The West Coast wave an excerpt from dreaming in the rain: how Vancouver became Hollywood North by Northwest

TAKE ONE, June-Sept, 2003

"[The Grocer's Wife] was the kind of an experience where people would come on set just to see what was going to explode that day. People were not only coming, they were bringing their own fucking lunch. And people would never be allowed to have these jobs: I wouldn't be allowed to be a director, Simon Webb would never be a lead actor, Bruce Sweeney would never be on boom, Ross would never be mixing... and you would see these guys, they would get there, they would see the schedule collapse, they'd see [cinematographer Peter] Wunstorf and I trying to figure out how we were going to shoot this. We'd throw one thing away, we'd scratch something on paper, we'd type it up, pass it around, everything would change in a moment, we'd shoot something. It was a vibrant experience. I really believe everyone was there to learn, everyone was there to watch something. It was the best school that we had. And it was on the edge, it was dangerous and it was so exciting to be there."

Pozer would transfer to Concordia University in Montreal, where, along with Weber, he would complete post--production on The Grocer's Wife. In 1992, the film premiered and was selected for the Cannes Film Festival. "They phoned me," recalls Shum. "I freaked. I was just like, 'Yeah! We did it! Yay!"' The film would be heralded at other festivals and play theatres across Canada. More than that, it gave birth to a West Coast Wave whose impact on Canadian film has just begun to be felt. Stopkewich's Kissed and Shum's Double Happiness were major successes in the indie world. When Sweeney's Last Wedding was chosen to open the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF director Piers Handling acknowledged the UBC group. "It's nice for us to recognize and affirm that," said Handling, "and to make that movement of filmmakers feel as much at home at the Toronto festival as the Vancouver festival."

The Vancouver indie scene has grown beyond its UBC nucleus but Sweeney, Stopkewich, Shum and the rest remain its heart. And the UBC alumni have continued to be friends, working together on occasion, leaving phone messages or sending flowers when a classmate is about to begin a shoot. SFU film grad Scott Smith, whose rollercoaster was popular on the festival circuit, pays tribute to the UBC group. "I met all these guys working on Kissed and Live Bait, so I'm sort of this SFU parasite in this UBC crowd." Actor/director Martin Cummins, whose We All Fall Down also played festivals, says newer Vancouver directors can't help but be conscious of the presence of the wave of indie filmmaking that started at UBC. "It's out there. And I guess on some level I'm a part of it," he says. "I feel like I know that I am. And it's a cool thing. You know, all these people that are making these movies because they want to make the movies, not because they're getting rich doing it."

Dreaming in the Rain: How Vancouver Became Hollywood North by Northwest by David Spaner. Arsenal Pulp Press, Vancouver, 2003. ISBN 1-55152-129-6. $21.95.