Join us for an oddly intriguing, darkly humorous, and often sublime screening of surrealist short films from Winnipeg filmmakers: Drew Christie, Guy Maddin, Mike Maryniuk, Lasha Mowchun, Alan Pakarnyk, Matthew Rankin, Diana Thorneycroft, and Gwen Trutnau.
Daydream
Directed by Alan Pakarnyk, 1980, 2:30 min
A short trip into daydream-like surrealism.
Black Forest Sanatorium
Directed by Diana Thorneycroft, 2020, 7:20 min
Quinn is on a mission to deal with loneliness and isolation and decides to visit the local sanatorium. The ultimate goal is to find companionship but the way Quinn does it is full of surprises.
June Night
Directed by Mike Maryniuk, 2020, 4:13 min
Juxtaposing archival imagery with handcrafted animation, Mike Maryniuk conjures up a shimmering utopian dreamscape, a post-COVID world shaped by the primordial forces of nature—haunted by the genial spectre of Buster Keaton.
Barber Gull Rub
Directed by Matthew Rankin, 2008, 2:24 min
Winnipeg Film Group. Deep in the winter of 1986. Guy Maddin is in the process of filming Tales from the Gimli Hospital and needs to rub a dead seagull on somebody’s chest. Immediately, Dave Barber agrees, submitting his bare flesh to Maddin’s road kill and to film history.
Louis Riel for Dinner
Directed by Drew Christie, 2014, 2:23 min
In 1964, the Canadian auteur filmmaker Guy Maddin found a crumpled up story outside of his elementary school. He has kept it with him his entire life, never knowing who the author was. The story tells the tale of a cruel father, a Canadian folk hero and a duck.
Hot Anger
Directed by Gwen Trutnau, 2017, 5:30 min
Her anger is like a fever. Burdened by her oppressors she battles through the darkest corners of space, and its unknown inhabitants. But none more alien than her own consciousness.
Odilon Redon: The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Towards Infinity
Directed by Guy Maddin, 1995, 6 min
A father and son ride the rails in their powerful locomotive. Witnessing a crash between two other engines, they rescue the lone survivor, Berenice, and make her a part of their family. All is well until the father and son become rivals for the girl’s affections and perform a series of dare-devil feats to win her heart.
Picture Day
Directed by Lasha Mowchun, 2018, 3:45 min
Picture Day is the worst. Sari needs to escape. But as a young girl with nowhere to go, she escapes into her imagination. In her imagination, she finds validation. There she is not just an awkward teenager, but an ice princess adored by all.
Hydro-Lévesque
Directed by Matthew Rankin, 2008, 16 min
November, 1976. As Québec strides boldly towards independence, a supernatural vision of tragedy inspires a deaf-mute Québécoise Catholic nun to save the city of Winnipeg from committing mass suicide.
Presented by The University of Manitoba School of Art Gallery in partnership with the Winnipeg Film Group.
This screening is in conjunction with the exhibition Surrealist Suggestions curated by Lindsay Inglis, on display at the University of Manitoba’s School of Art Gallery from July 22 to September 24, 2021. To find out more about the exhibition visit: https://umanitoba.ca/art/surrealist-suggestions
About the Curator:
Lindsay Inglis is an art historian and writer from Winnipeg, Treaty 1 Territory. She holds a BFA from the University of Manitoba and an MA from the University of St. Andrews. Her research interests include surrealism, disability in art, and representations of the human body. Lindsay has contributed to Canadian Art, Galleries West, and HASTA Magazine.
