A Shine of Rainbows - Interview with director Vic Sarin

John Bell and Connie Nielsen in Vic Sarin's A Shine of Rainbows.

“I was due to go to UCLA in California but I just kept remembering those postcards that my mother sent us when she visited Canada in the 50’s,” said Mr. Sarin in a recent interview. He said he was always enthralled by “those images of wide open spaces. In fact, I am likely the only immigrant to come to this country because of the cold,” he admitted.

It was the postcards that did it. Had a young Vic Sarin not seen those pretty glossy images of snowy Banff and Jasper, Canada would have lost one of its premier artistic talents to the Hollywood machine.

Born in Kashmir and raised in Australia to a family of diplomats, Mr. Sarin, now 65, is Canadian by choice. He became interested in photography as a hobby while in Australia (“I thought of becoming an actor but figured my accent might be a problem”) and turned that into a profession at 20 years of age when he found work at the CBC in its fledgling years of drama.

Since then he has become known as one of the country’s best – and most sought after – cinematographers and has recently extended his portfolio to include writer and director. His first feature film (as writer/director/cinematographer) was the recent $10 million film “Partition” that was filmed in India and Canada several years ago.

The second is “A Shine of Rainbows” that opens this Friday. (see review).

Mr. Sarin adapted the screenplay from the Lillian Beckwith novel of the same name. The film, set on the rugged shores of a small island off the coast of Ireland, weaves the tale of Tomas, a lonely quiet boy from the unfeeling orphanage on the mainland. He is adopted by Marie and Alec; she wants a family, he is looking for someone to help with the chores.

It is a story of love, acceptance and redemption – the evolution of the human spirit fighting for acceptance in a foreign environment.

The cinematographer in Mr. Sarin has captured the rough landscape of the environment that has shaped the lives of his characters. (Note: this is very reminiscent of his photographic work on “Margaret’s Museum”, starring both Helena Bonham Carter and the lush rocky wilds of Newfoundland). “The location (A shine of Rainbows) was very much a part of this story and has to show how people are affected by their environment and surroundings,” said Mr. Sarin. “We were also fortunate to have such a great local crew who made all of us feel right at home.”

As well, the locals had never seen weather this good for the weeks of their filming. “They could not believe the amount of sunshine we had which was such a gift to our shooting schedule,” he said.

A Shine of Rainbows highlights the unconditional love that Marie has for both her husband Alec and her newfound son Tomás. It is also something the naturally reticent Alec must learn from his wife. “The story explores what you do with the time you have,” explained the director. “What footprints do you leave behind?”

Mr. Sarin always wanted the Irish-born Aidan Quinn for the role of Alec (“ he is terrific in expressing so much in stillness and unspoken acting”) who is a quiet man who has never had to learn the social skills of being a father. Danish actor Connie Nielsen, already fluent in six or seven languages, was “perfect” as the heart of the film. “And she nailed the Donegal accent,” according to Mr. Sarin. “Some of the local actors asked which part of the county she was from.”

Young Scottish actor John Bell (playing Irish) is “a major discovery in the acting world” according to Mr. Sarin. The 11-year-old is in practically every scene in the film and carries a very heavy movie on his slim shoulders with, seemingly, the greatest of ease.

A Shine of Rainbows has appeared at about 20 international film festivals to date and won awards from at least half of them including the Children’s Jury Award at the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival and Audience choice Award at the Heartland Film Festival.

Mr. Sarin himself has worked continuously for four decades in this country’s television and film industry. “I was most fortunate to come along just when CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) during its pioneering stages of creating challenging drama,” he explained of his years workings for the CBC’s “For the Record” and numerous dramatic series for national television. “Looking back, we had a wonderful time trying to figure out how to do all these creative ventures without having any real budget…it really was a wonderful learning period for all of us,” he confided.

(I mentioned to Mr. Sarin that there were two main things I remembered about the feature film “Dancing in the Dark”; the performance by a luminous Martha Henry and Mr. Sarin’s stark, moody cinematography of the setting of a very claustrophobic home. “Now that was a challenge,” he laughed. “We didn’t have the budget or the effects so I had to figure out how to shoot the interior with just one light.”)

Mr. Sarin has plied his trade as cinematographer both at the CBC and the National Film Board working on numerous TV shows and features across Canada, the United States, Australia and Europe.

“Our mandate back then was to present honest drama with integrity, real life people in real life dramatic situations” he explained. “This likely stems from the Canadian background of so many excellent documentaries that this country is known for through the world.”

Some of his work over many years includes the aforementioned Partition; Salt Water Moose; Whale Music; Tapoori; Bye Bye Blues; The David Milgaard Story; Cold Comfort; Nowhere to Hide; Loyalties; Love and Hate: The Story of Colin and Joanne Thatcher; Charlie Grant’s War: Riel; War Brides; and even more commercial fare such as the Spencer detective series including Ceremony, A Savage Place and Pale Kings and Princes.

According to Mr. Sarin we have all the skills in Canada but we are perhaps “a little too laid back” in promoting ourselves. “We don’t show enough confidence,” he said. “We need to develop a sense of showmanship to help market and promote our film and artistic achievements.”

Speaking of achievements, Mr. Sarin was recently awarded the country’s prestigious Kodak New Century Award “for outstanding contribution to the art of cinematography” by his peers at the Canadian Society of Cinematographers. This award will be a perfect matching bookend to an array of honours including the Kodak Lifetime Achievement Award as well as several Emmy and Genie Awards tucked in between the statues.

Canada in general, and the artistic community in particular, can only be grateful that a young boy was so affected by some pretty picture postcards more than half a century ago that he decided to adopt this country as his own.

“A Shine of Rainbows” opens across Canada on April 9th and a week later throughout the United States.

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