/S includes a contribution from West. "Second Honeymoon" does what it says on the tin with one exception: someone is following the couple. "Second Honeymoon" transcends the found-footage genre by being both utterly realistic and scary. As a horror hound, I am not ashamed to say that I had to turn on the lights while watching it AND I couldn't sleep after it was over.

The ABCs of Death segment "M is for Miscarriage" was West's next directorial effort in 2012. Although grotesque and interesting, it's too short to successfully establish the aura of dread at which West excels.

This year's Toronto International Film Festival Vanguard Programme features The Sacrament, a movie in which three journalists visit a relative at a religious commune. Eli Roth is the producer, but West has been quick to point out that it's not an Eli Roth Movie. In an Entertainment Weekly interview, West says, "It’s a very confrontational movie and it’s very horrific and it’s very dark. It’s different from what people might expect from me and something different from what people expect from Eli as well.”

Ti West bristles at being pegged as a "horror director." In a genre that is overpopulated by weak narratives, excessive exposition, and no genuine horrors to speak of, this is probably a good thing. "All of the stuff in the film that's not horror is what makes all of the horror stuff work," says West, zeroing in on exactly what distinguishes a boring horror movie from an outstanding movie that also happens to be a horror movie.

He also seems to enjoy exploring the theme of "people in a rural and/or unfamiliar place who are then terrorized by something or someone." This coupled with his remarkable ability to craft slow burn scares through suspense and imagined, briefly glimpsed, or unseen horrors, ensures that The Sacrament will add another thrilling accomplishment to Ti West's oeuvre.

THE SACRAMENT Screening Times:

Sunday, Sept 8th, 5:15 PM THE BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA

Tuesday, Sept 10th, 9:45 PM SCOTIABANK 7

Friday, Sept 13th, 8:45 PM SCOTIABANK 3

The Poster for Ti West's THE SACRAMENT

Check out the retro Seventies style poster for Ti West's The Sacrement via Entertainment Weekly. It has a fantastic newspaper ad style that evokes both Jim Jones and true crime novels.

"The latest film from indie genre icon Ti West (The House of the Devil, The Innkeepers) sends frequent collaborators AJ Bowen, Amy Seimetz, Joe Swanberg and Kentucker Audley on a harrowing journey into madness and messianic bloodshed."--From the Vanguard Programme notes.


THE SACRAMENT screening times:
Sunday, Sept. 8, 5:15pm, The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema
Tuesday, Sept. 10, 9:45pm, Scotiabank 7
Friday, Sept. 13, 8:45pm Scotiabank 3