Our interview with director Ted Bezaire continues:
The Birder is very obviously set in Canada (for example, all the shots of the sign at the Park’s visitor CENTRE). What was the reasoning behind doing it this way rather than in a generic North American or even U.S. setting?
We always had the Windsor/Essex region of Canada in mind when writing the script. Both Mike and I are originally from Windsor, and it was one of our goals to shine a positive light on the area. You rarely, if ever, see Windsor represented on film, so I’m excited to show it off. Plus Essex County and specifically Point Pelee National Park is a world renowned birding hotspot, so it just made sense.
What was the hardest part of filming, and why?
I would have to say the shooting schedule. With any lower budget film, you’re always rushing, trying to fit as much in as you can in a day and this shoot was no different. We had 17 days to shoot, with lots of actors, locations, etc. Plus we had some scheduling issues with our actors which made it even more difficult. It became a real puzzle trying to fit in all the moving parts, but ultimately we made it happen. It was a crazy few weeks, but that’s independent filmmaking.
What connection (if any) do you have to any birders in real life? Are there really any out there like Ron and Floyd?
Growing up in Windsor, birding and birders were always on the periphery. Mike and I also have a mutual friend who is really into birding so we had some first hand experience. We always thought that birders were an interesting sub culture, that at the time we started developing this idea hadn’t been shown on film before. I’m sure that there are some birders that are similar to characters in our film, but maybe not as extreme. That being said we did want to be at least somewhat true to the world, and we’ve heard from some birders and they seem to think we came pretty close.