ALFF screenings will be held at the Yukon Arts Centre and the Yukon Theatre
This year’s Available Light Film Festival (ALFF) is absolutely packed, with over 50 films screening in Whitehorse at the Yukon Arts Centre (YAC) and the Yukon Theatre over the course of 10 days, from Feb. 6 to 15.
The ALFF has seen considerable growth since its original edition in 2006, with esteemed directors, artists and industry personnel attending each year. This year, a cornerstone of the festival’s programming is a screening of the music film Nash the Slash Rises Again!, a documentary chronicling the career of the enigmatic Canadian electronic music innovator who began developing a cult following in the 1970s, largely in and around Toronto.
“Nash the Slash was this sort of figure that loomed large in my childhood,” says co-writer and director Tim Kowalski. “I’d see him on TV wielding a skull mandolin, and he captured my attention with his weird sound and getup.”
When Kowalski was working his first job out of high school, a colleague who claimed to have played on Nash’s first record would tell Kowalski stories about the artist, furthering his intrigue. Nash was known for wearing bandages over his entire face and was rumoured to look like Elton John underneath them. It was also whispered around the Toronto area that he lived in a movie theatre with a recording studio inside of it.
“Part of me thought this guy was pulling my leg or something,” says Kowalski. “But another part of me thought it sounded like a weird movie. That kind of planted a seed in my head and it just stayed in the back of my mind.”
When Nash the Slash died in 2014, Kowalski began to research his backstory, to find that much of what he’d heard in his youth about the artist was true and that it would indeed make a weird movie. He started to put out feelers to see if anyone in his circles would be interested in putting their heads together to make a documentary. He ended up with a small group of like-minded film-industry personnel, all of whom had also been fascinated by Nash the Slash’s story.
“Long story short, here we are,” Kowalski says.
Toronto-based filmmaker and musician Kevan Byrne, Kowalski’s co-writer and director on the feature documentary, initially discovered Nash the Slash through a job working in a used record store.
“At some point or another, every record that’s ever been made will cross your path, so you investigate and listen,” Byrne says. “So, of course, Nash’s first couple of records came in and they were interesting, largely instrumental, quasi-electronic—his weird balance between electronic and analog music—and so, I thought it was really intriguing.”
At first, Byrne wasn’t aware of the mythology that surrounded the artist. He didn’t even know about the bandages. But when Nash’s name started to rise, Byrne was surprised to see the artist whose music he’d come across, years before, was still at it.
“It was very odd and unusual that someone would play for so long and try to maintain that persona,” says Byrne. “I thought there must be a story behind why someone would spend three, four decades pursuing, so single-mindedly, this one vision.”
When Kowalski and Byrne started working together, the main question hanging over them was whether they should aim to preserve Nash’s ambiguity or tell his true story. Ultimately, they decided to unravel the bandages slowly, exploring the mythology of Nash the Slash, before revealing his human side.
“The way I saw it, we were almost handed this thing on a silver platter,” says Kowalski. “We wanted to make this film not like your typical music documentary. A lot of music filmmakers might be compelled to strip it down to the bare bones and give you everything up front, but I thought that wouldn’t be as fun.
“Nash had a really playful nature. He was dark and mysterious and all that, but he was also playful. I thought, It’s good to play with the audience a bit and build up questions to grip the viewer. I’m glad it worked because it was a pretty big gamble to go that way.”
Both Kowalski and Byrne are flying up from Toronto to attend ALFF. Byrne has been to the Yukon before, to perform at Frostbite Music Festival, some 20 years ago, but this will be Kowalski’s first visit.
“I’m really, really looking forward to it,” he says. “I’ve got to get packed up here and find someone to feed my cat.”
Byrne is a long-time friend of ALFF director Andrew Connors. They’re both originally from Guelph, Ontario, and met in university. They’ve stayed in touch over the years despite the distance, now, between them, and Connors would occasionally visit Toronto and watch Byrne’s band, at the time (King Cobb Steelie), perform. Connors even chatted with Byrne about his work on Nash the Slash Rises Again! and it only made sense to apply for a showing at the ALFF, especially as Connors encouraged Byrne to do so.
Before the film’s screening, which takes place Feb. 13 at 9 p.m. at the Yukon Theatre, Byrne will play a set of music accompanied by Jordy Walker. He’ll mostly be showcasing songs from his new project, Cut Flowers, but hopes to bring back a few King Cobb Steelie songs, and promises to play one Nash the Slash cover to close his set.
Visit yukonfilmsociety.com/alff to see the full program (including screening times and locations) and to learn more about each film selection and the events at ALFF, as well as to purchase festival passes or tickets to individual screenings.
Nash the Slash Rises Again! has already premiered in Toronto, as well as in London, England, and will grace more film festivals and undergo limited theatrical runs this year. So far, the reception has been good—maybe even too good for Kowalski.
“It’s been really positive, actually, more than we could have hoped,” he says. “I have to keep pinching myself.”
