Jeffrey St. Jules, BFA 01, premiered his first feature film Bang Bang Baby at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Starring Jane Levy, Bang Bang Baby debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September.
“I finished the film right before the festival and watched the final output the day the festival started.”
St. Jules's first feature-length film, it was a work in progress for nearly a decade. He began writing the first draft during his Cannes Film Festival residency, a prestigious program for which no other Canadian has ever been accepted.
He calls Bang Bang Baby an “absurd, surreal musical” about a young girl in the 1960s who dreams of moving away from her small town life and becoming a star.
“Ultimately it’s a film about fantasies and nightmares and the tension between the two,” he says. “When you’re trying to escape into fantasies, then real life becomes a nightmare to you.”
St. Jules was fascinated by the unexplored possibilities of film from a young age. He studied creative writing and worked on independent video projects before admission into Concordia’s film studies program.
He describes his time at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema as a chance to experiment with different styles and techniques.
“It was a place to explore and try new things. I got started finding my voice,” he says.
Since then, St. Jules has written and directed a number of short films, including The Sadness of Johnson Joe Jangles (2004), The Tragic Story of Nling (2006) and The Rarebit Fiend (2014). Three have debuted at TIFF.
Jane Levy stars in Bang Bang Baby