When producer Michael Sparaga hit up professionals - stunt people, sound guys and actors - to work on his film for free or the equivalent of coffee money, they treated him suspiciously at first.

A Canadian independent film. Hmmm. So it's about your uncle who touched you, right?

"No it's about a superhero," he'd answer.

A change would come over whoever was at the receiving of Sparaga's pitch. Cold suspicion would be replaced by eager enthusiasm. Cool. A superhero film. A Canadian superhero film?

As far as Sparaga knew, none had ever been done before Sidekick.

"It's as indie as Clerks. It just doesn't look like that," Sparaga said, in an interview from his Toronto apartment where he lives with his cat, Lois Lane. "It's a cool looking film."

Sidekick, about a meek comic book geek who decides to train a co-worker with mild telekinetic abilities to become a superhero, will be one of four playing at Cinefest's Canadian Spotlight. This is Cinefest's second of its three mini-festivals scheduled this year.

These mini-festivals are designed to sustain filmgoers throughout the year while they wait for the big week of film, Sept. 16-24. The first held in April featured children's films and was mainly marketed to school boards, said Patrick O'Hearn, director of development and public affairs. The last of the three, set for October, will feature international fare.

Sidekick should have failed for many reasons.

"We should have failed long ago but people really responded to the film," said Sparaga, who wrote the script and produced the film.

Instead, over the past year, it has become the darling of film festivals, winning people's choice award at the Canadian Filmmakers Festival in Toronto, and Focus Features, the company behind Brokeback Mountain, has secured the screenplay with a view of making a big-budget remake of Sidekick.

Maybe one of the most remarkable parts of the Sidekick story is that Sparaga, 33, managed to make it on $35,000 using his credit cards.

"It was weird ... A bit like fraud in a way," he said.

Sparaga played the get-one-card-and-then-pay-it-off-with-another-card game, all the while carefully keeping up with the minimum payments with his earnings waitering at The Keg. The card companies kept upping his credit, so he kept going.

The credit-juggling act started the week Telefilm turned him down for grant money. That week, Sparaga also received approval for a $10,000 credit line from the Royal Bank.

"It seemed like a sign," he said.

Why a superhero film? Well, Sparaga admits his favourite movies on his shelf, end with "man" - as in Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and, of course, the Incredible Hulk (to which Sparaga has added "man" in marker).

"It's an original story," he said, comparing it to the first Superman.

"In the first Superman, he didn't put on a costume until after the first hour," Sparaga said.

Some of the most memorable parts of that Superman movie occurred during non-flying, non-super power moments. For instance, when Lois Lane is interviewing him about his favourite colour on her balcony.

Sparaga wanted his movie to contain those types of interesting moments. Also, he wanted a kick-ass ending, which he promises the film delivers.

"Today's endings are terrible for the most part," Sparaga said. "I can't compete with the visceral image of Spider-Man stopping a subway with his web. But I can deliver a good screenplay."

It was the screenplay that lured many to the project. Sparaga convinced stuntmen working on The Pacifier with Vin Diesel across town to do his project for free. A Canadian company that does the "foley" - fills in the background sounds in movies such as Meet the Fockers and Dodgeball - agreed to do his film for $5,000 rather than its typical $65,000 bill.

Even Daniel Baldwin agreed to do the movie because of the script. After reading the screenplay, he asked Sparaga at a meeting at Starbucks which character he had in mind for him. After all, Baldwin is usually cast as a cop or a killer.

Sparaga told him the Comic Store Guy. His face just lit up.

"I could so do that," he told Sparaga.

Part way through filming, Sparaga sent some raw footage to Focus Features. It was a strange gesture, since Sparaga knew the company doesn't release independent films but makes them. There was no point in sending them anything.

"Maybe someone will like it," he thought.

Strangely enough, they did. In fact, they wanted to get the rights to the screenplay for an American remake with big names. The catch would be that Sparaga would have to can his own movie. This was something he couldn't do. All his friends and family had devoted their energy and time to the project.

"I would be the biggest sh-t head," he said, "if I did that."

What followed were six months of negotiations ending with the Sparaga eventually selling the rights for less on the proviso that his film go to market but never directly compete with the Focus Feature's film.

While it is Canadian, filmed in Toronto with primarily Canadian actors, Sparaga didn't want it to be a hit-you-over-the-head Canadiana movie.

There would be no hockey-playing beaver holding a Tim Hortons cup. In fact, the word Toronto is not mentioned anywhere in the film, though the CN tower does make an appearance.

He said many characters are stripped of any Americanness in Canadian films to appeal to funding agencies. That stripping of American pop-culture doesn't really reflect who we are. After all, Sparaga figures he's watched more episodes of Family Ties than The Littlest Hobo.

Still, he's proud to be Canadian and this most definitely is a Canadian picture.

"This is a cheer-out-loud Canadian movie. And it's a superhero movie. The first non-American one," he added.

While Telefilm turned him down initially, it came back to him later with an offer of four-times the amount of his original request to help bring the film to 35 mm and bring it across Canada.

Recently, members of Telefilm sat down with Sparaga, asking how it could help with his next project called Foot Prints - The Big Foot Movie.