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Notes
Production
While working with Angelo Eidse (writer) on a feature film project, Bevan Klassen (director, co-producer) remembered a short story Angelo had shared with him months earlier. AngeloÕs story was semi-autobiographical and entitled Father and Son Camp. It transported Bevan back to his own growing up years, and resonated with various church experiences he has had as an adult. Under BevanÕs direction, Angelo turned his story into the short film script On a Sunday.
Frank Zappia (co-producer) and Bevan have been collaborators since meeting at the Winnipeg Film GroupÕs Basic Film Workshop in 1997. In 2003, Bevan related Angelo's short story to Frank. Frank immediately joined 40 Below Films in the role of co-producer.
To create the visual stylings of On a Sunday, Bevan turned to Steven Morrisson who created the retro 1970's look for BevanÕs film Wildlands. Through this positive experience, Bevan knew Steve was the perfect choice to create the 1950s Òfilm noirÓ look required for On a Sunday. In fact, the team spent time pouring over many noir films to identify the appropriate look for On a Sunday.
Mike KoopÕs music created a perfect 1970s mood in BevanÕs film Wildlands. With On a Sunday, Bevan called on Mike to create not only the music score for the film but also the period songs that create the filmÕs authentic religious tone.
Many other collaborators worked with Bevan on the film including Kevin Nikkel (assistant director), Raenel Leppky (costume), Saul Henteleff (post-production sound), and Oscar Fenoglio (co-editor).
All these contributions have made and will make "On a Sunday" a significant Canadian film for 2005.
Director
When my children were born, I anticipated the day when I could communicate with them in more adult ways. As they enter adolescence, I am inspired by the special nature of our new relationship. In my film On a Sunday, I know the pride Jack has in his son Kenny. I also understand the subtle communication problems that can strain a parent-child relationship. In our story, Jack and Kenny experience this strain due to the unspoken history between Jack, the outsider, and Harry, the church leader.
As a pre-adolescent, I looked up to all the leaders in my church. They organized floor hockey tournaments and planned church camp-outs. They were at the front of our Sunday School classes every weekend rallying us with songs and stories. As I matured, I discovered that church leaders were not without their flaws. In On a Sunday, Kenny looks up to Harry. However, at a Father/Son campout, Kenny slowly changes his feelings as he sees Harry judge his dad, Jack. Through this camp experience, Kenny moves closer to his dad and further away from his childhood.
Bevan Klassen
November 2004
Writer
I routinely scribble notes in small notebooks or scraps of paper that I will reference at a later date when I am looking for the grist for my next story. Upon reflection, most of those notes recall thoughts or feelings I had at the time, and the stories grow up around them. But when I looked back on the note Ôfather and son campÕ scribbled haphazardly in the margin of an old day-timer I found I could only extract scraps of memory and a few isolated images of a church father and son camping trip I had coerced my dad into attending when I was a young boy. As I began to write and to mine my memory for sufficient detail to make the story interesting it occurred to me that I had so few memories of that weekend not because it had been traumatic or that I had sustained a head injury, but because the weekend had been so staggeringly banal. It was remarkable only in that it was, perhaps, the first time I saw things for what they were instead of what I imagined or desired them to be. The first time rhetoric betrayed me. And, as such, it was possibly one of the more formative events of my childhood. For me, On a Sunday has always been a story about a boy who learns to love his father for who he is instead of who he wants him to be.
Angelo Eidse
November 2004
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On a Sunday