Guy Maddin
Encyclopedia
Guy Maddin, OM
Order of Manitoba
The Order of Manitoba is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Instituted in 1999 when Lieutenant Governor Peter M...

 (born February 28, 1956) is a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...

, director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

, cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...

 and film editor  of both features
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 and short films from Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...

, Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

. His most distinctive quality is his penchant for recreating the look and style of silent
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

 or early sound era films which has solidified his popularity and acclaim in alternative film circles.

Career

While Maddin strives to recreate the styles and moods of early film melodramas, Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...

 German silent films, and 1920s Soviet agit-prop, his own personal style lies in his use of clichés, psychosexual situations, bizarre stories and humour. Reminiscent of the early work of American director David Lynch
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...

, it is this self-conscious and surreal merging of early film-making techniques with a post-modern sensibility
Cultural sensibility
Cultural sensibility refers to how sensibility relates to a person’s moral, emotional or aesthetic ideas or standards. The term should not be confused with the more common term "cultural sensitivity". -References:***...

 that give Maddin's films a style referred to as "Ultra-Conformist" or "Anti-Progressive". Assistance from provincial and national Arts Councils as well as the Winnipeg Film Group aid in Maddin's pursuit in the making of his films.

Maddin himself attributes his embarkation into the film world with his viewing of Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish-born filmmaker — later a naturalized citizen of Mexico — who worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the US..-Early years:...

's L’âge d’Or
L'Âge d'Or
L'Âge d'or is a 1930 surrealist film directed by Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel and written by him and Salvador Dalí.The film began as a second collaboration with Dalí, but, by the time the film went into production, Buñuel and Dalí had had a falling-out, and so Dalí actually had nothing to do with...

, as told to journalist Robert K. Elder
Robert K. Elder
Robert K. Elder is an American journalist, author and film columnist.- Early life and education :A Montana native, Elder interviewed Ken Kesey for his high school newspaper. The author encouraged Elder to attend his alma mater, the University of Oregon, which Elder did two years later...

 in an interview for The Film That Changed My Life
The Film That Changed My Life
The Film That Changed My Life is a non-fiction collection of interviews compiled by American journalist, author and film columnist Robert K. Elder...

.

I don’t even know if I would have even known how to begin making movies [had I not seen this film]. [Buñuel] made moviemaking seem necessary to me…It was the urgency of what Buñuel’s L’ âge d’or was about, this passionate affair ending in disaster. That was all I could relate to at that point in my life.


His film education came not with any formal training at a trade school, or his experiences at the University of Winnipeg
University of Winnipeg
The University of Winnipeg is a public university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada that offers undergraduate faculties of art, business and economics, education, science and theology as well as graduate programs. The U of W's founding colleges were Manitoba College and Wesley College, which merged...

, but with endless weekends of watching films with close friends John Paizs
John Paizs
John Paizs is a director, writer and actor from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. In 1985 his much-celebrated independent comedy Crime Wave was presented at the Toronto International Film Festival. He was the male lead and also wrote and directed the film...

 and Steve Snyder. Soon realizing that Paizs was making and performing in his own post-modern films and Snyder was teaching production at the University of Manitoba
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba , in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is the largest university in the province of Manitoba. It is Manitoba's most comprehensive and only research-intensive post-secondary educational institution. It was founded in 1877, making it Western Canada’s first university. It placed...

, Maddin eventually gave up his day-jobs as a bank-teller and house painter, deciding that he needed to put his own knowledge to work and step behind the camera, in his case the popular Bolex
Bolex
Bolex is a Swiss company that manufactures motion picture cameras and lenses, the most notable products of which are in the 16 mm and Super 16 mm formats. The Bolex company was initially founded by Jacques Bogopolsky in 1927. Bolex is derived from his name. He had previously designed cameras for...

 hand-wound 16mm camera.

Maddin's first film was the Winnipeg Film Group assisted 1986 16mm short film The Dead Father. His first 16mm feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...

 was Tales from the Gimli Hospital
Tales from the Gimli Hospital
Tales from the Gimli Hospital, directed by Guy Maddin, is a black-and-white 1988 psychodrama which incorporates elements of surrealism, black comedy, and expressionism.-Plot synopsis:...

.

In 2007, Maddin became the first artist-curator of the UCLA Film and Television Archive
UCLA Film and Television Archive
The UCLA Film and Television Archive is an internationally renowned visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles. It holds more than 220,000 film and television titles and 27 million feet of...

. In this position, he performs the programming for their new "Curated by..." series.

As of fall 2007, Maddin will be teaching film at the University of Manitoba
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba , in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is the largest university in the province of Manitoba. It is Manitoba's most comprehensive and only research-intensive post-secondary educational institution. It was founded in 1877, making it Western Canada’s first university. It placed...

. Also in 2007, Maddin's film My Winnipeg
My Winnipeg
My Winnipeg is a feature film directed by Guy Maddin. Starring Ann Savage, the film is a surrealist-inflected pseudo-documentary about Winnipeg, Maddin's home town...

won the Best Canadian Feature award at the Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...

.

Maddin's films are often set in his home town of Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...

 and are usually set in abstract 20th century historical periods. Themes in Maddin's films frequently include unrequited love
Unrequited love
Unrequited love is love that is not openly reciprocated or understood as such, even though reciprocation is usually deeply desired. The beloved may or may not be aware of the admirer's deep affections...

, murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...

, Soviet Russia
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....

, homoeroticism
Homoeroticism
Homoeroticism refers to the erotic attraction between members of the same sex, either male–male or female–female , most especially as it is depicted or manifested in the visual arts and literature. It can also be found in performative forms; from theatre to the theatricality of uniformed movements...

, incest
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...

, dismemberment
Dismemberment
Dismemberment is the act of cutting, tearing, pulling, wrenching or otherwise removing, the limbs of a living thing. It may be practiced upon human beings as a form of capital punishment, as a result of a traumatic accident, or in connection with murder, suicide, or cannibalism...

 and the workings of human impulse and subconscious
Subconscious
The term subconscious is used in many different contexts and has no single or precise definition. This greatly limits its significance as a definition-bearing concept, and in consequence the word tends to be avoided in academic and scientific settings....

.

Feature films

Year Title Other notes
1988 Tales from the Gimli Hospital
Tales from the Gimli Hospital
Tales from the Gimli Hospital, directed by Guy Maddin, is a black-and-white 1988 psychodrama which incorporates elements of surrealism, black comedy, and expressionism.-Plot synopsis:...

1990 Archangel
Archangel (film)
Archangel is a 1990 comedy-drama film directed by Guy Maddin.The film is set in 1919. News of the war's end has not yet reached the remote Arctic Ocean port of Archangel in Russia, so they fight on. The Russian Civil War is also underway. The protagonist is Lt. John Boles, a soldier missing a leg...

1992 Careful
1997 Twilight of the Ice Nymphs
Twilight of the Ice Nymphs
Twilight of the Ice Nymphs is a 1997 Canadian fantasy film directed by Guy Maddin. It was filmed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada....

2002 Dracula, Pages From a Virgin's Diary Silent
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

2003 Cowards Bend the Knee
Cowards Bend the Knee
Cowards Bend the Knee is a 2003 film by Guy Maddin, starring Darcy Fehr and Melissa Dionisio.The 64 minute film is a reworking of an autobiographical project originally imagined as a peep-show. It is divided into ten short sections, giving it the same sort of episodic quality as old silent matinee...

Silent
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

2003 The Saddest Music in the World
The Saddest Music in the World
The Saddest Music in the World is a 2003 Canadian film directed by Guy Maddin. It stars Mark McKinney, Isabella Rossellini, Maria de Medeiros, David Fox and Ross McMillan....

2006 Brand Upon the Brain! Silent
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

2007 My Winnipeg
My Winnipeg
My Winnipeg is a feature film directed by Guy Maddin. Starring Ann Savage, the film is a surrealist-inflected pseudo-documentary about Winnipeg, Maddin's home town...

2011 Keyhole
Keyhole (film)
Keyhole is an upcoming Canadian film directed by Guy Maddin, starring Jason Patric, Isabella Rossellini, Udo Kier and Kevin McDonald. It will tell the story of a gangster who returns to his home and embarks on an odyssey through the house, one room at a time...


Short films

  • Night Mayor
    Night Mayor
    Night Mayor is a 2009 short film by Guy Maddin, about a fictional inventor in Winnipeg who uses the Aurora Borealis to broadcast images of Canada from coast to coast in 1939, until the Canadian government shuts down his illegal project....

    (2009)
  • The Little White Cloud that Cried (2009)
  • Send Her to the Electric Chair (2009)
  • Glorious (2009)
  • Spanky: To the Pier and Back (2008)
  • Odin's Shield Maiden (2007)
  • Nude Caboose (2006)
  • My Dad Is 100 Years Old (2006) -- A portrait of Roberto Rossellini
    Roberto Rossellini
    Roberto Rossellini was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Rossellini was one of the directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing films such as Roma città aperta to the movement.-Early life:Born in Rome, Roberto Rossellini lived on the Via Ludovisi, where Benito Mussolini had...

    , where he is depicted as a giant pillow tummy. Starring his daughter Isabella Rossellini
    Isabella Rossellini
    Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini is an Italian actress, filmmaker, author, philanthropist, and model. Rossellini is noted for her 14-year tenure as a Lancôme model, and for her roles in films such as Blue Velvet and Death Becomes Her.-Background and early life:Rossellini is a...

  • Sissy Boy Slap Party (II)(2004) -- Included on the DVD of The Saddest Music in the World
    The Saddest Music in the World
    The Saddest Music in the World is a 2003 Canadian film directed by Guy Maddin. It stars Mark McKinney, Isabella Rossellini, Maria de Medeiros, David Fox and Ross McMillan....

     in R1.
  • Sombra Dolorosa (2004) -- Included on the DVD of The Saddest Music in the World
    The Saddest Music in the World
    The Saddest Music in the World is a 2003 Canadian film directed by Guy Maddin. It stars Mark McKinney, Isabella Rossellini, Maria de Medeiros, David Fox and Ross McMillan....

     in R1.
  • A Trip to the Orphanage(2004) -- Included on the DVD of The Saddest Music in the World
    The Saddest Music in the World
    The Saddest Music in the World is a 2003 Canadian film directed by Guy Maddin. It stars Mark McKinney, Isabella Rossellini, Maria de Medeiros, David Fox and Ross McMillan....

     in R1.
  • Fancy, Fancy Being Rich (2002)
  • The Heart of the World
    The Heart of the World
    The Heart of the World is a short film written and directed by Guy Maddin, produced for the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival. It is a homage to silent films, and as such, it is black and white, grainy, and without dialogue, and contains many references to styles and movies of the silent era...

    (2000)
  • Fleshpots of Antiquity (2000)
  • Hospital Fragment (1999)
  • Maldoror: Tygers (1998)
  • The Cock Crew or Love-Chaunt of the Chimney (1998)
  • The Hoyden or Idylls of Womanhood (1998)
  • Imperial Orgies or The Rabbi of Bacharach (1996)
  • The Hands of Ida (1995)
  • Sissy Boy Slap Party or The Coming Terror (1995)
  • Odilon Redon or The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity (1995, Toronto International Film Festival
    Toronto International Film Festival
    The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...

    award winner)
  • Sea Beggars or The Weaker Sex (1994)
  • The Pomps of Satan (1993)
  • Indigo High-Hatters (1991)
  • Tyro (1990)
  • BBB (1989)
  • Mauve Decade (1989)
  • The Dead Father (1986)
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