DURHAM – Blake Van de Graff has made a movie, now he just has to find a way to get it out there for people to see.

‘Sidekick,’ he says, is a big budget-type movie on a shoestring. It was made possible due to a lot of friends and a lot of favours being called in. But, as an independent film, there are no guarantees it’s going to be in theatres.

Involved in the film industry since graduating from York University in the early 1990s, Van de Graaf directed the independent film. Made on their own time, the people behind ‘Sidekick’ are all in the film industry and wanted to make a movie of their own.

The concept was a collaborative effort, he adds, from veterans in the industry who knew each other, but weren’t making movies like they wanted to be. These types of movies, which use plenty of special effects, are expensive to make, but they decided to give it a try anyway.

“It was based on the group consensus that we wanted to do a superhero movie,” says Van de Graaf. “And I don’t think it’s been done with no money before.”
Michael Sparaga, the film’s writer-producer, in a press release, says he suggested at a reunion of York graduates a couple of years ago that they do this project.

“(It was) a screenplay I was working on at the time, a superhero movie about a depressed geek whose life finds meaning when he discovers a fellow co-worker with slight telekinetic abilities,” Sparaga says.

Van de Graaf isn’t the sole Ajacian on the film’s team either. Cliff Daigle, who attended Archbishop Denis O’Connor Catholic High School, just a couple of years ahead of Van de Graaf, was a key cog in Sidekick’s creation.

Van de Graaf says Daigle was the man behind the special effects.

“It was all done on weekends over 20 weeks”, say Van de Graaf. “We called in every friend and every favour we could pull”.

“We got a lot of bang for the buck from all our friends in the industry”.

On those 20 weekends last year through spring and early summer, about 25 to 30 people would work on the movie, anyone who had time. They had 19 different people in the cast and used 26 locations.

This is the first (time) I’ve directed a serious feature film,” he says, adding it was a pleasure, “because everyone really wanted to work on this.”

A coup for the team was the inclusion of veteran actor Daniel Baldwin, who brought another level of professionalism to the set in the three days he was with them. According to Van de Graaf, Baldwin took the job, jumped at it actually, because it was a departure from the tough guy he usually plays in movies and the character he played while a member of the television drama, ‘Homicide: Life on the Streets’.

The challenge for the team behind ‘Sidekick’ was to finish what they started, by paying for the expensive final phase of the project, of colour correction, sound mixing and final output. First up is a June 13 screening in Toronto to raise money to pay for the last steps of the movie.

If all goes well, they expect to gain entry into the Toronto International Film Festival this fall in the first-time filmmakers category.

If that happens, Van de Graaf says he believes it could open doors to other European and North American festivals.

“The film festival could be a real jumping-off point,” he says.

The entire production was a learning experience for Van de Graaf, who is still working in the Toronto film and television industry, but is currently between projects other than this work. Being involved with the stunts and computer animation and graphics can only help him in future work, hopefully making him a better fit for future projects he pitches, he says.

“I love directing and working with the actors,” he says. “It’s great making the words jump off the page and bringing it to life.”

The June 13 screening starts at 8p.m. in the Isabel Bader Theatre, 93 Charles St. W. For more information visit www.sidekickmovie.com.