Broken Social Scene is a Canadian indie rock collective formed in 1999 by Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning, signed to Arts And crafts. Its line-up is perpetually evolving, with most of its members playing in various other groups (Stars, Do Make Say Think) and solo projects (Feist, Jason Collett), mainly based around the city of Toronto.
This year we present the Australian premiere of Bruce McDonald’s THIS MOVIE IS BROKEN, a Broken Social Scene concert movie which slyly interweaves a fictional romance featuring members of the audience. The film was shot during the band’s performance at Harbourfront in the midst of the Summer 2009 Toronto Strike.
Broken Social Scene are no strangers to film music, having scored Bruce McDonald’s THE TRACEY FRAGMENTS (which we premiered at Possible Worlds in 2007), HALF-NELSON and providing the fictional band Crash and the Boys in SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD.
For his latest film TRIGGER, another highlight of this year’s program, Bruce McDonald enlisted the help of Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning. “Beyond providing some music for Trigger I also had the honour of helping Molly Parker and Tracey Wright find their I-was-once-a-famous-rock-star-on-stage characters, making sure all the bass and guitar bits were as believable as can be,” he explains. “Both women delivered in such a huge way and I felt like a proud teacher watching them perform.”
TRIGGER tells the archetypal band story: childhood friends Vic & Kat start an all-girl rock band (think Joan Jett meets Patti Smith), hit the big time, implode on tour under the weight of drugs, booze & egos. Now it's 10 years later and a record label is throwing them a tribute concert. Vic and Kat meet up. Both want to make amends… but it’s a tense reunion.
To make the fictional band, Trigger authentic, Bruce McDonald staged a benefit show with 10 other real live music acts. When the venue was packed, he asked actresses Molly Parker and Tracy Wright on stage to perform in front of the real audience.
The song featured in the film is Standing Alongside Gone, an unreleased track from Brendan Canning‘s other band Cookie Duster. The show was an actual benefit for the Salvation Army's Florence Booth House Women's Shelter, which supports women with addictions, one of the film‘s themes. The crew managed to raise $2,000 for the cause. The show focused on Canadian women who rock, so it was only natural that some of the songs ended up in the soundtrack of the final film.
Another Broken Social Scene member, Ohad Benchetrit, scored teen movie DAYDREAM NATION, which is also screening this year. The rad soundtrack is packed with his original compositions and tracks from indie favourites including Devendra Banhart, Constantines, Stars and Broken Social Scene’s Emily Haines. He is also responsible for the great score to BEAUTY DAY, alongside Justing Small. Discover these amazing films/soundtracks at the Festival!