WFG Short Films 1976-2000
Curated by writer, literary director and counterculture enthusiast Ralph Elawani, with the support of Leslie Supnet, filmmaker and executive director of the Winnipeg Film Group, this program aims to celebrate a local film scene of national importance. Around the Winnipeg Film Group, a cinematic way of life has crystallized, not only illustrated by the achievements of a certain Guy Maddin, but also by an exceptional Dave Barber who has long been the soul of the WPG. We will pay tribute to him at the program’s opening, before inviting you to discover films rarely screened together, works that are wild, radical, playful, wacky, absurd, surreal, sometimes extraordinary, and often extravagant. Between animation, experimental film, documentary, and artisanal fiction, this heritage program is also radically oriented towards the future of cinema. It is a question to the viewer, like a plea from out of nowhere, or rather from Winnipeg.
In the presence of Carole O’Brien
This first wave of short films traces back to the origins of the Winnipeg Film Group, a fertile anomaly born of geographical isolation that was both endured and embraced, and a fierce determination to create images in a different way. From the DIY essays of Joanne Jackson Johnson, Allan Kroeker and Ed Ackerman, to the offbeat visions of John Paiz, Guy Maddin and the Dempsey/Millan duo, this program showcases a handmade aesthetic where the absurd coexists with a melancholy typical of Winnipeg. With a heavy dose of burlesque and experimentation, we witness the emergence of a stronghold of independent cinema that has transformed geographical constraints into a mythological laboratory.
The West Quarter by Joanne Jackson Johnson
[Can., 1974, 4 min, 16 mm, no dialogue]
Rabbit Pie by Allan Kroeker et cie
[Can., 1976, 9 min, 16 mm, English]
Ho Down by John Paizs
[Can., 1976, 2 min, digital, no dialogue]
5 Cents a Copy by Gregory Zbitnew, Ed Ackerman
[Can., 1980, 3 min, 16 mm, no dialogue]
Transformer by Neil McInnes
[Can., 1980, 11 min, digital, no dialogue]
38 Jansky Units by John Krocker
[Can., 1980, 3 min, digital, no dialogue]
Two Men in Search of a Plot by John Kozak, Howard Curle
[Can., 1985, 6 min, 16 mm, no dialogue]
We’re Talking Vulva by Shawna Dempsey, Lorri Millan, Tracy Traeger
[Can., 1990, 5 min, digital, English]
Dog Stories by Shereen Jerrett
[Can., 1992, 24 min, 16 mm, English]
The Piano Lesson by Carole O’Brien
[Can., 1993, 16 min, 16 mm, English]
Soft Like Me by Jeff Erbach
[Can., 1996, 26 min, digital, English]
The Heart of the World by Guy Maddin
[Can., 2000, 6 min, 35 mm, English intertitles]
Winnipeg Film Group
The Winnipeg Film Group (WFG) is an artist-run film education, production, distribution, and exhibition centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, committed to promoting the art of Canadian cinema, especially independent cinema. While specializing in short films, WFG's collection ranges from works one-second shorts to full-length features, with films spanning various genres including narrative drama and comedy, animation, documentary and experimental, as well as hybrids of genres. The organization has been noted for spearheading and playing a key role in the development of a distinctly Winnipeg-based style of filmmaking, which often draws on unconventional, experimental and avant-garde styles of filmmaking — such as Guy Maddin's frequent use of the visual language of old silent films — to tell surreal and anti-authoritarian stories.
Presented in collaboration with
