Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie

Source: TIFF

Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie

Torontonian Matt Johnson’s mockumentary Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie made a splash at SXSW and has repeated the feat in Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, September 4-14), becoming one of the more talked-about screenings after it opened Midnight Madness. The feature screens again on September 13 and is the first directed by Johnson to play at his native festival. It is adapted from his cult 2007-10 web series about a hapless band desperate to perform at the city’s popular venue The Rivoli. Johnson’s 2023 film BlackBerry premiered at the Berlinale, and he is a producer on TIFF selection Mile End Kicks.

What has been your experience of TIFF down the years?

I would go to TIFF and learn what was happening in the world of cinema in one week. I would sneak into everything; some days I would watch or sample 12, 13 movies. I did this yearly from around 2007-12 before I made my first feature [The Dirties].

I desperately wanted to get into TIFF and made a huge presentation for The Dirties and was heartbroken when it got summarily rejected. I went to grad school [to earn a masters in film production at York University in Toronto] and thought filmmaking was not for me. And then it got accepted into Slamdance 2013 and my career began.

I got into TIFF’s Talent Lab incubator programme in 2012. That was the first time anybody had ever treated me like a filmmaker. I hadn’t made anything besides a web series and I had shot The Dirties. They gave us badges. I could go see TIFF movies legitimately for the first time.

Which other TIFF projects have you been involved in?

I have never ever played a feature film at TIFF that I directed until now. I’ve acted in Canadian movies that have premiered at TIFF. And now TIFF is screening two features made by my company [Zapruder Films]: Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie and a film that I produced, Chandler Levack’s comedy Mile End Kicks. And Nirvanna The Band The Show premiered in the festival’s Primetime in 2016.

What is Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie about?

Imagine if Borat had a three-act structure. It’s trying to be like an ’80s comedy adventure movie shot 100% in the real world. There’s no actors, everybody is real, but you’re watching a legitimate Back To The Future-style adventure film. I saw so many Midnight Madness movies when it used to be at the Ryerson Theatre. That connection to genre filmmaking would later lead me to strive to premiere movies at other genre festivals, like Fantastic Fest in Austin and Sitges in Spain. Hong Kong kung-fu films, The Raid and Green Room — these are some of the most exciting, riotous film experiences I’ve ever had in my life.

How has TIFF changed down the years?

There has been vicious competition for world premieres in and around this time, as the festival circuit has become extremely important for big Holly­wood movies going into awards season. TIFF was originally called the Festival of Festivals, where the public got to see every movie that was relevant worldwide. I like that for Toronto, and although that hurt its ability to compete for world premieres, having Toronto as a festival and a place where the public can get an extremely thorough film education is about as valuable a service, patriotically, that the festival can serve. It changed my life as a kid, so I would hate to see it lose that because it just can’t premiere everything.

What would you like to see from TIFF in the future?

To get every big movie from every one of these other festivals and screen them all in Toronto.

 

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