Winnipeg

TAKE ONE, Dec-Feb, 1999 by Dave Barber

Paris, France, will host a major retrospective of Western Canadian independent filmmakers with a strong focus on the work of the Winnipeg Film Group, this year celebrating its 25th anniversary. The Museum of Contemporary Art (Galerie Nationale Jeu de Palme) in Paris together with the Canadian Cultural Services, is curating a major screening of films in December and January.

Cultural attache Simone Suchet travelled across Western Canada in October with visits to the Vancouver International Film Festival Calgary, Regina and Winnipeg. Western Canadian filmmakers highlighted include John Paizs, Guy Maddin, Gary Burns, Richard Kerr and Donna Brunsdale. Telefilm is assisting with subtitling some of the works.... Guy Maddin recently completed a short, three-minute film for the New York Film Festival. Called Hospital Fragment, the short black-and-white film looks like a missing outtake from Tales From the Gimli Hospital with newly filmed scenes with Gimli stars Angela Heck and Mike Gottli.... It has been an extremely good fall for Winnipeg's Buffalo Gal Pictures, coproducing Colleen Murphy's new film Desire, which will likely be released in late spring by Remstar, and John Greyson's Law of Enclosures. Greyson remarked what a positive experience it was working with crews in Winnipeg. The producers staged a kiss-a-thon in front of Winnipeg's City Hall on a cool Monday morning in October. An estimated 200 to 300 couples gathered to smooch and recreate an actual event that occurred in Sarnia, Ont., in 1991, which won them a Guinness world record for largest simultaneous kiss. Next up for Buffalo Gal is a film based on the novel by Gabrielle Roy called Children of My Heart to be directed by Keith Leckie.... Manitoba producers and craftspeople scored big in the 14th annual Gemini Awards with a combined 19 nominations. Marble Island Pictures's Milgaard won in six categories and Buffalo Gal Pictures picked up two nominations for The Genius of Lenny Breau and its Gabrielle Roy documentary .... Marble Island Pictures' Heater received an excellent response at the Vancouver International Film Festival. Director/writer Terrance Odette received two awards--Best Screenplay and Best Emerging Director. Stars Gary Farmer and Stephen Ouimette were singled out by the jury for their excellent performances.... Noam Gonick (Guy Maddin: Waiting For Twilight) finished shooting his subversive love pic Hey Happy! in 16mm, experimenting with anamorphic lenses and various filters. Gonick staged an outdoor rave on a former garbage landfill called Garbage Hill which was visible from some distance. Word has it that the rushes look superb.