Youth Be Told

Canadian director Andrew Cividino’s critically acclaimed first feature movie about adolescence comes to the Palm Springs International Film Festival this month

Arianna Menon Arts & Entertainment

111 East

CAMEO

Sleeping Giant opens with a stunning panorama of Lake Superior. The vast body of water surrounded by jagged white cliffs is the perfect setting for a summer vacation. The camera pans across tourists enjoying recreational activities and zooms in on three teenage boys wrestling on the beach. All is peaceful, or so it appears.

The landscape is tranquil, but raw; the boys are carefree, but violent. By the end of the summer, the dynamic of their friendship has changed. This beautiful coming-of-age story explores the vulnerability of youth and dormant emotions that, once awakened, can have great consequences.

Praised at Cannes at its world debut in May, Sleeping Giant premiers in the United States during the Palm Springs International Film Festival, Jan. 1–11, 2016. The film screens at 7 p.m. Jan. 4 at the Annenberg Auditorium, and shows again at 12:30 p.m. Jan. 6 and again at 9:30 a.m. Jan. 8 – both at the Palm Springs Regal 9 Cinemas.

Palm Springs Life spoke with the film’s director, Andrew Cividino, not long before the festival.

Q What inspired you to co-write and direct such a complex coming-of-age story?
A I was inspired in equal parts by the setting, my own youth, and a few brilliant films. I wanted to capture the inferno of this stage of youth for boys, before the transition to adulthood, when day-to-day experiences feel incredibly chaotic, volatile, and vulnerable. I wanted to capture the sting of unrequited love, the joy of true friendship, the excitement of pushing boundaries with reckless abandon. The rugged, unforgiving landscape of Lake Superior in northern Ontario was a natural setting for this kind of story, as it possesses a sort of unpredictable violence. It’s an incredibly beautiful area and it can be quite calm and serene, but there’s an underlying tension and sense of looming danger that comes from these massive granite cliff faces and the incredible storms the lake kicks up. I saw a parallel to the way I felt and acted as a kid growing up there.

Q It appears that the story unfolds in the early 2000s in a pre-social media world. Is there a reason you chose to set the film in this era?
A I was part of the very last generation to grow up without cell phones and I think I’m a bit nostalgic for those times. I didn’t want the film itself to be a nostalgia piece or overly sentimental about a specific period so I opted instead to make the film contemporary but to take social technology out of it entirely and trust that the audience will accept that.

Q Can you share something about your creative process?
A I’m inspired by all kinds of things. For Sleeping Giant it was a combination of setting, cinema, and literature that I drew on. I definitely read as much as possible when writing a film, even something as personal as this. I try to understand everything about the genre I’m working in and find a few touchstone films to return to throughout the process. John Knowles novel A Separate Peace was very influential, as were the films of Richard Linklater, Andrea Arnold, Terrence Malick, and Peter Weir.

Q This is your first feature film. What challenges did you face in transitioning from a short to a feature film?
A There definitely were challenges in working on a feature but they were offset but some of the many advantages. Shooting a feature really can be a marathon grind but it also gives you time to gel with your cast and crew and iron out any kinks in the early going. A short film is something you slam into and it’s over before anyone can even take a breath and ask “what just happened?” With a feature you’re able to adapt, to rewrite as you move forward, even to reshoot scenes if necessary. It allows for a dialogue with the material that I really enjoyed.

Q Do you have any advice for young filmmakers who also want to transition from short to feature films?
A I really used to believe that there was a huge barrier between being a short and feature filmmaker, but I know now that’s not true. My advice for filmmakers making their first features is not to be held back by the apparatus of filmmaking. Write something that can be achieved fully with a modest budget and prepare to call in a lot of favors. It’s not a sustainable model but it’s often necessary for first films. Keep a lean crew and be adaptable, pay close attention to what’s working and not, and don’t be afraid to change course a few times along the way.

Q What can you tell me about the film’s world premiere in Cannes?
A Premiering at Cannes was nothing short of amazing. The premiere was very difficult to sit through — it was the first time my film had ever played for an audience and I knew that it was being watched exclusively by press and industry — and I just had to sit there for an hour and a half in the dark. I felt like I was underwater for 90 minutes. The response was incredible though, waking up to positive reviews the next day and hearing buzz around the festival about it was the best feeling ever. You work so very hard for so very long because you believe in a project and it’s special when you realize that other people are connecting to what you were trying so hard to share.

Q Are you excited about coming to the Palm Springs International Film Festival?
A Absolutely. The festival has such an incredible reputation and I’ve wanted to attend for years. It’s going to be our U.S. premiere, which is exciting, and I’ve heard from other filmmakers that it’s also one of the most fun festivals they’ve ever attended. This is also going to be my first time in the desert so I really can’t wait to be there.

Visit www.psfilmfest.org for a complete listing of film screenings.