Have you ever read a screenplay before a movie got made? Occasionally in my days at Art Institute, we’d get a chance to do script reads, and my good friend Rowan Jang of MiTribe Media hosts table reads all the time, not to mention I edit and read scripts for a close personal friend that I work with. But it’s like reading a book, where you can use your imagination to think of what it might look like before it goes through all the steps in production. It leaves you in a sense of wonder and when you see what the end result is much later, you compare it to your own visualizations. Recently, I got to read a screenplay by the amazing Veteran filmmaker, Bo Svenson. A man who has founded and owns BC company CanAm Film Corp, has served as chairman of the board for Motion Picture Group of America, and has done so much in acting, and directing.
Bo went on quite a few adventures himself in his day and even slept on a wooden bench in Newfoundland during a freezing cold night, one of the benches that the Vikings used for their ship even. Plus, he even has 3 passports: Canadian, US, and European. That can get him a lot of opportunities and economic subsidies in so many countries. And how will he use these opportunities? One way is to finance his latest screenplay making it into a film or a TV series. One of his new stories, The Red Cloth has won many screenplay awards in so many festivals all around the world. It’s based off some recently discovered facts about history involving Norse men and women operated by the Captain Thorall along with his best friend, a Muslim navigator named Meshaal. The crew has made plans to depart Norway after King Olaf Tryggvason has decided to force his people to embrace Christianity or be punished by execution, specifically losing their heads. Who would’ve thought their remains would be discovered years ago in the 60s by Helge Ingstad and it would become such an interesting story to be adapted into a screenplay? It is sure to not only correct historical inaccuracies but teach us all a lot of cool new things you’d never expect to know, especially about Indigenous people and I had to talk to Bo about The Red Cloth. I have to say you’ll learn a lot just by reading this, and even more when this production is made and finally gets the release it deserves.
HNMAG: Some of The Red Cloth focuses on Indigenous history. How does it tie in with the main subject?
Bo Svenson: The Red Cloth depicts a story based on historical facts and research of a UCLA team that visited L’Anse aux Meadows at the Northern tip of Newfoundland. They found out the story which shows Norse people (now Norwegian) leaving their country because of religious persecution. They like the Norse Gods of old, and the lead Norse man’s best friend is a devout Muslim navigator who the lead Norse man rescued from drowning in the Mediterranean. This group of Norse, the devout Muslim, and the Lead Norse man’s Jewish girlfriend (Lea), leave Norway and are shipwrecked at the Northern tip of Newfoundland in L’Anse aux Meadows where most of them behaved outrageously bad with the Indigenous people who were sort of welcoming the Europeans until they misbehaved. One by one, the Europeans were killed, left to remain. They were given a piece of land in a meadow where our lead character’s Jewish wife gave birth to the first European child born in North America. He figures prominently in Indigenous people history.
HNMAG: Seeing as Indigenous people are part of the story, did you get a chance to showcase more Canadian information or history that was never known before?
Bo Svenson: When I read Justice Berger’s book Long and Dark Shadow years ago, I was reminded of the plight that so many Indigenous people don’t have a good connection to their past. When we don’t have a good connection to our past, it’s very difficult for us to assimilate into today. This film and limited television series is an opportunity to place focus on the plight of contemporary Indigenous people. They don’t have the same quality of life opportunities that we non-Indigenous people and I feel that much of that rests in deprivation of family pride, tribal pride. When we look back at our family history, there’s always something we have that we can be proud of that then fuels our present feel good. Not enough Indigenous people have that, so it becomes a quasi-superficial quest for spirituality.
HNMAG: And did you speak to any Indigenous people?
Bo Svenson: We have a lot of symbolism working in Canada, ostensibly to shore up feel-good with Indigenous people. But largely, it’s not there and I’ve talked with some important Indigenous people like Senators. The screenplay has been read by historians, anthropologists, experts at Indigenous people history, and they say “We weren’t there, but YES. Absolutely. This is exactly how it could’ve happened.” I selected Gerald Auger, an Indigenous person who lives in Edmonton and had some acting experience. His spirituality has impressed me because it’s genuine. I wanted that and Gerald is a genuine person. In his history, he left society and went off-grid for 6 years to become one with the land. To capture what his forefathers experienced living out in nature. He’s admirable, from a business POV he’s not the ideal Hollywood icon but for me he is ideal because he’s a genuine Indigenous person.
HNMAG: What other kinds of details did you include in the story?
Bo Svenson: One of the first expressions that I placed in this story is when our head Norseman (so-called Viking) and his crew are returning from the Mediterranean on their boat, the Falcon, they see a huge cross from which hangs a headless body and that’s symbolic of Christianity in the Northern countries. The edict was “Embrace Christianity, forsake the Northern Gods or lose your head.” Our two lead characters discuss the plight facing them. What are they going to do and how will they do it because the Muslim can’t take on Christianity and our lead character’s Jewish wife can’t change. Just because some king or a Christian monk says to change, so they talk about where is their better tomorrow where man can live free. That better tomorrow in my opinion, having worked all over the world including the South pole, is North America that beckons to people all over the world. If the crown or Washington gave a green card or a landed immigrant status to people in Mongolia or wherever, a lot of people would show up here because North America is the promised land. It’s where we can learn who we are, where we can make a difference, so there are many symbolisms in our little story. There you have it.
Bo also explained the Muslim character was both an on-screen hero and role model for Muslims everywhere as Muslims had been misrepresented and underrepresented in media today.
HNMAG: And how has a Muslim character helped your production? How do Muslims feel?
Bo Svenson: The Muslim character has the attention of the Muslim world. Not only are there 1.8 Billion of them and not only are they unaware of being misrepresented, their GDP is almost 4 times that of the United States. 70% of them speak English, they want to finance their film. I’m concerned about that because at one point or another, they’re going to want to control it.
HNMAG: So how about finance here. Seeing as you also own CanAm Film Corp, how is the company involved in the production?
Bo Svenson: In an ideal world, we are able to trigger sufficient financing in Canada to upset any power that any other entity may feel it has. CanAm Film Corp, I incorporated it in 1991. It is eligible for every available subject in Canada. I’m DGC, I want a Canadian director, I would prefer a female Canadian director but here is where agents want to control and assert their power. That becomes a fear factor for me because I’m allergic to power trips. Then there’s economics. I don’t want a penny on this thing. I’ve been chair of Motion Picture of America and I’ve produced so many things, for over 50 things. I’ve sat on Election committees at the academy. I know what it takes to create a winner and this picture has all the makings of being a winner.
HNMAG: As for casting, how do you plan to go about that:
Bo Svenson: Indigenous groups, I want them to be empowered, I want them to select the young man to portray the lead Indigenous character in the movie. At this point, I want the Indigenous people of Canada to participate. To grab a hold of their future, their presence, their reputations. Who do they want to represent them? That’s a priority for me.
HNMAG: And how do you plan to get Indigenous people involved?
Bo Svenson: There are billions of dollars tucked away in Indigenous organizations and government organizations. I would like access to some of that so I don’t have to. We have the opportunity for a multi-faceted win-win win-WIN. Only when there is goodwill. I am infused with goodwill and I’m hoping to find goodwill in others. We can do so much good for Indigenous people, Muslims, the key is to create an economic scenario that makes sense. Here’s where we score big time: Because I wrote the damn thing, it means the IP is eligible for every available subsidy in Canada. I want to shoot film in Newfoundland because the story takes place there. There used to be lots of trees and evergreens there. Not anymore, but the symbolism of filming there is important.
One of the bigger issues that comes into the story is when an Indigenous pregnant woman gets raped by a European causing her to commit suicide due to a gripping soul. Like Bo mentioned before, he wants this character like the young lead to be selected by the Indigenous people of Canada themselves.
HNMAG: And how has it been faring at film festivals?
Bo Svenson: In a nutshell, the screenplay has won a whole bunch of major film festival awards in places including London, New York, LA, and more.
HNMAG: What do you hope people will learn besides history about Indigenous past?
Bo Svenson: I like this story more than anything else I have written because it’s an opportunity for me to make a difference in lives for quite a few people. I see this motion picture and it’s quite powerful as the hub in a wheel of activity where the spokes will be what is needed by today’s Indigenous people’s communities and groups to get attention to their plight. It is unfortunately so that nobody gives a damn about the Indigenous people’s lives. Most of us are busy chasing the money to pay next month’s rent, whatever it is we need to do. For me, I am fuelled by being able to make a difference in the lives of others. With The Red Cloth, I know we can bring attention to Indigenous people of Canada. And not just about Canada, but AMERICA. Central America, South America.
HNMAG: If it were to premiere somewhere, what would be the ideal location?
Bo Svenson: In my opinion, the world premiere should not be in Ottawa or Toronto, but the picture will have its greatest impact when it premieres at the Kennedy Performance Arts Centre in Washington DC. That way, we can invite almost 3000 of the most important decision makers in North America. Politicians, bankers, and industrialists don’t care about Gala premieres, but their wives do. The wives are going to want to go to this big event and therefore the men will follow. It is in that setting that we can bring attention to the injustices perpetrated on Indigenous peoples.
HNMAG: Do you plan on studying more Canadian history and making films about what you discover?
Bo Svenson: My job is to create magnificent motion pictures to the extent that is possible in contrast to all the BS streaming and what we are presented with today’s news. To serve millions, if not BILLIONS of people when we include Muslims. It’s a wonderful journey for me, a FANTASTIC journey.
Yeah, Bo is quite a powerhouse. He still moves on at his age and it’s incredible. His major quest in this production is authenticity in the story. Plus with all the subsidies he has available, he and his company are eligible for so many in Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. There’s no telling what he’ll be able to do, but with very little equity risk exposure, the picture is going to make an awful lot of money. Not only that, but it’ll be going to be filmed in so many various provinces and give them plenty of exposure. It may also open up many eyes of people around the planet as they learn of history in another country. I can’t wait to see what becomes of it, and I’m pretty sure you can’t either. Stay tuned, for the film, and maybe even a review on it from one of us, here on Hollywood North Magazine.