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Debut Director Rick Alyea up for the Borsos prize

Part of the Game first of six independent films making their world premieres at Whistler

By Lauren Graham and Shelley Arnusch

When Rick Alyea, a 26-year-old first time feature film writer/director set out to shoot Part of the Game , he had no idea the film would end up competing for the inaugural $10,000 Philip Borsos Award for Best Canadian Feature Film at the Whistler Film Festival.

After all, the film’s entire budget wasn’t much more than the prize. Alyea shot the entire film in four weeks last summer in Vancouver for $15,000 Cdn. This may seem like a substantial bit of money, especially to the struggling Whistler ski bum crowd, but in the film world, it’s pocket change.

It’s quite an achievement to have such a high quality production come from such a low budget. Alyea was fortunate to have a talented cast and crew to help bring his script, a hard-hitting look at the modern drug scene, to life.

Shot entirely on digital video with the Panasonic DVX100A, the visuals were concocted by a pair of brilliant artists, cinematographer Scooter Corkle and camera operator Laura McGuire. The two were Alyea’s key creative partners on set and were instrumental in creating Part of the Game’s stunning, yet all too accurate portrayal of the drug problems in Vancouver.

The film stars Richard De Klerk as Robert, a character struggling to deal with his younger sister’s heroin addiction. The director says he deliberately set the film in suburbia in an attempt to avoid a cliché setting where a drug user comes from a broken home.

"Whether it’s society or pop culture, we glorify the use of drugs in film sometimes and the message gets forgotten that sometimes people’s lives get lost," said Alyea. "We need to be more aware."

Despite his no-holds-barred approach, he maintains he did not set out to make a film with an anti-drug message.

"I didn’t want it to be stereotypical," Alyea said, " I wanted it to be about family, and people can take away what they want from it."

Part of the Game

is the first of the six Borsos-contending films to screen at the festival. New this year, the contest is open to all genres of feature film – including documentaries – having their world premiere screening at the festival. The contest’s namesake, who died of cancer at the age of 41, is best known for his Canadian classic western film The Grey Fox (1982) and the ambitious Bethune , the Making of a Hero (1990), an historical film set in China starring Donald Sutherland as the titular doctor.

Borsos will be honoured at the festival with a tribute event on Saturday evening, which will include a screening of The Grey Fox .

The award is meant to celebrate the late director’s vision, artistic integrity and Canadian spirit, qualities the Borsos jury will be looking to reward with the lucrative prize.

The prerequisite that the Borsos winner be a world premiere is to help promote the Whistler festival as a place known for discoveries in independent Canadian cinema. And you don’t get much more "indie" than Rick Alyea.

"No one got paid on this film, it was made out of the passion and love for filmmaking," Alyea said. "Everyone involved came on board and sacrificed completely. They believed in the story and that’s the passion that motivates me too. Just to be in the same category as the other six films in the competition is phenomenal. It’s that recognition for the crew, that I love.

"Whistler took a chance on us, I just hope we don’t let them down."

Part of the Game

, the first of six films shortlisted for the inaugural Philip Borsos Award for Best Canadian Feature Film, screens Friday, Dec. 3 at 1 p.m. at the Village 8 Cinemas festival venue.

The Whistler Film Festival runs Dec. 2-5.

Sidebar

Additional 2004 Borsos Prize Competitors

Cable Beach (B.C.)

Directed by James Head.

A murder-mystery set in a small West Coast fishing village. Head is also an acclaimed producer of such films as Bruce McDonald’s Hard Core Logo and Gary Burns’ Kitchen Party.

Papal Chase (B.C.)

Directed by Kenny Hotz

An eclectic film documenting one man’s successful (!) quest to meet the world’s most heavily guarded celebrity – the Pope. The cast list includes John Paul II and the Rolling Stones.

Better Off In Bed (ON)

Directed by Reg Harkema

A road movie/rockumentary featuring Canadian indie bands The New Pornographers and The Gay on a tour of Western Canada.

Pink Ludoos (B.C.)

Directed by Gaurav Seth

A colourful comedy film set in the West Coast Indo-Canadian community featuring a traditionally minded mother played by Shaheen Khan of Bend it like Beckham , on a collision course with her feisty daughter when she becomes pregnant with triplets out of wedlock.

Eighteen (B.C.)

Directed by Richard Bell

A street kid confronts his past when he receives his grandfathers WWII memoirs on his 18 th birthday.