“It’s still the Wild West out here.” – Cameron Macgowan on being a Calgary filmmaker.
One of the reasons I was excited about taking up the post of film-editor here at C.I.A. was the opportunity to shine a light on some local filmmakers and maybe find out what makes the Calgary film community so vibrant and unique. And, to that end, I’ve chosen for my first victim a talented writer and director (and a friend) by the name of Cameron Macgowan.
This is Cameron Macgowan (photo by Alex Mitchell)
Cameron and I sat down at Café Beano earlier this week, after he was kind enough to agree that I could try awkwardly interviewing someone that I already know. He ate a really good-looking ginger snap cookie and was nice enough to indulge my constant requests that he stop talking so my pen could catch up.
First out of the gate, I asked Mr. Macgowan when it was that he knew he wanted to be a filmmaker – and his response basically tells you all you need to know about him. As he puts it, “I wanted to be making movies ever since I found out that people made movies.”
Now, years after that realization, Macgowan has put together a very impressive resumé. He has directed four short films, joined up with the Canadian film collective ‘North Country Cinema‘, won an AMPIA award, was selected as one of Avenue Magazine’s “Top 40 Under 40”, went to the Cannes Film Festival with a short he produced as part of Telefilm’s “Not Short on Talent” Short Film program, screened at the South By Southwest Film Festival, he’s a programmer for the Calgary Underground Film Festival, and he’s currently in the midst of producing a feature film – editing his new short – touring festivals with another short – and still holds down a day job as Manager of Development & Business Affairs at Seven-24 Films here in Calgary.
I mean holy flipping shit, right? I am exhausted and ashamed reading that back. This guy makes me feel like a lazy koala-bear, just sleeping and eating leaves all day – except instead of leaves it’s cereal and Safeway sushi. Plus Macgowan has a full head of hair and a delicious ginger-snap cookie. Talk about having it all.
Still from “Liebe” courtesy Cameron Macgowan
His most recent film, the impossible-to-precisely-define Liebe (Love), is a short, poetic, and hilarious look at boy’s love for a girl, and a monster’s love for a boy. It played in Calgary not too long ago as part of CIFF – and just might be Macgowan’s most successful film.
“It’s definitely my most successful” Cameron corrects me. “Sometimes you get lucky with the ones that are just made in your head before you get to camera.” He then adds, “I just wanted to make a movie that I’d want to watch.”
And it turns out that he’s not the only one. So far, Liebe has been accepted into nine film festivals around North America, including the Vancouver International Film Festival, The Toronto After Dark Film Festival, DEDFest, The Atlantic Film Festival, Cucalorus Film Festival, and a few others I forgot to write down because I’m a koala.
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But it’s when we get on to the subject of Calgary and being a local filmmaker that things become interesting. Or maybe that’s just when I became more interested because other people’s successes are depressing.
“You don’t have to be from Vancouver or Toronto to get your movies seen.” says Macgowan, “Good movies are good movies.”
Growing up in Calgary seems to have had a definite impact on the filmmaker. Macgowan’s short film Black Hills was a Western, Liebe makes ample use of the prairie landscape, and the open road continues to provide inspiration – especially for the short he’s editing now, a drag-racing film called Back Streets. “The (Alberta) landscape gives your brain some time to wander,” he says. “Toronto has too much stimulus. In Calgary you’ve got room to think.”
Cameron bent over on the set of “Black Hills” (photo courtesy Paul Chrika)
Calgary also inspires Cameron to take some chances with his art. “Here, I’ve made three different genres in three years. You can’t take those risks in bigger cities because everyone’s watching all the time.” According to Macgowan, Calgary lets you “make your movies like nobody’s watching. When you make (a film here) you make it to have fun and because you have a good idea.”
“Calgary’s awesome because the people are nice and cool and they get genuinely excited about making shit.” Cam says with a smile, “It’s still the Wild West out here… And the odds are against you in this, so the more things you can find to make you say ‘fuck yeah’ the better.”
At the end of our interview, ginger-snap consumed and his patience probably worn thin from an hour talking with a koala, I wrap things up by asking Macgowan about his future plans. He tells me that he’s looking to write a couple feature films scripts, and I tell him that’s a terrible idea because writing is the worst and I don’t need competition from talented and successful people. That said, I don’t think I changed his mind.
In conclusion, I was struck by a couple things in writing this piece. Firstly, that interviewing a friend is a rather good way to get to know a person you thought you already knew – and secondly that there’s a promising future for the Calgary film community. Good work is being made, and the people making it aren’t just overcoming the limitations of budget and geography and access that Calgary imposes, but they’re embracing and thriving amidst those limitations. Which is, now that I think about it, a pretty Calgarian way to do things.
You can learn more about Cameron Macgowan on his website at awkwardsilenciofilms.com, and you should definitely track down his short film Liebe whenever the opportunity arises, because it’s pretty great.
Finally, now that all’s said and done, here is one last treat for those of you with 16 minutes to spare (that’s right, I’m talking to you transit commuters and inattentive parents) – it’s Cameron Macgowan’s short film Bad Dad.
Enjoy, and stay swell: