GUY MADDIN IN PERSON!
The emergence of filmmaker Guy Maddin as an internationally championed auteur is an occurrence that is as anomalous as his distinctive work. On the surface, his movies appear to be pastiches of the conventions of late silent and early sound cinema. However, the films (which include Careful, The Saddest Music in the World, and, most recently, Keyhole) are infused with a deeply personal set of preoccupations and obsessions, not the least of which is life in Maddin’s native Winnipeg. On February 20 and 21, UW’s Material Culture program, in collaboration with the Cinematheque, will celebrate the weird and wonderful artistry of Guy Maddin as we welcome him to campus for three separate programs: a special lecture on the theme of loss in the cinema; a screening of one of his signature films, 2008’s My Winnipeg, followed by a panel discussion; and a screening of one of Maddin’s personal favorites, James Whale’s 1935 comedy whodunit, Remember Last Night?
- Thu., Feb. 20 | 6:00 PMElvehjem Building Rm L160
One of contemporary cinema’s most exciting artists, Guy Maddin will speak on the theme of loss in film history and how it relates to his own work. This special program is a collaboration of the Cinematheque and the UW’s Material Culture Program.
- Fri., Feb. 21 | 2:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
A chronicle of the life of the wintry Canadian city, director Maddin provocatively mixes the fictional and real to explore various aspects of Winnipeg life. Maddin’s self-described “docu-fantasia” on his Canadian hometown contains some of the strangest and most stirring imagery in any film of recent memory: dreamy sleepwalkers in the snow, a floating kielbasa, and horses encased in ice. Alternately hilarious and haunting, My Winnipeg is an enormously entertaining meditation on myth and memory. Following this screening, Guy Maddin will participate in a panel discussion on the “Poetics of Memory, Space, and Architecture in My Winnipeg.”
- Fri., Feb. 21 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
A group of young, wealthy socialites wake up from an all-night revelry to find their oldest member murdered. The district attorney (Arnold) who is called in to solve the mystery can’t get anywhere with his investigation because all parties involved were too drunk to remember anything! This fast-paced comedy whodunit from the director of Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein is a personal favorite of director Guy Maddin. He will talk about Remember Last Night? and his own cinephilia in a post-screening discussion.