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Ang Lee in Vancouver, Part 3: On Canada and Bill C-10
During his talk at the Pacific Cinémathí¨que (on Saturday, April 19), director Ang Lee was asked if he would ever make a film in Vancouver (to some applause from audience members).
Lee said that he had worked indirectly with Vancouver’s film community when he filmed Brokeback Mountain in Calgary, Alberta.
But he pointed out that it all depends on the subject of his project. “I’m a material-driven person. When some material excites me, I go wherever in the world to make a movie.”
He said that when he thinks of Vancouver, he thinks of having a holiday (to much laughter from the audience).
However, he did say he would like to film here if the opportunity arose. “I wish I could make a movie here like the same way I did in Calgary. I hope it’s a hockey movie,” he said to much laughter.
He is also rooting for Canadians. “I want to make a movie in which Canadians win, not always Americans. When you won the World Cup, I really [would] like to make that into a movie.”
A reporter explained to him that Bill C-10 is being proposed in Canada, which could potentially deny tax credits to filmmakers if their projects are deemed not in the public’s interest.
When asked if he had encountered anything similar, Lee said he hadn’t. He pointed out that he had even made gay cowboy movies in Calgary (which made the audience laugh).
When he was asked for his opinion on the bill, Lee said “People should be free to say anything”¦I think that the film commission should like to please filmmakers and they shouldn’t treat them like propaganda, or salesmen for the local tourism industry. I think that’s too low. I think they should know better than that.”
This may have been the first time Lee had heard of the bill, and he may not have known much about it prior to his arrival.
He ended his talk with an address to Vancouver’s Chinese-language media in Mandarin, in which he made (according to the Straight’s Shannon Li) some polite but warm statements that it was nice to be here.
In English, he said “I think this is the most beautiful city in the world.”
To read part one, click here.
To read part two, click here.
The Straight quoted Lee as saying in reference to Bill C-10: "I think that the film commission... shouldn't treat [filmmakers] like propaganda... I think that's too low. I think they should know better than that."
But propaganda is the precise motive. Bill C-10 is a power grab by the Tories to gain control over the film and television industry, arguably the most powerful arm of the media. Their rhetoric is that they don't want tax money going to productions that are pornographic, excessively violent, or inciting hate.
It's a fabricated problem. Tax money never has gone to those kinds of productions. Telefilm Canada, the legislated body devoted to applying tax credits to eligible productions already has guidelines to ensure pornography, excessively violent films, and films that break hate laws do not receive tax money.
The text in section 3.1 of Telefilm's Basic Guidelines for eligible projects reads like this: "The project must not contain any elements of gratuitous violence or serious or gratuitous sexual exploitation, and must not be obscene, indecent or pornographic within the meaning of the criminal code, or libellous or any other way unlawful."
All Bill C-10 does is take the power to approve or pull a film's funding out of the hands of Telefilm's many qualified industry professionals and put it in the hands of one Heritage Minister appointed by the Conservatives and obliged by the party to toe the line.
What's really in the best interests of the Canadian people?
Spencer Maybee, Vancouver