62: Fear X with Gabriel Carrer
This week, we follow the red threads with filmmaker Gabriel Carrer to the visually impactful Fear X from 2003. This little-seen early Nicholas Winding Refn film may be set in the States but this thriller has plenty of Canadian talent behind it. We go deep into indie filmmaking, talking about why you shouldn't wait for funding to make your picture, how cinematic pacing and stripped back dialogue affects storytelling, and how to assemble a dream team on a small budget. Throw into that a discussion on the difference between being reminiscent vs. being derivative, the risks in alienating your audience, and choosing an artistic conclusion over a straightforward one, and you've got an in-depth look at this early film by a budding auteur.
Gabriel is on tour in festivals across the world for his most recent film, Death on Scenic Drive from Latefox Pictures, and he's full of great advice for first-time filmmakers, make sure you don't miss this one!
This week's end credit music is Gerhard Narholz's Count the Lights of San Francisco.
On this week's show
A graduate of the School of English and Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph, Carrer has gone on to win various awards in the independent genre circuit including the silver audience award for best Canadian feature at the Fantasia International Film Festival, and the Best Director Award at the Fantastic Planet Film Festival in Australia for the film The Demolisher (2015).
Carrer's early directing resume includes the films, Desperate Souls (2004) released by Alliance Atlantis and Lions Gate, Kill (2005) released by the notorious underground outfit Troma Entertainment, If a Tree Falls (2010), In the House of Flies (2012) starring punk rock icon Henry Rollins as "the voice" and The Demolisher (2015), which had a successful festival run via SITGES, Vancouver International Film Festival and the Fantasia International Film Festival.
Carrer has produced nearly one hundred music videos across North America. He is the founder and principal partner of Latefox Pictures Inc., a film collective originally conceived to give filmmakers a chance to collaborate on ideas and produce original content. Visit Gabriel's website, his Instagram, or Latefox Pictures for more of his work.
Shrimpton's Suggested Short
This week's Shrimpton Suggested Short is O Negative by Steven McCarthy
