DOXA returns to the big screen
Documentary on the legendary lead singer of Doug and the Slugs to close film festival
The problem with the Doug and the Slugs and Me documentary is once you watch it you can't get those songs out of your head.
Directed by Vancouver's Teresa Alfeld, the new film makes its world premiere at the DOXA Documentary Film Festival from May 5-15 in Vancouver theatres and online across Canada.
“Teresa Alfeld constructs an intimate biography of the legendary Vancouver musician and East Van dad,” said Sarah Ouazzani, DOXA's programming manager. “It is a significant look at the enabling of the aspects of fame and excess. It has a nuanced look at the complexities of Doug's life.”
Alfeld decided to make this film, which is DOXA's closing piece, after she and her producing partner John Bolton received a ton of positive feedback for using Doug and the Slugs music on the soundtrack of their documentary about Harry Rankin called The Rankin File.
“When we premiered the film, we got such a surprising response to the soundtrack,” said Alfeld. “People were so happy to hear the music again and were asking me questions about the band so I thought to myself I can make an easy rock doc about the band; the guys are interesting. I have access to them. They've maintained their archives. I can probably wrap this in a year, maybe two tops. This should be easy.”
Alfeld had a direct line into the band having become the best friend of one of Doug Bennett's three daughters when Alfeld's family moved in next door to the Bennetts in 1992 when she was five years old.
But that “easy rock doc” soon became more complicated as Alfeld's relationship with the Bennett clan became a central part of the story.
“The film took a very different turn very quickly,” said Alfeld, who was inseparable from Shea Bennett for nearly a decade. “It turned into a POV story, a point-of-view story where I eventually had to acknowledge my connection to the band and my connection to Doug Bennett was actually critical in how I could uncover and tell the story. It was something I had a lot of resistance to at first for what I think are pretty obvious reasons. It would require a lot of vulnerability and a lot of putting myself in front of the camera, two things I absolutely despise.”
Once Alfeld decided to move forward some manna from the filmmaking gods showed up in the form of 39 journals that Bennett had kept from 1980-89. Detailed daily entries were a road map into the guy who penned such hits as Day by Day, Too Bad, Making it Work and Who Knows How to Make Love Stay.
“I suddenly had Doug's voice accessible to me. It felt like I could almost ask him questions about how he built the band and his pivotal relationships with the band members, and get his take on things,” said Alfeld. “That was a game-changer. It became more of a conversation.”
Conversations are key to this film as family and many familiar faces from the Canadian music scene, including Sam Feldman, Denise Donlon, Ron Sexsmith and Steven Page, talk with Alfeld about the band and Bennett who died in 2005 at age 52.
“We started the project working with Simon Kendall (Slugs keyboardist). He was such a strong force. As soon as we told people we were working with Simon, I mean this wasn't an unauthorized tabloid piece, it was very easy to get people to share their memories,” said Alfeld.
One of those willing to talk about Bennett was a former colleague and musician, Sir Bob Geldof. Geldof and Bennett, who was a gifted cartoonist and graphic artist, worked together for a couple of years at the Georgia Straight.
“I knew Bob had reached out to some of the band to offer his personal condolences after Doug died so we knew going into it that Doug and Doug and the Slugs were very important to Bob so luckily we were correct in our assumption that he would participate in an interview,” said Alfeld, who interviewed Geldof in London, England, in fall 2021.
Doug and the Slugs and Me is one of 79 offerings at this the 21st year for the DOXA festival. Of those programmed, 30 are Canadian films with 11 of them hailing from B.C. With COVID19 restrictions loosened, the festival is offering both live and online programming. As well, the festival includes pre-recorded and live Q&As.
“Everybody is excited, and everybody wants to come back in person,” said Ouazzani. “Seeing your film screen in-person is a huge thing for filmmakers after two years. I think everybody missed the human interaction. Filmmakers want to meet their audience. It's really important.”
The festival's opening film is the spectacular and riveting Fire of Love about the famed volcanologists and husband and wife Katia and Maurice Krafft.
“It's an epic film. It's a journey,” said Ouazzani about the film that was edited by Vancouver's Jocelyn Chaput. “This film is beautiful, striking. I think it is a great gift for our audience.”
Also earning special presentation honours is the Vancouver film Love in the Time of Fentanyl. A look at the Overdose Prevention Society, the critical front-line response team that has been operating in Vancouver since 2016, the film from director Colin Askey is headlining the Justice Forum programming stream.