The 18th Annual $100 Film Festival submission deadline is Dec. 1, and once again we are seeking musicians to participate in our wildly popular Film/Music Explosion! Local musicians and CSIF filmmakers will have the opportunity to team together to create a short film based on an original song. In March, the films will premiere at the 18th Annual $100 Film Festival with a live performance by each of the collaborating songsters. Musicians, please submit original films to $100 Film Festival Coordinator Melanie Wilmink at festival@csif.org or call (403) 205-4747 before Dec. 1.
We thought we’d catch up with one of last year’s Film/Music Explosion! participants to see what collaborating with a Calgary independent filmmaker was like for her.
Sidney York and the Film/Music Explosion! Experience
by Spiralina Turchese
Like Calgary’s independent filmmakers, prairie singer-songwriter Sidney York manages the business side of her career herself. When I caught up with her she was in Sault Ste Marie on a cross-Canada tour promoting her self-titled debut album. Renowned for her eclectic style, she sings jazz with a military band, and trained as a classical musician in Melbourne where she was inspired by Australians’ fierce pride for their national artists. The Film/Music Explosion! with its emphasis on local and independent film and music seemed like a good fit for the self-motivated songstress.
York submitted her song, Stalker, to $100 Film Festival Coordinator Melanie Wilmink after hearing a submission call on CJSW 90.9. She felt Stalker would translate well into film because it has a “strong sense of story line, and candid visual associations”.
The song had resonance for independent Calgary filmmaker Doreen Wood who liked the upbeat tempo paired with the dark lyrics and relatable themes of heartbreak and rejection. Soon, York and Wood were communicating and the film began to fall in place.
York thoroughly enjoyed her Film/Music Explosion! collaboration with director Doreen Wood. Collaboration, she says, “improves understanding and artistic awareness for every creator involved.” York feels the experience gave her useful insights into the filmmaking process, and increased her confidence in the ability of another artist to interpret her work.
“Doreen is a woman with a great attitude and vision. I felt the end result really portrayed the message I’d intended for the song.”
Sidney wishes to thank Doreen Wood and CSIF for choosing her song for the Film/Music Explosion! in 2008. “It was a humbling experience to watch my message gradually being articulated in picture.”
How to hear Sidney York:
Live:
“The Ladies that Like to Folk”, tour with Amy Thiessen and Kaley Bird, playing 50 shows from October to January.
In Calgary Dec 5 at Mike’s Juke Joint.
In Canmore on January 24 at the Drake.
In Cochrane on January 28 at the Blue Dog Café.
Go here for a full tour schedule: http://feeds.artistdata.com/a-GHQOU7MV3YJK5JTC/shows
Online:
You can hear Sidney York on sidneyyork.com and buy her music on iTunes.
She’s just released two music videos, which you can also find on her site.
The first short, which tallies less than 10 minutes in runtime, is an obscure, United Nations-produced animated short about the disastrous possibilities of an encroaching crisis. Its imaginative metaphors and narrative encounters are succeeded only by its brilliant animation techniques that seem to morph 
perspective along with material. It is, as you might have guessed, a highly creative, albeit rather serious attempt to inform its audience of the dangers of Cold War-era arms racing. That said, its arguments still apply to a great many other ‘innovations’ that could inevitably prove to be just as destructive.
the warnings given and conclusions reached are surprisingly valid, perhaps even more so today because we have become so conditioned to mass-media ideology. This gem should truly not be missed – it’s not available for purchase (as far as I can tell) and it’s not even listed on Google or IMDb!
2009’ers though, the content has become somewhat outrageous, and the resulting prophecies and perspectives of a time passed now serve as a tongue-in-cheek look back to a society in the midst of a technological revolution. That’s not to say all the issues it brings to the table are utterly ridiculous (for it actually manages to offer some ahead-of-its-time commentary on gay marriage, consumerism, computerization, etc), but many of the segments come off a tinge surreal nowadays. Some of the highlights include: the scientist explained clip of ‘race-changing’ via face paint; the ‘modern man’ being hooked up to a portable battery with which to jolt himself (and his wife!) up from bed; and the ‘serious danger’ of shopping for babies at ‘Baby-toriums.’ Stitch it all together with a seriously epic Moog soundtrack, and you’ve turned what was once school-mandated educational material into a modern day comedic variety show. Did I mention Orson Welles features as the brooding host and narrator?!
Dr. Strangelove might not physically be in attendance, you can expect his odd, hilarious, and surreal spirit to be present in the air because, as usual, we’ll be having some discussion about the featured shorts. If you don’t feel like speaking up though, just grab some popcorn or a drink, sit back, and enjoy: this is the movies, after all!
