Niven returns east with Marion Bridge
May 27, 2002
By Laura Bracken - Playback Magazine
Based on a play by Cape Breton Island's Daniel MacIvor, with an almost entirely local cast, Marion Bridge is the first feature for both Bill Niven's Halifax-based Idlewild Films and for Toronto director Wiebke von Carolsfeld. Coproduced with Toronto's Sienna Films, it wraps five weeks of shooting primarily in Halifax at the end of May.
"Our director is a dream," says Niven, who was initially concerned about working with a first-timer. "She wants to be involved in every detail along the way and has a very keen sense of aesthetics."
An editor by trade, Carolsfeld has worked on a few shorts, including one with Vancouver's Molly Parker (Men With Brooms), which Niven says helped the production team land the brand-name actor for a leading role in this fairly small picture, with a crew of about 80 people and a budget in the $2-million range.
The film tells the story of three sisters and the unspoken family secret that surfaces when one sister returns to Cape Breton from Toronto after their mother falls ill. "It's a well-deserved look at human nature, but always with a laugh on the side...it's never too earnest," says Niven.
The entire cast, aside from Parker and Rebecca Jenkins (Black Harbour), are from Nova Scotia, including Stacy Smith (New Waterford Girl), 15-year-old Ellen Page (Touch and Go), Emmy Alcorn, who acted in the original stageplay, and appearances by East Coast musicians Ashley MacIsaac and Heather Rankin.
"We felt that if they were local it would give the film an authenticity," says Niven. "There's an authenticity in the voice that's irreplaceable." Authenticity will also be developed through establishing shots filmed in Cape Breton, where the story is set, that capture the juxtaposition of the island's natural beauty and the post-industrial feel of its hulking rusted steel plant.
With funding from Movie Central, The Movie Network, the LFP, EIP, the Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation and the Harold Greenberg Fund, Marion Bridge will be delivered to distributor Mongrel Media on Nov. 30. Niven says although the film will miss the Toronto and Halifax festivals, "if it is as good as we think it's going to be, then we might have a shot at Berlin and Cannes."
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May 27, 2002
By Laura Bracken - Playback Magazine
Based on a play by Cape Breton Island's Daniel MacIvor, with an almost entirely local cast, Marion Bridge is the first feature for both Bill Niven's Halifax-based Idlewild Films and for Toronto director Wiebke von Carolsfeld. Coproduced with Toronto's Sienna Films, it wraps five weeks of shooting primarily in Halifax at the end of May.
"Our director is a dream," says Niven, who was initially concerned about working with a first-timer. "She wants to be involved in every detail along the way and has a very keen sense of aesthetics."
An editor by trade, Carolsfeld has worked on a few shorts, including one with Vancouver's Molly Parker (Men With Brooms), which Niven says helped the production team land the brand-name actor for a leading role in this fairly small picture, with a crew of about 80 people and a budget in the $2-million range.
The film tells the story of three sisters and the unspoken family secret that surfaces when one sister returns to Cape Breton from Toronto after their mother falls ill. "It's a well-deserved look at human nature, but always with a laugh on the side...it's never too earnest," says Niven.
The entire cast, aside from Parker and Rebecca Jenkins (Black Harbour), are from Nova Scotia, including Stacy Smith (New Waterford Girl), 15-year-old Ellen Page (Touch and Go), Emmy Alcorn, who acted in the original stageplay, and appearances by East Coast musicians Ashley MacIsaac and Heather Rankin.
"We felt that if they were local it would give the film an authenticity," says Niven. "There's an authenticity in the voice that's irreplaceable." Authenticity will also be developed through establishing shots filmed in Cape Breton, where the story is set, that capture the juxtaposition of the island's natural beauty and the post-industrial feel of its hulking rusted steel plant.
With funding from Movie Central, The Movie Network, the LFP, EIP, the Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation and the Harold Greenberg Fund, Marion Bridge will be delivered to distributor Mongrel Media on Nov. 30. Niven says although the film will miss the Toronto and Halifax festivals, "if it is as good as we think it's going to be, then we might have a shot at Berlin and Cannes."
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