Bedtime at the Den

By Malwina Gudowska

Andre Rodrigues loves making movies and he is damn good at what he does. Nearly two years ago, the University of Calgary student and filmmaker debuted his first film trilogy, The Puffy Room, to a full house at Max’s. This coming Tuesday should be no different with the release of his second trilogy, Bedtime Tales, at the Den. The release features three short films approximately seven minutes each in length which all take place in, you guessed it, the bedroom.

"The first trilogy, The Puffy Room was all style and no substance," says Rodrigues. "This one is the exact opposite."

The first short, RC, is based on a short story co-written by Rodrigues and fellow U of C student James Corbett and is about a man and his remote control. According to Rodrigues, the story is about doing and not doing certain things.

"The world is opened but people choose not to do certain things about it," he says. Co-writer James Corbett is the main character.

The second short film, starring Blue Moore and Steve Ranken entails an argument in bed. Dinner with Anna is about a couple at the end of their relationship-one knows this and the other does not.

According to Rodrigues, the third short is "the cutest one." Tooth is about a boy and his lost tooth. Along with the performance by Paul Christie, a teddy bear and GI Joe both make appearances. Both the second and third short films were original plays by Rodrigues, converted to film. Tooth has already seen success last year at the Alberta Theatre Projects playRites Festival, where it was selected for reading as part of Brave New Works.

With a smaller budget on Bedtime Tales, Rodrigues had to return to basics, but it ended up not being such a bad thing.

"It gave me a chance to do more directing this time and to work more closely with the actors, because I had to keep it basic."

The trilogy was filmed in Calgary over the last six months. The passion he holds for filmmaking is obvious through his hard work.

"Yeah it was hard work but it was still so much fun and interesting just organizing everything," laughs Rodrigues, who is in his last semester of a non-major with a minor in film. Currently he’s also busy working on a book, another play and, along with Paul Christie, he’s developing his first feature-length film.

Following the screening of Bedtime Tales, musicians Jamie Cullen, Anne Klazek, Lance Farkas, Jan Korinek and Dave Flanders will perform. These musicians and fellow U of C students are also working with Rodrigues on a soundtrack for his upcoming feature.

And if the last soundtrack his films produced is any indication, these solo artists are definitely worth checking out.

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