With his innovative 2006 film Radiant City, director Gary Burns nabbed the coveted Genie Award for Best Documentary. For Burns it marked a notable crossover from crafting fictional comedies like waydowntown into the world of non-fiction.
Well…Sort of.
See, Radiant City was a hybrid of blending actors with real life interview subjects to highlight the issue of suburban sprawl. Its success has now led Burns (with co-director Jim Brown) to their similarly-styled sophomore documentary The Future Is Now! opening in select theatres beginning June 24th.
A remake of an innovative 1949 French documentary, The Future is Now! follows the cynical Man of Today (Paul Ahmarani) as the Woman of Tomorrow (Liane Balaban) takes him on a journey to meet renowned real life artists and thinkers in an effort to enlighten his views on the world.
We recently caught up with the Calgary-based filmmaker to discuss the acclaimed movie, juggling fiction versus non-fiction and overcoming one’s cynicism:
Steve Gow: This is certainly not a typical documentary. How would you describe this film?
Gary Burns: (laughs) Well, there’s the plot – you can say its about a guy who’s having a hard time adjusting to the modern world…and a journalist takes him under her wing and sort of says the world’s okay; introduces him to leading minds in arts and sciences and that’s the plot I guess. But for us its really the idea that it’s taking stock of now as opposed to projecting (the future)…it’s the idea of about lets have discussions about just the basics.
SG: You mix actors talking with real life experts. How did you direct the non-actors?
GB: (Everybody) was game. That was kind of the deal. We said this is a bit different…Jim’s idea was that it should almost be like going on the Internet looking for stuff and you can go anywhere anytime. So its kind of goofy but we got the idea from the original (film) basically – you can go knock on a philosopher’s door in London and he’ll invite you in and give you some advice.
SG: I also love that you put stock footage of (legendary philosopher) Jean-Paul Sartre in this having a conversation (with the lead actor) from beyond the grave.
GB: What he’s saying is amazing to me – this idea that we’re all implicated in the good and bad. If you’re a citizen you’re as much to blame for the crime in the streets as you are credited with the new bridges they’re building. If you’re part of society, you’re involved in all of it – whether you choose to actually be active or not. Making the decision not to be active is just as important as making the decision to be active.
SG: Did your views change making this film – I read that you and Jim were both cynics.
GB: It was tough for us to take the optimist line but it was interesting. The back and forth between the Man of Today and the Woman of Tomorrow are basically scripted and that was all Jim and I – the way we feel on both sides. So I think you’ve got both our grumpiness and our optimism at the same time.
SG: How has the response been to the film? Ever get any flak from documentary purists?
GB: With Radiant City I thought we were going to get beat up a bit…people seemed to get it and it wasn’t a problem. At Hot Docs (Film Festival) with The Future is Now, someone said to me ‘explain how this is a documentary’ and we’re like, ‘really? You need that explained?’ We’re not breaking new ground here; people have been doing this for fifty years – mucking around with the form.
SG: Will you ever go back to making strictly fictional movies?
GB: I’m always trying. I’m finding docs are easier to get made these days. They’re more enjoyable I’ve got to tell you - trying to put it together. No one wants to make features in this country as far as drama – it’s very hard to pull it off…(but) I still got some scripts I want to make.
