It's a five-minute film but I Met The Walrus has taken up almost 30 years of Jerry Levitan's life.

This year it took him to the Academy Awards -- where it was nominated for best animated short -- and to film festivals around the world.

I Met The Walrus, based on a 1969 interview the then 14-year-old Levitan did in Toronto with John Lennon of the Beatles, will bring him and the film to Hamilton Thursday for the 10th annual Art Gallery of Hamilton's International Film and Video Festival.

"The aftermath of Walrus keeps me busy," said Levitan of the film.

He has been approached to publish a book based on it and has had interest from film production companies looking to bring his story to the big screen.

"The train just keeps going stronger. It has made it difficult to focus on anything else."

The Hamilton festival in the AGH's Irving Zucker Sculpture Garden on Main Street West may be a long way from the Oscars at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood but Levitan is happy to be invited and share his story once again.

It began May 26, 1969, when he knocked on the door of a suite on the top floor of the King Edward Hotel and met John Lennon.

Levitan had heard a rumour the night before on CHUM-FM that Lennon had been seen in Toronto and he was determined to find him.

Levitan said Lennon and his new wife, Yoko Ono, were looking to do a bed-in for peace in the United States but couldn't get into that country because of a marijuana arrest so decided to hold it in Canada.

They scouted Toronto but settled on Montreal for the bed-in that became famous for the live recording of the song Give Peace A Chance.

"I was a total Beatles freak and had to talk to my hero," said Levitan, who practises law in Toronto and is a children's entertainer under the name of Sir Jerry.

He headed to the King Edward because that is where the Beatles stayed when they played Maple Leaf Gardens in the mid-'60s.

"I went to the top floor, knocked on every door and believe it or not, I found him," Levitan said.

"Derek Taylor (the Beatles public relations officer) answered the door and I said, 'Canadian news' and sort of barged by way in.

"I walked into the living room of the suite and sat down and John and Yoko were four or five feet away from me (doing an interview with the CBC)."

Lennon was looking for publicity for the bed-in for peace and when Levitan asked for an interview, he was told to come back later.

He says he called CHUM for help and after being convinced he wasn't crazy, the station sent a disc jockey and a tape machine to record Levitan's 40-minute talk with Lennon. CHUM played the interview all week and Levitan was given the tape.

He said he had been approached many times over the years to do something with the interview but "I never wanted to commercialize on it or do something hokey.

"I finally got tired of telling the story so I thought I would wrap it all up in some way so my kids and grandkids could see what kind of nut I was.

"I wanted to present it in a novel way and finally settled on the idea of making my own film."

I Met The Walrus, which Levitan produced, is directed by Josh Raskin with James Braithwaite heading the illustration team.

They took parts of Levitan's interview and set them to pen and ink drawings in a style reminiscent of the Beatles film Yellow Submarine and Lennon's books, In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works.

Although Levitan said his initial plan was to post the film on the YouTube website, it started racking up film festival awards and eventually the Oscar nomination.

It lost to Peter & The Wolf, based on the music suite by Sergei Prokofiev.

"I personally thought Peter & The Wolf was the best film," Levitan said.

"Was I disappointed? Are you kidding? Everyone says my story is like (the rock movie) Almost Famous only with John Lennon. What a trip. And it's still going on."

Festival facts

The Art Gallery of Hamilton's International Film and Video Festival is throwing a bigger party this year to celebrate its 10th anniversary.

Nineteen short films instead of 10 will contend Thursday night for the $1,000 Bell Canada Award and the new $500 AGH Shorts Award. Screenings of the hopefuls are at 9:15 p.m. and 11:20 p.m.

A disc jockey will provide a musical break between the screenings outdoors in the Irving Zucker Sculpture Garden behind the King Street West gallery.

Admission is $4 for AGH members and $5 for nonmembers. Tickets may be purchased at artgalleryofhamilton.com, at the gallery or at the door the evening of the screening, which is restricted to ages 18 and older.

In the event of rain, the festival will be in the Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Pavilion.

For more information, visit artgalleryofhamilton.com or call 905-527-6610, ext. 232.

dfoley@thespec.com

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