Braunstein: Montreal Director Always Spends Time Around the World for Prehistoric Journeys

Aristomenis (Meni) Tsirbas' lower body is momentarily stationary. You may be sitting at Café Parvis at the Cartier des Spectacles, but rest assured that the Montreal filmmaker's mind drifts to other, far-flung galaxies and dimensions. I can't help it.

"I just like to let my mind wander and tell sci-fi stories, so I thought I'd make a living out of it," he jokes Tsirbas. .

And he has been very adept at doing just that for the past 25 years.

Tsirbas, who graduated from Concordia's prestigious filmmaking program, worked on the set of Titanic, where he paid his dues under director James Cameron, and then went on to otherworldly screens like A's visual effects for his adventures. I became a supervisor. Wrinkle in Time, My Favorite Martian, TV Series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He then produced a series of short cartoons and an animated feature, Battle for Terra, all written and directed by him.

In the midst of these forays were national ad spots for Nike, Coca-Cola, and 7UP, as well as several music his videos, including Tears for Fears' "Closest to Heaven." was.

All of these experiences are brought together in Tsirbas' first live-action feature, his Timescape. This is a dizzying odyssey that takes two kids on a time travel his escape to prehistoric times. This is the real deal, with CGI special effects that rival the best in the business, but at a fraction of the price of most blockbusters in the genre.

Timescape, which made its world premiere at last month's Fantasia Fest, opens in English and French in Quebec on Friday. While its focus is on its youthful and curious leads (Sophian Oleniuk as Jason and Laura Rossignol Arts as Lara), the film is suitable for all age demographics, i.e. for all ages. Must play to those who devour tech bells and all the sci-fi spectacle. blow a whistle.

As a bonus for the Quebecois, Timescape has to be his first ever sci-fi caper filmed in the lush forests surrounding Lawrence community in Rawdon. Prehistoric footage was also filmed in Montreal.

"To my knowledge, there have been no reports of aliens, flying saucers or dinosaurs appearing in Rawdon," he said, quickly adding: I was. Of course, it cannot be said that these situations did not actually occur there.

Tsirbas credits the Montreal film crew and technicians for bringing this prehistoric world to life.

``They all made something much better to make this movie look so big and epic.

Tsirbas brought his overactive imagination and fascination to the ends of the universe to the first installment of the series, released in 1977. I attribute it to catching Star Wars: Episode IV as a kid.

“I was 10 years old at the time and had all the focus I needed to pursue this career. That passion has been in me ever since,” says Tsirbas, who has several sci-fi projects planned, including one he hopes to shoot in and around Montreal. increase.

Tsirbas credits his Cameron to the no-nonsense Canadian director who took him to another level when he worked on Titanic.

"My plan when I went to the United States in 1996 was to work with people who were far better than I was," he says. "Then I was thrown into the lion's pit with Jim Cameron on the Titanic. He was so inspiring. He's very goal-oriented and has such a vast array of skills. He is usually better at everything than anyone else in the room.It was a great learning experience, an eye-opener, and a lot to learn from it."

Visual effects were initially his great passion, creatively and financially setting the stage for him to advance into a directorial career.

“CGI effects have changed the game. , hopefully able to age well... But the beauty of it is that the accompanying high-tech hardware and software have become more accessible and democratized filmmaking, allowing smaller productions to actually It feels much bigger than it was.”

Like a timescape.

"Let's say Timescape's budget was significantly less than the latest Jurassic Park movie in the series."

bbrownstein@postmedia.com

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