INTRO
In 1991 I wrote a book about making films and trying to make films in Canada in the 1980s, entitled Ms Adventures in the Screen Trade. During the period covered by the book December 1981 - March 1990 - I kept detailed notes and diaries of my experiences. The book is based on these. Although the focus was on Canada, it was international in scope. It was also about the creative process and transformation - personal, political and social. I never published the book for a variety of reasons, but mainly because self-publishing and the internet were not yet a thing and events of life took over.
September 12, 2025, was the 40th Anniversary of the nearly cancelled
premiere screening of my feature film Samuel Lount at the Toronto Festival of Festivals, (Toronto International Film Festival) on September 12,
1985. I thought that now would be a good time to finally publish this chapter on
how the film almost wasn't screened. It's a bit of a nail biter. Enjoy!
SCENE 9 DISASTERGRAM
"Sometimes the pool-pah,", Bokonon tells us, "exceeds the power of humans to comment." Bokonon translates pool-pah at one point in the Books of Bokonon as "shit-storms" and at another point as "wrath of God. Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle
SEPTEMBER 1985
The good news is Samuel Lount has been accepted in the Toronto Festival of Festivals. The world premiere is scheduled for Thursday September 12, 7:30pm at the Cumberland Theatre in Yorkville. This theatre is situated on the site of the cemetery Potter's Field - the very spot where Samuel was originally buried in 1838.
The bad news is that Film House is refusing to release the print. They are now insisting we pay 100% of their bill in cash rather than the agreed upon 60% and 40% deferred. Now, with the film completed, Film House hold the trump card - the negative and the print. Our major concern is to ensure that the film plays in the festival.
My partner, writer-director Laurence Keane, and I enlist the support of Sandy Flanagan, publisher of Reel West Magazine. Laurence and Sandy become a team, mounting an intense lobby effort among all the delegates at the trade forum and hammering away at Murray Gough and Stan Ford at Film House to try and retrieve the print. Doug MacDonald, the owner, skipped town for the festival (he is supposedly in L.A. on business), and left his henchmen to deal with the problem.
With all this turmoil going on in the background, I have to put on a good front and act as if everything is just fine and under control. I proceed with my own lobbying efforts and organizing the premiere and after party. My mother and sisters are helping out, making sure all our friends, relatives, cast, crew, etc. have tickets for the screening and are invited to the party.
I have a meeting with John Watt of the Department of Communications (DOC). John, a Canadian history buff, has been a supporter of Samuel Lount and an invaluable behind-the-scenes ally in our battle to get the film made. I hand him a letter outlining the details of what has happened in the course of making this movie. If the film doesn't screen I plan to release this letter to the media. A copy also goes to Telefilm, CBC, MPG (Motion Picture Guarantors), our Co-Executive Producer Don Haig and Film House.
Over the years I have learned that the best course of action when in trouble is to put all your grievances on paper and send it out to everybody. For some reason this usually seems to work.
One evening I go to City TV to try and see Moses Znaimer, the President, thinking perhaps there is something he can do to help. As I wait in the lobby for over an hour my good friend writer-director Sandy Wilson arrives for a dinner engagement with Moses. Her film My American Cousin, has become the hit of the festival. She's getting rave reviews.
Moses is an intriguing man. Harvard educated, with endless energy. He loves to create an aura of excitement, drama and mystery around him and has so far managed to do this quite well. Entering his office is like entering some secret chamber. The office overlooks the main TV studio. Piles of files, papers and books cover every available space.
As I explain my predicament I notice a poster of Machiavelli placed strategically on the wall behind him. It reminds me of a line in Kurt Vonnegut's "Cats Cradle", - "Why bother with made-up games when there are so many real ones going on." Moses says, "It's only a movie" and suggests I talk to Jay Switzer, head of programming, about licensing the film to City TV after its CBC run. This would give Telefilm and Film House some secured revenue.
On September 11 a picture of me appears in the Globe & Mail that is somewhat amusing under the circumstances, captioned: "ELVIRA LOUNT with her important folder doing the rounds." Deidre Kelly writes:
"ON THE PROWL: We're not exactly sure what Elvira Lount, producer of Samuel Lount (Elvira's ancestor, who fought in the 1837 Rebellion of Upper Canada) is looking for. But it must be something awfully important. She's been seen at all the parties carrying a folder stuffed with forms, paper and flyers advertising her movie. Anyway, we can tell you that lots of other people have been seen looking for her. A few lonely hearts are smitten by her beauty and brains. Imagine that! But here's a warning to you from festival communications director Helga Stephenson: the lovely Elvira has a boy friend and he's none other than Laurence Keane, director of Samuel Lount."
The day of the screening starts off with no settlement in sight. Laurence heads off for an early morning coffee with Sandy Flanagan to plot strategy. Sandy says there is one missing element in the mix. Who represents the shareholders of Moonshine Productions Ltd, the production company? After all, it is a public company. Laurence and Sandy devise a plan. Sandy buys two Moonshine shares from Laurence on the spot, for 50 cents. He becomes a dissident shareholder out to protect his investment.
Laurence and Sandy then head over to the apartment and type up a letter for Film House. The letter demands the release of the film for the festival and hold Film House responsible for any damages that might occur if the film fails to appear. Sandy then delivers the letter to Murray Gough and Stan Ford at Film House as if he were delivering a writ. He informs them that he is acting as a shareholder of Moonshine and expects immediate action; otherwise, he will consider legal action for any damages.
In the meantime, the festival organizers have found out that the film has not shown up. I'm called into the festival office by Helga Stephenson and Anne Mackenzie and told that if the film is not there by noon, the press will be informed that the screening is cancelled. I calmly assure them that it will be there, but I need until 5 pm. They reluctantly agree to 4:30 pm.
I have lunch with Sandy Wilson at the Park Plaza, headquarters of the festival. It's ironic how she has become the darling - the "cause celebre" of the festival. I have become "persona non grata." I tell her that I have no idea what is going to happen, if we will have the screening or not.
Back at Film House, for some reason Murray Gough suddenly appears willing to negotiate and a meeting is arranged for 4 pm. Laurence gets to the phone at Shopsy's, just down the street, and calls a friend, lawyer Tony Baker. He drags him away from the closing of a million dollar real estate deal. Our own lawyer, Steve Levitan, is conveniently out of town. (Famous Toronto saying - "When disaster is about to hit, get out of town.") Laurence also calls our executive producer Don Haig who has been saying to "forget the screening, there is no way Doug MacDonald is going to release the print." I am at City TV waiting for a meeting with Jay Switzer. Laurence and Sandy suddenly appear in the lobby. They inform me of the latest developments and then run off trying to hail a cab back to Film House.
I meet with Jay and then go to Film House, arriving at just after 4 pm. Film House's attitude has totally changed. Stan and Murray now say, in front of our new lawyer Tony Baker, that the whole thing has been a misunderstanding; that it is obvious that the recoupment on the 40% deferment is pari-pasu, a point they were disputing previously. They agree to release the print under guard for the two festival screenings as long as as it is returned to them afterwards, so they can ensure they are paid the remaining 60% they are entitled to. At 4:30 pm Don Haig phones the festival office to say that the print will be delivered in time for the screening. We are saved. But it sure has been a cliff-hanger.
What accounted for this change in attitude? Was there anything that triggered it? Or was it the sum total of all our lobby efforts? Had Doug MacDonald merely been bluffing and intended to release the print, but held out until the last minute to see if he could win his point?
It wasn't until a month later that I found out the missing piece of the puzzle. It seems my lobby efforts with the DOC paid off. Apparently on the day of the screening, September 12, Marcel Masse, Minister of Communications, phoned Peter Pearson, Head of Telefilm, and told him to call Doug MacDonald and demand the release of the print for the festival. After all they had a major investment in the film, as did CBC.
Back at the hotel, after the meeting at Film House, I'm ready to collapse. My mind starts playing tricks on me. I see a police officer in the lobby and become totally paranoid. I think he is there for me. I go to the room and the phone rings. I let it ring, grab my stuff and run down the backstairs of the hotel and along Bloor Street, two blocks to our apartment to get myself together for the screening.
At the screening, I'm feeling so sensitive that I'm picking up all sorts of negative vibes. The fact that there is a heavy-duty guard from Film House watching over the print doesn't help matters any. The slightest cough or movement disturbs me, and the ghosts of the past, buried beneath the theatre, are stirring. Samuel Lount has risen. His spirit is released into the world.
I feel much calmer at the after party at the nearby underground restaurant, The Coffee Mill, owned by a Hungarian friend of my mother's, Marta. (For all we know, it's on Samuel's old grave site.) People congratulate me, including relatives I've never met before. They love the film. There is a good feeling among the guests. We realize we have a lot of friend and supporters. We have made it through another nightmare.
 |
| Elvira Lount with John Kennedy, Head of CBC Drama at the after party for SAMUEL LOUNT |
However, the euphoria doesn't last very long. Early Saturday morning, September 14, fast asleep in our room at the Park Plaza, we are awakened by a jarring ring of the phone, The red light attached to the phone flashes on and off ominously. It's co-writer Phil Savath calling from his room at the Windsor Arms.
"Disastergram," he says, and proceeds to read us our review by Jay Scott in the Globe & Mail:
To put it bluntly, Samuel Lount, a hagiographic film that purports to examine the Farmer's Rebellion is a disaster ... The fulcrum is by al rights the firebrand, alcoholic rebel William Lyon MacKenzie (Cedric Smith), but the film insists on letting the drably tortured Lount ... get in the way of the drama .. A black farce - at once appalling and appealing - might be the most profitable way of bringing the rebellion to life with historical accuracy, a nicety Samuel Lount doesn't bother about ... the screenplay is out to canonize the saints and vilify the sinners.
In retrospect, taken in context with the reviews that come later - which are on the whole favourable, some of them even glowing - this review doesn't seem so bad. However, given our state of mind at the moment, it is a final blow. It seems that Samuel Lount has once again been buried in the same spot, 147 years later. After a review like this it's going to be difficult to get our film back from Film House.
____________________________________________________________________________________
CREDITS: Written by Elvira Lount; edited by Laurence Keane; associate
editors Gail Henley, Constance Olsheski; proofreaders Donna Dudinsky,
George Lount.
Special thanks to: Laurence Keane, Sandy Flanagan, John Watt, Moses Znaimer, Jay Switzer, Don Haig, Tony Baker, John Kennedy, Marcel Masse, Phil Savath, my mom Elizabeth and sisters Joan, Liz and Tina, and all our cast, crew and friends who helped make the film and get it released.
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