www.meanwhile.ca

Jean-Luc Godard once said that a film must have a beginning, middle and an end but not necessarily in that order. MEANWHILE explores new ways to detour from the well-trodden path of narrative by giving the viewer a choice as to which direction in time they want to move through the story. The nine scenes in this screwball comedy can be seen in any order; each path revealing the intricate interconnectivity of the characters follies, obsessions, and ambitions.

This project explores a variety of ways in which the film might be seen. In a festival screening situation the DVD will automatically create a random order for the nine scenes, although each screening will be different. On the website the viewer is given a choice at the end of each scene as to which direction to go in the timeline: forward, backwards, or meanwhile. On the iPod each scene is downloaded separately and then set on ‘shuffle’. We have conceived of this new form as a ‘Shuffle Film’ where the narrative works in congress with the limited interactive features of today’s media delivery platforms.

MEANWHILE is the screwball, day in the life story following the parallel story lines of four characters; ALEX (Rick Grayson), who is trying to work a coke deal to get him out of the hole, his girlfriend FIONA (Claire Reid), who is upset about the death of Alex’s dog, MARCIA, Fiona’s long lost sister who has entered Alex’s life in a surprising way, and finally DENNIS SUGARMAN (Lou Israel) a cross-dressing politician on the stump.

MEANWHILE was produced as a prototype at the Canadian Film Centre as part of the Interactive Arts and Entertainment Programme.