ANSWER PRINT FALL 2014
INTERSECTIONS
CSIF Board of Directors: President: Leah Nicholson | Vice President: Ben Rowe| Treasurer: Wayne Bradford | Secretary: Scott Westby Directors: Tina Alford, Donna Serafinus, Michelle Wong, Taylor Ross, Matt Watterworth
STAFF Operations Director Bobbie Todd operations@csif.org Programming Director Nicola Waugh programming@csif.org Communications Director Nicola Waugh communications@csif.org Production Director Yvonne Abusow production@csif.org Production Coordinator: Dan Crittenden production@csif.org Designed and Compiled by Dave Reynolds + Nicola Waugh Editor: Guillaume Carlier Cover Photo: The Valley Below Dir. Kyle Thomas Advertising Inquiries: communications@csif.org The Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers (CSIF) is a non-profit, member-driven media arts cooperative that encourages the production and exhibition of independent film. Suite 103-223 12 Avenue SW Calgary, AB Canada T2R 0G9 Phone: 403.205.4747 Hours: Tues-Sat, 10am – 5pm Web: csif.org
IN THIS ISSUE QUARTERLY MANIFESTO 4 MEMBERS MISSIVES 5 PERFORMATIVE CINEMA 6 FERMENTATION 11 DIRECTOR SPOTLIGHT 12 FILM REVIEW 14 ON THE SLATE 15
CSIF is grateful for the involvement of its members, the network of artist-run cooperatives throughout Canada and for the financial assistance of its funders: The Alberta Foundation for the Arts, The Canada Council for the Arts, Calgary Arts Development, and from its donors, members and individuals.
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QUARTERLY MANIFESTO Filmmaking is never a one-way street. Intersecting perspectives, ideas, and directions help to shape every film, making the final product truly original. We can see exciting collaborative production efforts with Cameron Macgowan and his North Country Cinema collective, who travelled to TIFF this year with their highly successful film TheValley Below. Spencer Estabrooks reflects upon the intersecting efforts he has encountered with new funding opportunities and new ways of approaching the production and dissemination process of his work. It is clear from these stories that collaboration and evolution are vital to a successful production. Intersections within the world of independent film can be seen not only in the traditional sense (with other people), but also with alternative modes of representation and exhibition. Film can be used alongside digital to employ the best of both worlds, as we can see in the work of Japanese filmmaker Takashi Makino, CSIF’s visiting artist for this year’s M:ST Festival. His highly innovative films intersect celluloid and digital, and also incorporate smoke effects and soundscapes to create a completely original immersive experience. Film and performance intersect in CSIF’s recent presentation of Gerry Morita and Patrick Arés Pilon’s Fermentation for Nuit Blanche Calgary, in which 16mm film loops were projected onto the body of an improvisational dancer. Even in Xavier Dolan’s Mommy, (reviewed in this issue by Raeesa Farooqi) the director makes a nod to traditional celluloid techniques, by shooting on digital, but exhibiting in a square 1:1 ratio. The intersection of film with other mediums is a fascinating evolutionary step for cinema 4
that has gained significant prevalence in recent years. Audiences that have the option of simply watching a film in the comfort of their own home on Netflix, or other such sites, need a stronger draw to get them out to a cinema; it is simply not enough to just offer a traditional cinematic experience anymore. It is exciting and inspiring to see how the art of filmmaking can break the boundaries of traditional cinema, whether by intersecting mediums, or intersecting individual perspectives and opportunities. Nicola Waugh Programming Director, CSIF
MEMBER’S MISSIVES The Valley Below by Cameron Macgowan
In 2011, I was asked by writer/director Kyle Thomas to produce his short film Not Far From The Abattoir. Following production through our collective, North Country Cinema, it had a moderately successful fall 2011 film festival release: winning Best Alberta Short at both the Edmonton and Calgary International Film Festivals. However, in the spring of 2012 everything changed when we were selected by Telefilm Canada to play at Cannes as a part of their Not Short on Talent program and were also selected to screen at SXSW. We attended both of these festivals and both were equally eye opening as up until that point neither of us had travelled to any film festivals. Fast forward to late-2012, a couple short films later… The Telefilm Micro-budget Program announced their initial application intake and we worked very hard to get in our submission for a feature length adaptation of Not Far From The Abattoir titled The Valley Below. I would reprise my position as the producer and Kyle would write/direct/produce. After a difficult application process and a long waiting period we were notified that our application was successful in early 2013. In the Summer/Winter of 2013 we began production on our first feature film, The Valley Below. We reunited the crew that we had become close with over the last few years and approached the production of the film like we were just shooting four short films back to back. The production ran relatively smoothly
and we left Drumheller feeling pretty confident. Then early in post-production, a question hit us like a brick wall: now what? We had relative success on the film festival circuit with our short films and had a couple shorts distributed but had no experience with the grand scale of a feature film. After a test screening, a couple edits and securing prolific Canadians such as Dan Mangan and Rae Spoon to compose original music for the film, we started the dreaded film festival submission process. While waiting to hear back from film festivals, we reached out to more experienced filmmakers for advice and assembled our press kit and publicity materials. This is an often-overlooked part of the process but a very important one. In today’s age you need to have an online presence where people can find your work easily if interested. With this in mind, we released a teaser trailer and four behind-the-scenes videos spaced 2 months apart. We also hired a graphic designer to create an eye-catching poster. Most film festivals take 3-4 months to get back to you, so we were careful to use this time wisely. After a few rejections from some high profile festivals, things were looking gloomy. However, one fateful day we got the call from TIFF notifying us that we’d been accepted. This was fantastic news and just what we needed to begin our release strategy. We always knew that due to the subject matter and narrative approach that this would be a film that would need to gain buzz via a film festival release in order to find its audience. When TIFF asked for a poster and trailer we were able to send those immediately, which was advantageous as this resulted in TheValley Below being one of the four films to have a trailer screened at the TIFF Canadian film press conference. Since we already had all the publicity materials ready we had time to strategize with a Toronto based publicist to get the maximum amount of exposure leading up to the festival.
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Over the course of two months before TIFF, we contacted over 50 sales agents and distributors based on advice from fellow filmmakers. This resulted in many phone meetings, emails and meetings scheduled for TIFF. After our experience attending previous film festivals, we decided that we needed as many people from our team at TIFF as possible so that the film could be well represented. This resulted in over eight of us from the cast/crew going to Toronto to represent TheValley Below during TIFF. With a large team at the festival, we divided and conquered. Splitting and sharing the tasks of meetings, press interviews, parties and movies (of course). From the meetings with distributors, we were able to narrow it down to 3 potential choices. It was a tough decision but we decided to sign with A71 Entertainment for the Canadian distribution rights of the film. What ultimately lead to going with A71 was that we were looking for a distributor that represented smaller films similar to TheValley Below and had the time and resources to commit to getting our film seen by as many Canadians as possible. We admired their release strategy with indie Canadian films such as Blackbird and The Husband and are thrilled to now be working together with them. Following the successful trip to Toronto, we had a sold out hometown screening at the Calgary International Film Festival and a spotlight on North Country Cinema followed at the Vancouver International Film Festival where my new short film as writer/director Back Streets, screened before TheValley Below. At VIFF, we also premiered the new trailer for Alexander Caron’s first feature film O, Brazen Age. O, Brazen Age is currently in its second block of filming and will be released in 2015. It is now Fall 2014 and our work on TheValley Below is not finished yet. We are still closing out the film with various funding organizations and submitting the film to targeted film festivals in the US and Europe. Even though the Canadian rights have been sold, we still maintain the worldwide rights and hope that 6
after securing an international premiere at a noteworthy film festival. If this happens, we will attempt the same process all over again and try to gain worldwide distribution for our film. Our main goal at this time is to have the film seen by as many people as possible so that we can generate enough interest in our work to continue making feature films.
TAKASHI MAKINO Performative Cinema By Shari Nault
I was recently in Calgary running a blog for the Mountain Standard Time Performance Art Festival, while literally running from art venue to art venue to keep up. On Saturday, October 4, I brought a friend to see Takashi Makino’s video works at the West Village Theatre. When we arrived at the West Village Theatre we were handed a piece of tinted film to watch the video and squeezed into the theatre, finding seats just in time for Takashi to begin. Takashi’s first work, Space Noise, is described as “a chaotic, highly sensorial experience” blending “high-resolution video and hand manipulated 16mm projections,” confronting tension between film and the digital, incorporating sound, and smoke effects. The second piece, Phantom Nebula (60min, HD Video), was said to be 10,000 images layered to reveal changing forms resembling both cosmic bodies and organic matter. Both my friend and I are a bit nerdy about space and the project descriptions for Takashi’s works were intrigu-
ing – despite our limited understanding of film as a medium. I found some of the visual aspects of Space Noise to be oddly familiar. The qualities of film that Takashi was exploiting, playing with, and emphasizing in the foggy room brought me back to the beginnings and ends of films, a paused VHS, spatter and dust on old film. There was something strangely mystifying about the familiarity. Viewing Space Noise felt much like glimpsing a face or gesture in the subtleties of a pattern – found and then lost again once the moment has passed.
arrange for him to perform at Féstival Du Nouveau Cinéma, Montreal. He went on to book performances in New York, Portland, Los Angeles and San Francisco. He made the most of his trip to North America, and I’m really glad CSIF and M:ST were able to provide this opportunity for him. What do you think it means, to the film community, to present work like this in Calgary for the first time?
Following this experience, I spoke to Nicola Waugh of the Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers to get a better idea of the significance of Takashi Makino’s visit to Calgary’s film community.
The film community in Calgary, as probably with most cities is quite divided.You have industry focused filmmakers that are looking to make it into well-known festivals like Sundance and Cannes, but then you also have filmmakers that approach their work through more of a media arts lens, hoping to exhibit in galleries and at festival. There is far less in terms of programming for the latter. CSIF presents the $100 Film Festival every March, which shows films entirely on small format (Super 8 and 16mm). Now in its 23rd year, this is the oldest film festivals in Calgary, and one of only a few in the world that exhibits exclusively on celluloid. This generally caters to people that are more interested in experimental film. CSIF in general places an emphasis on filmmaking on celluloid, so presenting Takashi aligned really well with us -- he works on celluloid, but takes it to a different level by blending it with digital and live soundscapes. The turnout for his work was great. For Calgary as a whole, I think this is an indicator that the public is hungry for boundary-pushing work. It was also really inspiring that such an important name in experimental film would be so eager to come to Calgary -he really loved his experience and the support that he felt from the community.
Is this the first time Takashi Makino has performed in Western Canada?
How is Takashi pushing filmmaking forward as an art?
Yes, this is the first time he’s been to Canada. I think he showed some works in Québec some time ago, but this is the first time he’s been here to perform. I found Takashi while seeking an artist whose work blends film and performance, and he was a perfect fit. After connecting with him, we were also able to
He’s doing some exceptionally innovative stuff. His background is in colouring for film, and also transferring celluloid archives to digital - so he is very meticulous about his work. Until recently he worked exclusively on film because of the aesthetics he could get with it. More recently though, he’s been able to
Phantom Nebula differed visually from Space Noise, as I lost visual signifiers I’d found in the latter. I felt aware of my inexperience with film as a medium. Again my mind grasped to make sense of the imagery I was seeing. An ebb and flow resembling nature, biology, and uncertain scale in combination with a variety of music made me strangely antsy, curious. My seated position wasn’t enough and I wanted to shift, experience the work from different angles, from a different place within the immersive environment Takashi had created. This restlessness of watching in this way is perhaps one of the interesting tensions played on by Takashi’s necessary presence in the creation of these works, incorporating a sound. Though he screens films, Takashi Makino alters imagery, controls the sound scape and changes the experience of the space his work is seen within, bridging performance and film.
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Takashi Makino Space Noise by Monika Sobczak
take the best of both worlds (film and digital), combining them through layering techniques with really amazing results. On top of that, he draws attention to the space beyond the screen by incorporating fog. This allows the beams of light to be seen above the audiences’ heads, flickering in the fog – adding a fourth dimension of sorts. He incorporates live sound manipulation as well. I wish his set-up was visible to the audience during the screening – it was so surprising to see the amount of work that went into his sound component. After Phantom Nebula, he literally collapsed on to the ground! So, yes, he’s pushing filmmaking into this immersive, more visceral space and I think it’s fantastic. How does experiencing the work of an artist who is directly influencing the film and audio they are presenting differ from the usual film-screening experience? Some audience members seemed even uncomfortable with the hypnotic visuals Takashi was producing. I think that for most people, the act of going to the cinema is a passive experience, we sit in the dark, we take in the information on the screen, and that information usually follows the same tropes, characters and visuals that we’ve seen countless times before. This is comfortable, and we leave entertained, satisfied that we received what we came for.
When I first started as the Director of the $100FF, I saw over a dozen walk outs each night of our festival and was really concerned by this. We show mostly experimental film – things that don’t have characters, plots, familiar places and sounds. It’s completely different from what people expect from a traditional cinematic experience. As soon as these people realized they weren’t going to get what they came for, they turned off and walked away. This is an unfortunate reaction, but it makes sense. Consuming experimental film is really difficult sometimes. It’s active rather than passive. The audience must build their own interpretation of the content, they must close their eyes when there’s too much going on, they must consider how the artist may have created the unfamiliar sounds and visuals. They must get bored/confused/irritated/lonely/overwhelmed/elated – and this can be very difficult for some people. We’ve all had the feeling of wanting to run out of a theatre if we’re seeing something we don’t like, or wondering how three minutes can feel like three hours, but usually artists do this deliberately. I really feel like this test of endurance we experience with experimental film can take you to a fascinating physical and emotional state – almost meditative. Hopefully the more we program content like this, the more open people will be to a different cinematic experience.
FERMENTATION CSIF & EMMEDIA at Nuit Blanche Calgary
By Anne Garth
Olympic Plaza – usually empty but for the theatre goers rushing in and out of the EPCOR Centre – is heaving with people of all ages and backgrounds. Eager crowds crane their necks and stand on tiptoes to get a glimpse of the massive sculptures and performances that make up Calgary’s second edition of Nuit Blanche. Patrick Arès-Pilon and Gerry Morita’s Fermentation is one of the eighteen pieces that transformed Olympic Plaza into a civic art gallery for the night. Fermentation is an interactive media art installation, which combines the artists’ backgrounds in celluloid film and dance in an exploration of the relationships of sound, light, movement and space. Viewers are invited to enter a crowded room on the second floor of the EPCOR center, where the walls are lined with sheets of construction plastic and a white tarp covers the floor. Looking in from the lineup outside, the space resembles a strange sort of theme party thrown by David Lynch. Upon entering the room the senses are met by chaos. The air is filled with the distinct scent of kimchi, 16 mm projections of splotchy animations dance over the plastic walls, and the hum of music and voices drift through the space. Dressed in a white lab coat, Morita greets her visitors with a microphone, asking them to discuss their experiences with fermented products. The audience is encouraged assist the artists in using the analog technologies dispersed around the room to breakdown and convert light and sound into new forms of art. The voices captured through Morita’s microphone are fed into a looping machine connected to a record player. Visitors are invited to use the looping machine to record, layer, speed-up
and delay segments of the interviews over music, which is then played over a PA system. Arès-Pilon – who also sports a white lab coat – sits at a second station; a table set with a vintage lamp and four view-masters. One-by-one he hands the view-masters to visitors sitting across from him at the table, introducing the characters that appear in the slides. One features seven 3D images of a woman lifting comically large weights in a field; Arès-Pilon explains that his sister is very strong because of her regular consumption of fermented foods. At a third station, audience members dribble ink and scribble on strips of blank 16mm film, making their own colorful cameraless animations. These are then collected and projected onto the walls of the room or used as a part of Morita and ArèsPilon’s hourly performances. This interactive space is quite literally a fermenting stew of light and sound. Outside the EPCOR Center, a beat up station wagon with the word “Framentation” [sic] spelled out across the hood begins to play a sound-scape of orchestral music, baby squeals, voices and radio feedback from a loudspeaker on its roof. The growing crowd on the street looks up to the second floor window of the building to watch Morita as she begins twisting and stretching her body to the distorted sounds of the loudspeaker. Arès-Pilon circles around her, casting animations onto Morita’s dancing body with a 16mm projector. This fusion of sound, light and movement offers the illusion that Morita is flying through time and space, with Arès-Pilon as her satellite. This experience of performance and play allows the audience to become a part of the analog exploration of light, sound, space and movement. Through touching and playing with these elements, the audience becomes more that just spectators, they become subjects in the piece, allowing it to change and grow with each performance. 11
Gerry Morita by Thierry Aime
DIRECTOR SPOTLIGHT Spencer Estabrooks By Troy Greenwood
Spencer Estabrooks is a self-described “Albertan writer, director, editor, cyclist, colourist, visual effects artist, archivist, flame operator, beer activist, and gentleman bandit.” His penchant for blending the charmingly witty with the darkly comic has landed him his fair share of success, as he’s screened his films at festivals around the world. With his most recent film Sharkasaurus screening at 12
the Calgary International Film Festival, I took some time to ask Spencer some questions about his experiences at the festival and as an Albertan filmmaker. T: Sharkasuarus recently screened at the Calgary International Film Festival, and was part of the Telus Storyhive project. Can you tell us a bit about your experience at CIFF this year, and any tidbits you might like to pass on from your past experiences with film festivals? S: CIFF was a great experience. Screening as a part of the “Spirit of Alberta” was a great honour for Sharkasaurus. With the home-field advantage and a sold out crowd you can’t ask for a better screening. The festival circuit can be a bit tricky. It’s best to pick some of the major film festivals and hit them up first. If you’re in one of the big festivals, other festivals will look at what they program and invite you to screen. Build a good package. Label your DVD’s with good stills or art; I think people do judge a book by the cover even if they’re not supposed to. Also keep an eye out for non-festival opportunities like the NSI online short films. These are a great way
to get exposure. http://www.nsi-canada. ca/2014/10/the-hunt/
a good story is the most important part of any film, no matter how absurd the subject matter.
T: Can you tell us about the process of developing a project through Storyhive?
T: With all of your experience as an independent filmmaker in the Calgary community, how has CSIF, EMMEDIA, and other film collectives helped you progress as a filmmaker? And what advice would you have for any new filmmakers just starting out in the Calgary area?
S: Storyhive was an interesting process. For me, I pitched the idea before I had the script. After I won, I had that moment of, “Oh God, now I have to make it”. With a 10-week deadline from script to screen, it’s not for the faint of heart. Luckily for me, I have a team of people I’ve been working on shorts with. We’ve done it before; we just had to do it again, only faster. T: You also have experience with the webseries format from your project One Hit Die, which appears to currently be an entrant in CBC’s ComedyCoup challenge. The series has been described as “Lord of the Rings meets the Office”. What are the different challenges that you’ve faced making short films as compared to a web-series? S: The biggest challenge with a web-series is marketing. I was under the illusion that I’d just make something great and it would go viral, so all my money was spent on production when I should’ve saved some for marketing. One Hit Die did quite well because of its genre, but I still think it could’ve done better if I had someone in PR doing press releases to specific bloggers and had I been able to pay for banner ads or other marketing. Sadly, film is an industry where the only difference between a great movie no one sees, and a terrible movie everyone watches, is marketing. T: I’ve noticed that many of your films have a unique style to them. Something I might call “witty and absurd with a certain reverence to classic B movie charm”. Do you have certain inspirations that influence your style, or certain directors that you would say have influenced how you tell a story? S: My biggest influences are Peter Jackson’s Bad Taste, Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead 2, and John Carpenters Big Trouble, Little China. Although, if anyone asks, my favourite movie my go to is - Unforgiven. I think that having
S: CSIF and EMMEDIA are great places to meet and connect with people. As an art form, film is a team sport.You need to find a team of like-minded people to help make your films. These organizations are great places to find your team and even to find what you want to do. Find what part of the filmmaking process; shooting, editing, or organizing, you love and do it. If you don’t love it, don’t do it. T: The filmmaking world, or any art form, is a subjective and difficult one, with highs and lows, success and failure, and filled with obstacles, criticisms and setbacks. Everyone has an opinion! What keeps you going? And what tactics do you use to overcome adversity? S: Make mistakes. I can’t remember a single film I didn’t make a mistake on. Every time you make a mistake two things happen: one, you learn not to make that mistake and two, you find a creative way to get past that mistake. And there are always creative ways to get past that mistake. It’s hard, but you can do it if you try. Don’t fixate on what you want because that ship has sailed. Think of what the story needs and you’ll save the film. T: Following CIFF, what’s next for you? Where do you go from here? S: I just finished a 3D western called Skull Man, which we shot entirely on GoPros. The footage looks amazing and shows that with proper lighting you can make any camera look great. We should be finished post in early December. I’ve also written a short animation and we’re hoping to make a feature next year. T: Anything else you’d like to add? S: No. 13
CIFF FILM REVIEW Mommy by Raeesa Farooqi
In the press notes for the Cannes Film Festival, Quebecois enfant terrible Xavier Dolan stated that “back in the days of I Killed My Mother, I felt like I wanted to punish my mom. But through Mommy, I’m now seeking her revenge. Don’t ask.” Mommy, set to represent Canada at the 2015 Academy Awards, is a heartbreaking and emotionally mature fifth film from 25 year-old Dolan. Dolan exploded on the festival circuit back in 2009 at the tender ago of 19 with his debut film I Killed My Mother. Filled with angst and pain, I Killed My Mother was heavily inspired by the resentment Dolan himself felt towards his mother and her decision to send him to boarding school when she could no longer put up with his antics. Further exploring this same relationship dynamic, Mommy reverses the viewpoint by situating it from that of the mother. Exploring the concept of the strength of love, the film showcases the growth and maturation of both Dolan’s filmic style and his own personal feelings towards the events that inspired him to create these films. Set in a fictional Canadian future where Québec has just implemented a controversial law regarding troubled children, the film introduces us to the feisty and lippy widowed mother Diane “Die” Després, (Anne Dorval) as she is on her to pick up her charming, yet troubled and unstable teenage son Steve (Antoine Olivier Pilon) from a care facility. Steve has been discharged for starting a fire that injured another inmate, forcing Die to take care of him at home. Even through all the fighting and bickering, Die loves her son unconditionally. However, it becomes 14
frighteningly apparent that being around Steve during one of his uncontrolled violent outbursts is a tragedy waiting to happen. This crazy dynamic between mother and son attracts the curiosity of their neighbour Kyla (Suzanne Clément), a woman who has just moved in next door with her husband and young daughter. A broken soul as well, Kyla is a high-school teacher on leave due to a non-disclosed trauma she endured in her past. Kyla represents a shoulder that Steve and Die can lean on; she is a friend and helping hand for Die, and a teacher and surrogate parent for Steve. Together, these three attempt to find stability in their lives by becoming a family of sorts; a family built on a foundation of chaos and dysfunction. Suffice it to say, it isn’t always smooth sailing for the three. Making use of filmic techniques such as the unique 1:1 aspect ratio that quite literally cages the characters into a world of hopelessness, the film sets out to show that love isn’t always enough. In comparing it to I Killed My Mother, it can be seen that Dolan has matured both emotionally and cinematically beyond measure in the past five years. Mommy is representative of Dolan himself coming to terms with the choices his mother made when he was a teenager, and trying to put himself in her shoes to understand why she made those decisions. The result of this is a fascinating, personal, and poignant film that looks at the endurance of love and of family bonds. As a social worker says to Die at one point in the film, “loving people doesn’t save them”.
ON THE SLATE PROGRAMMING On Location: Members Screening & Directors Talk Nov 13 7:00pm at Theatre Junction GRAND (601 1 St SW)
Join CSIF to celebrate the best of our members’ latest work, and hear from the directors in a discussion about process, technique, storytelling, and the independent film scene in Calgary. CSIF’s Christmas Party (with EMMEDIA, CUFF, CIFF, Cinematheque & Fairy Tales)
Thursday December 4, 7pm onward at The Palomino Smokehouse – 109 7th Ave SW
Friday Afternoon Socials Every Friday 4pm onwards
Join CSIF staff and members for Friday afternoon drinks at our office- a great opportunity for networking and sharing ideas and information about filmmaking. BYOB or a few dollars to contribute. Upcoming Workshops Shooting with the Scarlet with Aaron Bernakevitch
Nov 15 Members: $95 Non Members: $145 The Filmmaking Roadmap with Neil Champagne
Nov 27, Dec 4, 11 Member: $170 Non Member $220 Editing Film & Video with Final Cut Pro with Tavin Dack
Nov 29, 30 Members: $170 Non Members: $220 Intro to Camera Assisting with Regan Enderl
Dec 5 Members $160 Non Members: $210
Call for Submissions
CSIF is always looking for engaging stories by new and experienced members for upcoming issues of Answer Print. We welcome critical essays, film reviews, personal reflections and visual works. Please contact Guillaume Carlier at answerprint@csif.org to get involved. 15