Pavane

A Short Film Written and Directed by Paul Quarrington

Produced by Judith Keenan, BookShorts Inc.
In Association with Gary Thomas, Chris Minos, Crush Inc.
Bravo!FACT and CBC

Canadian Broadcast Premiere – Bravo!FACT Presents, February 22, 2009

BRIEF: Connected by debilitating memories, bottomless drinks, and the pretext of being strangers, Phil and Jay play out a darkly comic ritual in an effort to redeem themselves, and each other, of a shameful childhood incident.

DESCRIPTION: Phil and Jay share more than a family bond – failed careers, failed relationships, bottomless drinks, and a debilitating memory of a shocking encounter in a ravine one childhood day. The pretext of being strangers, the darkly comic ritual that the broken, non-functioning brothers perform in an attempt to get at their pain, can?t cover the palpable connection between them, nor their deeply felt desire to find redemption.

Cutting between live action performed by an award-winning cast and ingenuous animation whose simplicity belies the impact of the incident it reveals, Pavane portrays both the loss of innocence and a subtle hint at the boys? fragile potential for a new beginning.

Pavane displays Quarrington?s sophisticated command of each of his many artistic talents. From his deep wide ranging musical knowledge, he has chosen Prokofiev?s knuckle-busting Sonata Op. 6 to drive the increasingly frenetic animated flashbacks. Ravel?s Pavane pour une infante d?funte, from which the film takes its title, musically underscore the tenuous optimism of its denouement. Animator Chris Minos? simple lines of the animated drawings are modeled on Quarrington?s original character sketches. The screenplay, adapted from his novel The Ravine, and the nuanced performances Quarrington has made possible with the stellar cast, allows audiences to empathize with his characters to a degree rarely achieved in the short film format.

ABOUT THE BOOK: Everyone experiences at least one ?ravine? moment in their life ? an episode when the normal everyday takes a steep, life-changing tumble into something quite out of the ordinary. Delivered in his own voice both profound and profoundly funny, Quarrington’s semi-autobiographical novel is one of his most authentic in a long list of award-winning books.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKER / AUTHOR: Paul Quarrington?s extensive credentials span his artistic talent as filmmaker, author and musician. A graduate of the Canadian Film Centre in Toronto, he has written several screenplays including Camilla, Giant Steps, Perfectly Normal and Whale Music, adapted from his Governor?s General Award-winning novel. His professional resume for the screen includes a long list of credits in short film, television and feature film, for independent and studio producers in Canada and the United States. He is in continuous demand as an instructor in the art of writing for the screen. He is currently completing the feature film adaptation of The Ravine which will further explore the narrative and characters introduced in Pavane.

A Fizzy Dreams / Crush Inc / BookShorts Inc. Production
In Association with Bravo!FACT
& Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
CAST

PHIL
Geraint Wyn-Davies

JAY
Ted Dykstra

GAIL
Michelle Latimer

KIM
Jennifer Podemski

BACKGROUND PERFORMERS
Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall
Cathy Current
Luzette De Belchior
Sandy Duarte
Tony Medici
David Occhipinti
Adam Pal

PRODUCER
Judith Keenan

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
D. Gregor Hagey

DIRECTOR OF ANIMATION
Chris Minos

ANIMATION PRODUCER
Gary Thomas

EDITOR
Ross Turnbull

MUSIC PRODUCER
David Gray

FIRST ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Derby Crewe

FIRST CAMERA ASSISTANT
Chris Mierzwinski

SECOND CAMERA ASSISTANT
Spencer Ennis

DIGITAL IMAGING TECHNICIAN
Morning Glory

GAFFER
Robert Taylor

KEY GRIP
Mike Preuss

BEST BOY
Mike O?Neil

SWING GRIP ELECTRIC
Ian Harris

SOUND RECORDIST
Leslie Jolliffe

BOOM OPERATOR
Rob Plastow

PIANO TECHNICIAN
Martin Worthy

PRODUCTION MANAGER
Joseph Thavundayil

PRODUCTION CO-ORDINATOR
Anita Shuper

PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
Kenroy Martin

EQUIPMENT RENTALS
DJ Woods Productions

MAKE-UP & HAIR
Caitlin Allen

WARDROBE STYLIST
Melissa Stewart

SHOT ON LOCATION
Casa Mendoza
Toronto, Canada

UNIT PHOTOGRAPHY
Tom Sandler

TITLE DESIGN
Crush Inc.

VIDEO EDIT FACILITY
Charles Street Video

SOUND DESIGN & MIX
David Gray

MUSICIAN
Andrew Burashko
Sonata No 6 Op 82 Vivace
By Sergei Prokofiev
From the Recording
?Burashko Plays Prokofiev?
? Opening Day Records

MUSICIAN
Glenda del Monte Escalante
?Pavane pour une infante defunte?
by Maurice Ravel

SPECIAL THANKS
James McCreath
Anne Collins
Random House Canada
Judy Gladstone
Sarah Cooper
Gary Goddard Agency Ltd.

BASED ON THE NOVEL
The Ravine
By Paul Quarrington

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Judith Keenan

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

Bravo!FACT
Bravo! NewStyleArtsChannel,
a division of CTV Globemedia Inc.

ACTRA Toronto Performers
TIP Programme

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)

? 2008 BookShorts Inc.
www.bookshorts.com

Paul Quarrington

Paul Quarrington portrait

In May 2009, Paul was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. From May 2009 to January 2010 he channeled his prodigious creative energy into the completion of many artistic endeavours, including his first solo CD release “Paul Quarrington: The Songs,” the third PorkBellys Futures CD release, his memoir “Cigar Box Banjo: Notes on Music and Life” for Greystone Books, the documentary film “Paul Quarrington: Life in Music” (BookShorts / CTV Bravo) and so much more.

His brave journey ended on January 21, 2010. He passed peacefully at home in Toronto surrounded by friends and family.

The Quarrington Arts Society has been established in honour of the inspiration Paul’s life and work continues to provide for artists who seek expression in many disciplines – for information about the organization and its mandate, please visit http://www.quarringtonartsociety.ca

Paul Quarrington was a musician, acclaimed non-fiction writer and novelist, an award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker, and an educator extra-ordinaire.

His novel The Ravine (2008) was long-listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize; his previous novel Galveston (2004) was short-listed for the Giller. Quarrington won the Stephen Leacock Award for King Leary, a title that also won the 2008 Canada Reads competition. Whale Music won the Governor General’s Award for Fiction and was one of several of his novels already adapted or currently being adapted as feature films.

His non-fiction writing includes books on some of his favourite pastimes such as fishing, hockey and music; his memoir Cigar Box Banjo: Notes on Music and Life, is published by Greystone Books (May 29, 2010). He regularly contributed book reviews, travel columns and journalism to Canada’s national newspapers and magazines, winning or co-winning more than 30 Gold awards. His screenplays and story editing won many awards, including the CFPTA Indie Award for Comedy for the series Moose TV.

Throughout his career he was in high demand as a story editor for Canadian and American feature films and television. Paul’s filmmaking talents as writer / director are evident in his BookShorts film, Pavane (2008), which he adapted from his novel The Ravine; it was featured in the national tour of Moving Stories Film Festival, won a Remi Platinum Award for adaptation at Houston’s WorldFest, was juried in several other US film festivals, and was broadcast in Canada on Bravo!FACT Presents and CBC Reflections.

As a musician, he played in the band Porkbelly Futures for more than ten years; the band’s first CD Way Past Midnight was extremely well received, their self-titled second CD was released to even more popular acclaim; and a third release will be available in 2010. From 2008, Paul increasingly returned to the performance circuit as solo vocalist on guitar; his first solo CD release “Paul Quarrington: The Songs” is available June 8, 2010 from Cordova Bay.

Paul taught creative writing at Humber College for more than 20 years (in the program founded by Joe Kertes, Quarrington and colleague Wayson Choy); he also taught at University of Toronto. His seminars on adapting books for the screen and creative writing were constantly presented by institutions and festivals in across Canada.

He sat on the Board of Directors for the Fringe Theatre Festival, and was mentor to BookShorts Inc. since the company’s first short film release (2005) through to the company’s production of Paul’s biographical feature documentary film Paul Quarrington: Life in Music (Dir. Bert Kish, for CTV Bravo) which will be broadcast May 29 and 30, 2010. Nipissing University bestowed him a Doctor of Letters PhD (posthumously) in June 2010.

Quarrington enjoyed his ranking as an (extremely) amateur magician and would-be mariner. He is survived by his two children, Carson Lara and Flannery Quarrington.

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