An Interview with Enrique Baniqued, Executive Producer of the TIFF standout film Village Keeper
Village Keeper is the debut narrative feature film from documentarian Karen Chapman. It tells the story of a Toronto mother learning to process grief, enact self-love, and uplift her community. Enrique Baniqued was nominated alongside Chapman for the Canadian Media Producers Association 2024 Emerging Producer Award for their work creating the film. Baniqued is the Co-Founder and Director of the media production company Explorers, which looks to tell stories which transcend cultural boundaries. Through the Round Table Sessions hosted by the TIFF Media Inclusion Initiative, The Strand was able to interview Baniqued about Village Keeper, the process of producing an independent project, and the future of the Canadian film industry.
How long was the production process for this film from start to finish?
I would say our principal photography was just 12 days, and then we did have pickups for a smaller crew that added up to 18 days. We didn’t have much time. Just going back to the development side of it, Karen was meant to shoot this film back in 2019 but because of COVID and life, things just took their time. At the end of 2022, we heard from financers that if we weren’t going to shoot within a year, they might have to look at taking their money back. So that was kind of the time aspect of it, too. So we started prep around March or April of 2023 and then we shot at the end of June.
Were there any differences in the film from what it would have been in 2019 versus what it ended up being now?
Absolutely. Initially, going back to the documentary background, Karen wanted to shoot with non-actors, and she wanted to keep the crew small. I think the look and the quality and how everything came together would have been different if it was. When I came on I told Karen that I wanted to give this film the best shot it could get with the money that we had. So that’s what we tried to do.
While watching the film, I was wondering about the process of making a film like this in Toronto, where it felt very localised. I was able to see places in the city I know or have visited. What was it like, as an independent film, to get permissions to film in these public city locations?
Yeah, I mean, we went through the proper channels. We applied for the proper permits for them, and it was a pretty straightforward process. Toronto is a city that people film a lot, and so it wasn’t very difficult to get through these. It was harder to shoot in our Spadina or Chinatown locations, as it was very busy when we shot test. It was trickier there, but in terms of getting your permits for the place, it was pretty straightforward.
How did your team go about filming in those types of locations? Did you travel with a smaller crew, or a larger group that filled the space?
Karen [Chapman] comes from a documentary background, and she wanted to keep her crew small. But once I got attached to it, in order to have the quality we wanted for the film, we just couldn’t have it in a documentary setting. Initially, she was planning to have just 10 to 15 people each day, but we ended up averaging 40 to 50 each day. Our largest day was 95 people on set. But yeah, it was a bigger crew, and it wasn’t easy moving that through those busy streets. But I think most of our crew were seasoned so there wasn’t anything outside of the ordinary.
Independent film, and smaller films in general, can be a really great breeding ground for innovation in terms of the craft. Were there any moments on the film with the smaller budget, where you noticed you had to adapt to get the same emotional impact that was intended?
A big help was actually through one of our executive producers, Floyd Kane. He’s mainly a writer, so he helped on the budget front by just refining the script so we could still keep the essence and the soul of the story, but at the same time make sure we were able to shoot everything that we needed. Again, 12 days is not a lot, so we were shooting 11 pages a day and wanted to keep the core story and soul.
When producing this film, were there any outreach opportunities to different community justice organizations around the city, or local communities so that you could integrate them into the process of the film?
For example, the therapist that was in the movie [d’bi.young anitafrika] is taking their doctorate right now. We had them as a consultant as well for some of the more violent and emotionally difficult scenes. We gathered everybody that day before we shot, expressed to them that if you’re uncomfortable with this, please approach us, and [d’bi.young anitafrika] was open to talk to anyone who needed them.
Do you feel that having support like a therapist on set for those difficult scenes is becoming a rising trend in the industry? And why do you feel that kind of presence is important on set?
Yeah, absolutely, it’s a trend that’s growing. Now there are also people like intimacy coordinators on set. I think it’s very important, just because it helps keep the authenticity of it. And it helps you just keep the set safe, right? We’re there for a minimum of 12 to 13 hours, and at the end of the day we call it work, but we’re here to make something beautiful, and we’re here to make art, and we want to protect our people.
Where do you see the Canadian indie film market going forward? And how do you think directors and creators can adapt to that?
I think the biggest part is seeing the success of the films that are funded through the Canadian funding system. You can see the potential reach of these types of films. That’s why TIFF is important. These festivals give films like ours a platform to showcase what Canadians can do, and through the Canadian funding system. Also, we’ve had not only those funding programs, but we’ve had organizations and programs that help make these films, and they have funders. It just showcases how these festivals are important, how they help make Canadian films.
Having gone through the process of making this film, what are you looking for as a producer in potential future projects?
When I moved here from the Philippines four years ago, I didn’t know there was such a film industry in Canada. The movies that make it to the theatres in the Philippines are the big commercial films, so those were the films I grew up watching. When we were working to get Village Keeper made, we worked through the TIFF Every Story Accelerator, which fortunately brought us down to the United States to meet with two different studios and pitch the film and our future projects. When we were having meetings with those studios who made the movies I watched growing up, I felt that these are the types of movies I want to make moving forward. So in our next film, we definitely want to have more commercial ability. That’s top of mind for our next project. That’s why I want to work with Karen, because her projects have a soul to them, and that’s what we want to integrate. We want to have that entertainment aspect of it, but we want to keep that soul and that message. That’s the kind of balance that we want to meet in the next project.
This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.
