Pio and the Cracks

Starring
Christian Vidosa
Introducing: Servanne Andre

Cast
Silvana Jansuzian as Luisa, Pio’s (spanish) sister
Andrés Tshakmakian as Luisa’s Husband
Marie-Josée Lefebvre as Julie, Pio’s (french) ex-girlfriend
Robert Ionadi as Rob, Julie’s boyfriend
Michelle Anthony as Gloria, the barmaid
Eleonora Barna as Maggie, Pio’s theatre friend
Michael Copeman as Fritz, Pio’s theatre friend
Arturo Fresolone as Harry, Pio’s theatre friend
Lazar as Max, Pio’s theatre friend
Stéphanie Broschart as the TV Reporter

As Themselves
Tracy Bayles
Martha Girard
Mimi Mathurin
Dennis Pike
Talo
Angelo Roefaro
Steven Rumbelow

Street Performers
Featuring an ensemble of actors improvising their roles and with a supporting cast of real people from the streets of toronto
Peter Jarvis as “Silver Elvis”
Miguel Vasques & Pablo Gutierrez, Latin Musicians
Claudio Santaluce, Italian Accordionist
Dylan Studebaker, Punk Magician

Crew Members
Director of Photography: Ljubomir Sasic
Special Effects: Dennis Pike
Art Director: David Owen
Supervising Editor: Gino Zolezzi
Original Music: Svetlan Milosevic with songs by Einstürzende Neibauten
Voice Over: Written by Linda Griffiths and Performed by Natacha Laferriere
Associate Producer: Sophie Arthaud
Producers: Jonny Silver & Eli Necakov
Written & Directed by Jonny Silver

SYNOPSIS
Pio Baroja used to be a successful actor. Now, he wanders the city looking for cracks. Not just any cracks, but "real cracks in existence". He believes the world is overloading, that it's about to rip apart, and we'll all be sucked through the cracks into the void. When Grace, an exotic dancer comes into Pio’s life, the cracks disappear, and he convinces himself that love can put his fears to rest. But in the end not even Grace can stop the cracks from returning with a vengeance.

STORY BEHIND THE PRODUCTION
PIO AND THE CRACKS grew not from a script but from a question, “Is the world cracking up?” Jonny Silver created the character of Pio Baroja then set out to answer the question with an actor and a small group of professional friends. The film was shot on a shoestring, guerrilla style, over five years straddling the millennium from 1999 to 2004, using Toronto city streets as the film set. It was to be a piece of raw street theatre set in a vibrant multi-ethnic metropolis against a backdrop of confusion, sensory overload, and fragmentation. To achieve this, the drama was incorporated into the street life and street performers became part of the supporting cast. The production was often scheduled around street festivals and colourful events, such as, Caribana and the millennium fireworks.

The film itself was constructed in fragments, mixing reality and fiction. The actor playing Pio was planted in impromptu situations with real people who were unaware that he was playing a fictional character. Sometimes real people played opposite Pio in dramatic enactments. In other scenes, actors portrayed characters drawn from real life: Pio’s Spanish speaking sister and her family, his French speaking ex-girlfriend and his English-speaking theatre friends. Working closely with the Director, the actors improvised their roles and dialogue. The “Vox Pop” segments of the film comprised another layer of reality. The intent was to create a world-wide, multi-lingual “polemic” from the point of view of the person on the street. The segments were picked up over time around the world: in Paris, Cologne, and Toronto (doubling for Africa, Pakistan and Korea), as well as, by associates in Belgrade and California’s Mojave Desert. On camera subjects gave their own opinions in their own language: French, German, Eritrean, Punjabi, Korean, Serbian, and Spanish.

SOUNDTRACK
Voice-Over Dialogue Written by Linda Griffiths - Known primarily as a playwright and actress, Linda Griffiths is the winner of five Dora Mavor Moore Awards, a Gemini Award, two Chalmers’ Awards and has twice been nominated for the Governor General’s Award. Linda’s voice-over script for PIO AND THE CRACKS takes the form of an investigation into Pio’s disappearance. Replying to an interrogator’s questions, Grace, Pio’s lover, describes how she met Pio, tried to save him, and ultimately failed. Performed by Linda Griffiths as the interrogator and Natacha LaFerrière as Grace.

With echoes from Dante’s Inferno. The soundtrack contains short excerpts from a CBC radio special dating back to the 1990’s called, “Dante Revisited”. Three short dramatic readings describing Dante’s journey through the “Inferno” are used in PIO AND THE CRACKS as a parallel scenario to Pio’s journey to the abyss.

With the “Voices of Humanity”. Buried in the soundtrack are samples of ethnic voices from radio and archival recordings. Sped up, over-laid and jumbled together in a wall of multi-lingual chatter, sounding like the refuse of all the world’s media, they define Pio’s chaotic aural space and are a constant reminder that Pio’s story is global as well as local.

And with “Pygmy Music” from a 1985 WDR-5 (German) radio programme featuring a live recording of “Kulukulu music” by a Pygmy tribe in their jungle habitat, these playful and eerie chants evoke the primitive in all its mystery and beauty. They accompany the love scenes in PIO AND THE CRACKS, a reminder of the primal element in Pio’s fragmented world.

Featuring Songs by Einstürzende Neubauten - From the Berlin underground, Einstürzende Neubauten has gained a world-wide cult following for their special brand of “poetic” industrial music. They have toured the world, have numerous albums to their credit and their music has been used for radio, theatre and film. The dark lyrics of their music convey the apocalyptic message of PIO AND THE CRACKS.

Original Music Score by Svetlan Milosevic - With origins in the European classical tradition, Svetlan composed several feature film scores in his native Serbia before moving to Toronto in the early 90’s. Since then, he has composed music for theatre, film and television including documentary series and drama specials. Svetlan brings to PIO AND THE CRACKS an evocative, haunting score; in effect, telling Pio’s story in music.