IS ASCENSION A GENRE FILM?
'Well, it's certainly got elements of science-fiction and the horror genre,
but in the end it is something rather ambiguous and not easily definable.
It probably should be classified more in the realm of the auteur movie,
because that's usually where people throw something that they can't really
pin a specific mold on, but I would probably place it as a dream-film.
It is a movie that will probably mean something different to everyone
who sees it, which is something I find very exciting about it, and sadly
missing from many motion pictures today. People, not necessarily
the public, but certainly marketing people, are obsessed with having
films fit into simple, easy packages that can be mass-produced and
require absolutely no thought beyond the first degree. This is not
something at all that interested me with ASCENSION. I wanted to
make a film that was honest to our subconscious and not a
slave to a pre-set genre, though honestly I don't think the movie
is really inaccessible at all. In fact, I think people might find it
quite entertaining. At least, that was definitely a goal of mine.'

THE THREE FEMALE LEADS IN ASCENSION ARE NEVER GIVEN
NAMES, BUT ARE CLEARLY VERY SPECIFICALLY DEFINED
VIEWS ON FEMININITY. WHO ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO BE?
'I might be letting you in on one of the clues to the film's subconscious
structure, but the three women might be specific stages in the life of
ONE woman, who is confronting herself during her voyage to try and
end the world. Sure the PREGNANT WOMAN and the OLDER WOMAN
are rather cynical, vicious and cruel creatures, while the YOUNGER
WOMAN is something like their spiritual punching bag, but if you want
to try and put two and two together, you can actually find something
of a chronology between the three women and fit them into one life.
Definitely, women are a topic that has fascinated me since my
existence, and this fascination has played a part in pretty much well
everything I've done. Their world of complication, intuition, emotion,
razor-precision and abstraction amongst many other things moves me
beyond any other topics. To make a picture where the principal characters
used their egomania in a very manipulative, yet still very uncommonly
feminine manner, seemed to be something that I wished to dip my toes in.
I'm not saying that this is any sort of definite observation on anything,
it is just elements that have been collected from various people
I've known, and crammed into prisons of flesh and celluloid. I didn't want
to necessarily present obvious, maternal clichés, especially with regards
to the PREGNANT WOMAN. She is quite a sinister character, but one
that I don't think is impossible, despite the fantasy context she is presented in.'

JUDGING FROM YOUR FIRST FEATURE FILM SUBCONSCIOUS CRUELTY
AND NOW THIS ONE, YOU SEEM TO HAVE A CERTAIN SENSE OF…
CYNICISM TOWARDS LET'S SAY THE IDEA OF A SUPREME BEING...
'Yes and no. Let's just say that I can definitely see the ironies and
surrealisms of the concept of having some sort of over-powering
creature that is responsible for EVERYTHING. Certainly it would
be kind of funny, in a rather cruel manner of course, to see what
would happen if this being was actually killed and all its gifts would
spread like a disease to the people who used to only worship
it blindly. ASCENSION is a simple answer to this question.
It's kind of a very ironic, very darkly humorous movie behind its
surface. Certainly, once people reach the " pop song " scene
in the movie, I hope they understand that it's okay to laugh here
and there… That yes, we understand that people don't talk like the
characters in the film… They are something of parodies
of themselves, so far off into their own obsessions
that they don't realize how pathetic they really are.'

THAT'S TRUE...THE DIALOGUE IS A LITTLE ODD.
'Very intentionally so. The characters are so ego-centric
that they feel they are above simple speech, having become deities,
and such. It's really a sort of new form of bourgeoisie, being a God.
I guess. The movie is actually quite ironic towards itself, and its situations.'

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE HORROR MOVIE STUFF?
'Yeah, it's got some of that too, but it fits in such a naturalistic way that
it's just a part of the character's normal state of mind. Their world
is an ugly place, because they primarily hate themselves. They are
afraid of what the world has become because they are so very
comfortably a part of its insanity. They've looked into their own mirror,
which is why they want to smash it and end everything.
Basically, they're just trying to kill themselves, but want attention
doing it, even if that attention is from their own shadows.'

THE MUSIC AND SOUND DESIGN IS VERY PRESENT AND INTENSE...
'David Kristian is such an important element of this film, he is definitely
a co-author on the picture with me. He recorded 90% of his music and
sound design on the film prior to us shooting, much of the scenes written
to his songs, and his work played on set during some second unit shots
to help us get into the mood. The film was always structured as some
sort of hypnotic quasi-musical, with a very present, electronic soundtrack
that will help suck you into this odd, dreamy world. We even went back
into his immense back-catalogue of songs he recorded years ago and
selected, much like putting together a compilation album, the tracks that
would best fit the picture. Then I adapted my images for him so they
would meld perfectly. David is a definite genius and a gift to work with.'

YOU WERE ALSO THE CINEMATOGRAPHER OF THE FILM.
WAS THAT TOUGH, TO DIRECT AND SHOOT AT THE SAME TIME?
'I'm used to it. It's pretty much how I like to work, because it brings
you right into the thick of the action and you have the most control in
a sense that if you're inspired to do something during a shot, you
don't have to go through someone else to do it. I also just love
cinematography. If you have a great crew and a great Lighting
Director as I had, you are already quite ahead of the game.'

HOW DID YOU CHOOSE YOUR ACTORS?
'Well, basically I didn't audition the leads, but I chose them based
on the work that I had seen. Marie-Josée Croze I chose based
on her famous role in MAELSTROM, and her amazing ability to
express multiple, cryptic emotions with just a simple glance.
She's a complex and oddly enigmatic person, quite a natural
choice for such a multi-layered and dark role as THE PREGNANT
WOMAN. Her French accent didn't bother me, in fact I wanted it to be
present to add a little quirky spice to the already odd mix that is
the movie. Barbara Ulrich I knew a bit from town, and I cast her
after seeing her in Gilles Groulx's LE CHAT DANS LE SAC,
a classic of new-wave Quebec cinema from the sixties. Very
different than ASCENSION, sure, but I saw something… Well…
Nasty in her, with all respect to Barbara, that would be great for
the part. I chose Ilona Elkin because of her work in the
TV series VAMPIRE HIGH. Sure it's a kids show, but even on
stuff like that you can tell when someone is good. Ultimately,
I think everyone oddly kind of became their parts in real life,
which can make for some intense times on set, but most
importantly, translates to good, intense moments onscreen,
which is of course the reason we're all there for, so it comes
together in the end. I'm very happy with every performance in
the film and the subtleties and nuances laden within them. It wasn't
easy for the actors due to the location, the heavy prosthetic make-up
and the cold…Then you have to consider the difficult content of the
film and their personal dynamics to boot. I'm quite thankful
that despite all those elements, we still managed to get
pretty much well what I had in my head on the screen.'

SHOOTING ON LOCATION IN AN OLD, ABANDONED
GRAIN SILO MUST HAVE BEEN SOMETHING...
'Something is a pretty simple word compared to what we went through…
It was actually quite a smooth, well run shoot, thanks to the great work
of the production team, but still it didn't change the fact that we were
shooting up high, hundreds of feet in the air in a decomposing,
frozen building in -20 degree weather, bathed in old pigeon shit and on
staircases that if you took a wrong step you would plummet to your death.
Definitely no elevators, and in a story when the characters are supposed
to be climbing to chambers up high in the sky, they REALLY ARE doing
that, because that's where the locations are! Since we were shooting
with an ARRIFLEX BL 4, which is not the lightest 35mm camera, we
created a bungee cord rig with the grip team for much of the handheld
shots, which not only enabled us to do some moves that simply wouldn't
be possible with such a heavy camera, it also saved valuable production
time, because each time we had to set up a tripod in those stairs it was a
20 minute ordeal of rigging and safety harnessing! But it certainly took
a toll on the cast and crew. The camera and film stock was freezing,
every time someone had to go to the bathroom they had to run down
hundreds of stairs, and then climb the same amount to get back to set.
So many stories… Not to mention that everything was covered in
birdshit /grain dust when we started filming, but once
we finished it was all gone…We had breathed it all up! Also there
was the snowstorm we created in there… And the blood…'

YOU SEEM TO LIKE CHALLENGES IN FILMMAKING.
'I don't seek complication intentionally, but if something will look
better by shooting in a real place, then… I'm not afraid of doing it.'

IF YOU WOULD LIKE AUDIENCES TO LEAVE ASCENSION
WITH ONE FEELING, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
'Love. I want people to love each other.'

INTERVIEW BY BILLIE WILSON

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