Ferreira Fest 050

Published February 2014
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Once again it’s the 20th day of the month and we gather for our big celebration of Louis Ferreira’s acting career at Ferreira Fest! And it’s not your average Ferreira Fest either – this one’s a triple-whammy, because on top of our regular party we also have Louis’ birthday to celebrate! And that’s not all: this is also the 50th Ferreira Fest – our Golden Anniversary! So come on in, virtual pineapple drinks are on the house, and we have a very special interview with Louis and tons of photos, caps and other goodies.

Happy Birthday, Louis!

The 2014 Birthday Project was a great success: 20 cards and sweet surprises from all over the world have been forwarded to Louis. Thanks to everybody who participated, it was such a joy to work with all of you on this package!

And for a very special message from Louis please check out the very end of this newsletter!

FRIENDS WORLDWIDE

As of publishing time friends from 37 different countries have visited this website. Check out our flag counter and see where else Louis fans live  – literally all over the world!

CHARITIES

The February newsletter of The Children’s Aid Foundation, one of our official charities, called “The Buzz” is online. Check it out! As always, please consider The Good Neighbours Club and The Children’s Aid Foundation when you make your charitable contributions. You will receive a small Louis-related gift for your donation. Please visit the links for more information and direct links to make easy and quick online donations.

MOTIVE

MOTIVE is now on iTunes! 
 
MOTIVE premiers on CTV in Canada on March 6. Press releases abound and several of them contain slight spoilers about the new season, so please proceed with caution.

IT CAME FROM THE TWITTERVERSE

PHOTOS

ASK LOUIS

We have a new Q&A mini-series of children’s questions for Louis! In Ferreira Fest 49 we asked for questions from young guests, and they came through with some good stuff. Thanks to Casey for the transcript!

Listen to the sound clip here:

FF – So, we have a question from Marco, from Toronto. And he says, he’s eight years old. “Hello, Mr. Ferreira, did you always have to eat your veggies when you were a kid? I’m eight years old and I like curly fries with lots of ketchup and I like spaghetti. What is your favorite food?”

LF – Well, when I was your age, Marco, and that sounds like a little bit of a Portuguese name to me, my nephew’s name is Marco…

FF – Really?

LF – My favorite thing was to come home from school, I would run home from school, and my mom would always… one of our, one of the main, best lunches I ever had was just hot dogs cut up with ketchup and French fries. I also loved spaghetti with ketchup. And veggies, not so much on the veggies. Being Portuguese, but definitely salad. Salad and a lot of fruit.

So that was more of the Mediterranean diet.

FF – Right.

LF – But, you know, because we were not, you know, we were kind of poor, a lot of canned stuff as well. But man! The hot dogs and French fries, was that curly fries and, what does he say, pasta?

FF – Yeah, spaghetti, he likes spaghetti.

LF – Oh, man! Curly fries and spaghetti sounds fantastic to me! I’ll tell you though, now, at my age I can’t eat any of that stuff. Gotta be careful. Eat your veggies and your fruits. And your good foods. You’ll be grateful later.

Thanks for your question, Marco!

FEATURED MOVIE: BOOZECAN

BOOZECAN

Starring Justin Louis, Eugene Lipinski. Written by Luciano Diana. Directed by Nicholas Campbell. (AA) Opens Oct. 22. *****

Pasqua (Justin Louis) desperately wants to own a legitimate bar, but keeps getting sucked back into operating illegal boozecans that cater to the (very) after-hours crowd: crack-smoking lawyers, nighthawks and hookers, drug dealers, pleasure-seekers, bikers and freaks… his free-floating clientele, made up of equal parts unreliable friends and all-too-recurrent acquaintances.

This is the world of actor-director Nicholas (Da Vinci’s Inquest) Campbell’s first dramatic feature film. The aptly named Boozecan is a shamefully lost Canadian classic, currently playing on TMN, but soon due to be showcased on the Bloor Cinema’s big screen. This is pure slice-o’-life sleaze from Toronto the Good’s seamy, multicultural, polysexual underbelly, where everyone’s on the make and nobody takes it personally. Nobody, that is, but Braxton (Eugene Lipinsky), a mysterious man with an equally mysterious connection to the guy Pasqua finds dead in his boozecan’s bathroom during the film’s opening sequence. Before long, Braxton begins a campaign aimed at destroying Pasqua’s comfortably precarious world any way he can. And though his “friends” commiserate, like usual, it’ll basically fall to Pasqua to get himself out of the mess.

Campbell’s last directorial effort, Stepping Razor: Red X, was a documentary about murdered reggae artist Peter Tosh. Boozecan recaptures much of that same underground energy — a seductive sense that you’re eavesdropping on the lives (meandering and urgent by turns) of real people who share a common language, a trade creole of intersecting desires. Cameos by fellow multi-tasker David Cronenberg (as a slumming, Hollywoodized expatriate) and CITY-TV’s Mark “the Voice” Dailey (as, go figure, a reporter) complete the picture, as screenwriter Luciano Diana kicks over a rock in the heart of tourist paradise Toronto and shows us our own secret reflections, enticingly alien yet unmistakably familiar. Man, it’s enough to make you think that living here was… cool, or something.

Forget this megacity crap, here’s a real reason for civic pride. Boozecan is the best urban-centred, English-speaking Canadian film to not involve period costuming, the Maritimes or American money. And like most Canadian films, good or bad, you had better see it now… you will not get another chance. — GEMMA FILES


Louis was kind enough to share some of his personal thoughts and memories of this movie. Thanks to Casey for the great transcript!

Listen to the sound clip here:

FF – What attracted you to the role of Pasqua and how was the movie significant in your career?

LF – Pasqua came out of a friend of mine, this guy named Mini (Luciano Diana), who… it was his story. And he actually is a three hundred pound Italian guy named Mini, that is the irony. And I get to play him. Because he was larger than life and a wonderful man.

And he and Nick (Nicholas) Campbell who is an actor, who to this day I respect very, very much, up in Canada. He was the lead in a show called Da Vinci’s Inquest, playing Da Vinci, and he’s a brilliant actor. And it was sort of his directorial debut, although he’s done some documentaries. And so it became… that’s sort of how it happened. I was always involved from the get-go.

How it’s significant in my career is that it made me feel… I felt like, you know, living in Canada and being in Canada, my people that I admire, one of the biggest and most… directors that I absolutely love is Martin Scorsese. And, stuff like that wasn’t done in Canada.

There’s no way those kinds of films… We just, it was not the way we were ever going to be portrayed. So it was this little dark, independent underground thing where it was just no money… I still have not been paid for Boozecan.

FF – Oh my god!

LF – It was that kind of gig. Nobody got paid for it. It was just one of those… when you just, you’re part of a project and it’s messy and it’s sloppy but you love it and you’re experimenting and you’re free….

And so it just, it just… there was something about it that you felt very, we felt very liberated with the confinements of the process that sometimes doesn’t allow you to feel that way.

FF – Right.

LF – And so, it was just a time of my life where I just felt, I was like, “yeah I’m an actor, I’m really into this thing and it’s method and we’re doing some great stuff”. And then, you know, and the film was all right.

I thought there were some wonderful things about Boozecan. But it certainly had a lot of plot stuff that didn’t work in there. Overall, it just reminds me… it’s kind of like, you realize, what it takes for a film to actually work, all the elements that have to come together.

FF – Right.

LF – And in that particular case it was just the kind of filmmaking that I love. It’s like, I just did  this short (Through The Pane; see Ferreira Fest 48). There’s something about going back to the early stages and how, before you got onto higher end shows, it’s where you came from, so it’s always a reminder.

And I love Scorsese… remembering where I came from, as far as my own personal upbringing. I grew up on welfare, you know, I come from a ghetto. And that just keeps me humble and keeps it real and keeps you connected, and Boozecan made me feel that way again.

FF – Right. There were certainly a number of big names, well, now big names, in Boozecan, I mean, Eugene Lipinski, Kenneth Welsh, I’ve seen, and a bunch of other more…

LF – Yeah, those guys, to this day…. Oh, absolutely. I love the movie. It never got played, but people loved it. It had sort of a cult following, just kind of like, it had kind of a Blood and Donuts vibe, it had a cult following of its own.

But, you know, it just never got out there as far as… you know, released, just for the fact that the money was never there.

FF – Right.

LF – The money was never there. I don’t know how we made it.

FF – Yeah.

LF – It was kind of crazy. I remember one time we were shooting in an actual boozecan, and the cops came in and stopped us and arrested, people were arrested, taken into holding I mean, it was just a crazy experience. It was fun.

FF – It’s still out there. It’s out there as an independent movie. It’s not affiliated with any of the major studios.

LF – You just can’t get it anywhere, it’s so impossible.

FF – Well, it’s out on VHS. Which is why it’s kind of hard to find. Most people just don’t look at it because it’s only out on VHS, not on DVD.

***

FF – Do you think of Pasqua as a tragic hero? And how do you see the character now?

LF – Yeah, I always thought, because Mini was a hero to me. I mean, Mini was someone who had a lot of demons… You know, we all have our demons. And some demons are really… run real dark. And he was the guy who somehow amidst the demons was able to keep his head above water. And fought to be, to not go to places where he knew, had he gone, that severe damage would be done.

Even though he had his issues and his stuff, who doesn’t? And he was able to sort of always… you know, he has… Mini to this day, I mean, he still is up there hustling, writing. And he still writes with no computer. He writes with a pen, he writes you know, on a pad, with a pen.
He goes to a phone booth on… for his phone. I mean, this is, this guy was a, he’s such a character. He’s like a hippie and he just walks around Toronto. Everybody knows who he is.
So he’s this larger than life, beautiful spirit. Just this larger than life character that’s just so alive and so present. And, you see him today, he’s the exact same guy he was twenty-five years ago, which says a lot.

FF – Yeah.

LF – Because he hasn’t been, he hasn’t been broken, jaded in anyway. He’s like Munchie. Mini is like Munchie (laughs).

I just love him. And he has the best laugh. And that was one of the things they captured in that film. I remember his laugh. He had this like guttural kind of, huge, wonderful, boisterous, kind of just, laugh that was just contagious.

So, yeah, I mean, Mini to this day is a hero, for me and for a lot of people in Toronto. He represents a certain aspect of life in consistency that doesn’t exist. You know?

FF – Right. It’s interesting to me because I did not know that that was actually based on a real person.

LF – Yeah, yeah, no, Mini ran boozecans, which were after hours illegal establishments. And he was always clean, he never did anything. I mean, the whole boozecans was like people doing drugs. You know, sex, drugs and rock‘n’roll in there. And he was just, always the guy who was providing the space. And he made his money, because people had to pay a cover, and they would buy drinks. And he was the guy who kept it together, you know. And a lot of it, you know, he elaborated on the story line, I think, obviously a little bit.

But, that was definitely the guy. I love him, Luciano Diana, I’m still dear friends with him.

FF – There’s this one scene in the movie where they’re looking at a new place, that Pasqua is trying to buy a bar. And they’re looking at this… it’s a purple thing, I think…

LF – I remember…

FF – And there’s, next door, I don’t know if you remember that, next door there’s a store called Ferreira Photo.

LF – Yep. That’s exactly right.

FF – It’s just, no relation?

LF – …because at the time I was Justin Louis, so I was kind of in on my own little secret.

FF – So that, does that store have anything to do with you? At all?

LF – Oh, no, no, no. Ferreira is to Portuguese people what Lee would be or whatever typical name, Smith would be to English people…. It’s a very very common Portuguese name.

FF – So, was that filmed in Little Portugal? That particular scene.

LF – Yes. That’s exactly where that was.

FF – I was wondering whether that was just an inside joke or something.

LF – No, that was Little Portugal.

FF – Oh, fantastic!

SCREEN CAPS: BOOZECAN

This month we have caps from the movie Boozecan which Louis discusses above. Please be advised that the movie is intended for mature audiences, and so are the screencaps below.

Kids, this means you skip this section and move on to Munchie’s adventures in The Reading Series!

Here is a direct link to the photo album: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1oEgJ81-ro0cWZMZyvd0JD2hiZABNdIHt?usp=drive_link

THE READING SERIES

Here is this month’s chapter.

Listen to the sound clip here:

Chapter 12: Laugh At Yourself

Sometimes I would swear that Munchie is laughing. His little doggie lips pull back and he pants as if he knows something I don’t.

What really annoys me is that he seems to laugh when I have taken myself too seriously.

Maybe he is trying to tell me something.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

News from Hungary

There is a series junkie website that has several short pieces about SGU, but the interesting stuff is that they have a 12 minute long edited Air video on the site, with the Hungarian voices. I’m not going to say anything else, I’ll let you experience them yourself 🙂 Let’s just say that Louis’s voice is not the most troubling in there. It’s funny how they messed up the lead characters’ voices the most… You’ll have to wait until the 3rd minute for Louis to appear.

Here is the video:
http://www.sorozatjunkie.hu/2013/11/05/ilyen-lett-a-stargate-universe-szinkronja/

And here is the rest of the article:
http://www.sorozatjunkie.hu/tag/stargate-universe/

I’ve managed to find out when the Rookie Blue episodes with Louis in them are on TV. Surprises (Meglepetések in Hungarian) will already be over by the time the next issue of Ferreira Fest comes out , but Poison Pill (Méregpirula) will be on twice: February 25th, at 9:20pm, and  March 1st, 1:10am, on Universal Channel.

Here’s the Rookie Blue page on Universal Channel’s website.

Thanks for the report, Ildi!

News from France

I tried to find details about Louis’ German voice. Here is a great website that has lots of voice dubbing information. The site is very good, much better than the one for France, as it lists  all of his voices. Check it out!

Thanks for the report, Anne!

FRIENDS NEWS

ODDS AND ENDS

THE MANY VOICES OF LOUIS FERREIRA

Who dubs Louis in your country? We would like to dedicate a special page on this website to the men all over the world who have the tough job of being Louis’ voice in another language.

If you have any information on a “Louis Voice”, please contact .

CORRESPONDENTS WANTED

If you’d like to have your very own louisferreira.org email address and are willing to send in regular reports about where and when to watch Louis in your country, email and we’ll figure out all the details. If you enjoy the reports from other countries, consider becoming a reporter yourself!

A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM LOUIS

Louis has a special message for all Ferreira Fest guests on occasion of our Golden Anniversary.

Listen to the sound clip here:

“Just a quick shout out to all the Ferreira Festers: thank you, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for your support.
Much love and every happiness to all. Fantastic!”
– Louis Ferreira, February 2014

And that, dear Friends, is about it for this month! Thanks for visiting often! Be sure to follow us on “X” / Twitter for all the Louis news you can handle and TV reminders!

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Please remember: all content of Ferreira Fest and indeed this entire website is copyright protected. That’s what the note on the bottom of each page says. It means that you should never re-post anything you find here elsewhere. If you absolutely must do so please contact  first so we can work things out. We all work for free here, and we all work very hard, and it’s just not fair if you steal stuff and claim it as your own. Your mom/ dad/ parental unit/ teacher already told you as much. Please play by the rules.

We hope to see you all next month!