All The Boys Are Called William
HD video, 6 minutes, black and white, 2010
As a satire/homage to Jean Luc Godard's early film "All the Boys Are Called Patrick", I created this short film featuring nine year olds William Bessai-Saul and Teagan Kaldor-Mair in the roles Godard had cast with adults.
Screened on Godard's 80th birthday in Regina Saskatchewan as part of an evening homage to Godard hosted by the Saskatchewan Filmpool Co-operative. The program for the event describes the film:
When the scoundrel William sets his sights on the seemingly innocent Teagan, it seems that there is no power on earth which will dissuade him from hounding her for a date. However, when Teagan finally ceases to be the docile girl, William quickly realises that he has bitten off more than he can chew. Armed with Freud and Mulvey, Teagan crushes William's ego, forcing him to leave the world of the 1950s. Intellectual indifference falters in the face of sympathy. Teagan befriends William and the two of them exit the cinematic frame and enter the contemporary world together.
Saul's adaptation faithful follows the visual approach of the 1959 Godard film, altering the script to make a nod to the attention to academic theory of Godard's later work. Through the casting of nine-year-olds in the film, including his son in the title role, Saul is asserting a domestic vision of cinema and the city of Regina, looking through their eyes and forcing us to face the dual nature of identification and ironic distance.
Shot in black and white HD video with a Canon 5D Mark II SLR camera.
Cast
William: William Bessai-Saul
Teagan: Teagan Kaldor-Mair
Crew
Audio recordist: Erik Sirke
Beethoven’s “Rage Over a Lost Penny” piano performance Erik Sirke
Audio mixer: Evan Rust
Production facilities: NMSL, University or Regina
Producer, Cinematographer, Director, Editor: Gerald Saul
Thanks to: Saskatchewan Filmpool, Margaret Bessai
French subtitle translation: Philippe Mather
