The European Union Film Festival continued with a screening of The Maiden Danced to Death Nov. 26. The film follows the story of two brothers competing for one woman’s heart as they work together to revive a dance company. The Charlatan’s Anna Kozlova sat down with its local director, Michael Dobbin and talked about his ties to Ottawa, his film company and making European movies.
TC: Do you find that Ottawa influences you creatively in the films you produce and are involved in?
MD: Oh absolutely, I always took Ottawa with me wherever I went and that obviously influenced how I felt about the place. When I’m producing films quite often, I look to have all or part of them produced in the region. For example, for The Maiden Danced to Death, the screenplay was originally set for Budapest and New York City but I actually asked the director to set it in Canada. He agreed so we set it in Montreal because it worked better for the story but then we filmed it here in Ottawa and did editing in Montreal.
TC: Can you talk a bit more about The Maiden Danced to Death and how it became a co-production between Hungary, Slovenia and Canada?
MD: I met the writer/director originally at the [Berlin International Film Festival] in 2008 and he pitched the project to me and I fell in love with it. I knew nothing about Hungarian folk dance but I read the script and I couldn’t visualize it but the screenplay was so well-written that the restriction of the dance became an extension of the character’s emotional state and it replaced dialogue in some places. And I thought it was just such a fantastic premise, such a great story. But at that point, there was already a Hungarian producer attached and he had already begun negotiating with a Slovenian partner so I was the last partner to join the project.
TC: How did you start your company, Quiet Revolution?
MD: Well, it was originally founded in 2000 as a production company for a documentary and then it was dormant for many years. When I decided to come back in 2006, I sort of relaunched the company in its present form and spent quite a few years developing projects, getting our content, deciding what we were going to be wanting to produce and establishing the brand and types of projects to get involved in. We have been churning things out quite quickly and effectively for a company our size. It’s definitely a lot of hard work to get here.
TC: What made you want to get involved in the European film industry?
MD: When I lived in the U.K., I was working with a number of companies that did a lot of different work throughout Europe. The company I worked with was funded by the European Union and it was a professional development training organization for screenwriters and story editors and directors and producers so I spent a lot of time working with talent all over the EU. Quite often, I was asked while over there, do you know any good Canadian co-producers to work with, so I decided to be that guy. Co-producing allows us to pool together resources and talent from other countries. It also importantly allows us to have markets in other countries. The Maiden Danced to Death is a Canadian film but it’s also a Hungarian film, it’s also a Slovenian film. What this means is that this film has audiences in Hungary, Slovenia and Canada.
TC: Which European countries you have collaborated with so far?
MD: Hungary, Slovenia and Denmark. I’ve been talking [to] a company in France. I have a project that might come out of Germany and the UK of course.
TC: How does filmmaking in Canada differ from filmmaking in Europe?
MD: Well, in Europe, every country has their own idiosyncrasies about how they make their own film. Although there are some technical differences, I think the main difference is that in Europe, films are still really valued for their art form and audiences go to see movies more as an interest in being challenged by film. In Canada, we don’t actually accept the kinds of movies that Canadian audiences really would like to see. It all goes down to differences in filmmaking. Technically, producing is the same on different sides of the ocean, although I think in Europe they’re a little more resourceful, they’re clever in how they get their stories on screen.
TC: Any final comments about filmmaking?
MD: Moving back to Ottawa and starting my company here was probably the best decision I ever made. It’s a fantastic city for production. I took a bit of a gamble because of the unknown but I was really lucky to have found such good crews and such good creative people. There’s quite a solid industry here that’s been built by the producers that have been here for so long. I’ve been able to come into a very well-developed infrastructure in a place I love, in a place others love when they come here. It’s really important for me to be here in Ottawa making the films I want to make. I can’t ask for anything more.