The geographical dead center of North America and the beloved birthplace of Guy Maddin, Winnipeg, is the frosty and mysterious star of Maddin’s film. Fact, fantasy and memory are woven seamlessly together in this work, conjuring a city as delightful as it is fearsome.
Related Movies
Barber Gull Rub (2008)
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. (This film was commissioned by the Winnipeg Film Group's Cinematheque for its 25th anniversary, Silverscope)
Headdress (2017)
For First Nations communities, the headdress bears significant meaning. It's a powerful symbol of hard-earned leadership and responsibility. As filmmaker JJ Neepin prepares to wear her grandfather's headdress for a photo shoot she reflects on lessons learned and the thoughtless ways in which the tradition has been misappropriated.
Stand! (2019)
In post-World War I Winnipeg, a Ukrainian immigrant and a Jewish woman get caught up in a labour strike.
Hard Core Logo (1996)
Bruce Macdonald follows punk bank Hard Core Logo on a harrowing last-gasp reunion tour throughout Western Canada. As magnetic lead-singer Joe Dick holds the whole magilla together through sheer force of will, all the tensions and pitfalls of life on the road come bubbling to the surface.
Cowards Bend the Knee (2003)
When he takes his girlfriend to a seedy abortion clinic in the back room of a combination hair salon / bordello, Guy Maddin meets the madam’s daughter and falls in love. But she won’t let any man touch her until her father’s murder has been avenged.
Paul Tomkowicz: Street Railway Switchman (1953)
In this film, Paul Tomkowicz, Polish-born Canadian, talks about his job and his life in Canada. He compares his new life in the city of Winnipeg to the life he knew in Poland, marvelling at the freedom Canadians enjoy. In winter the rail-switches on streetcar tracks in Winnipeg froze and jammed with freezing mud and snow. Keeping them clean, whatever the weather, was the job of the switchman.
The Saddest Music in the World (2003)
In Depression-era Winnipeg, a legless beer baroness hosts a contest for the saddest music in the world, offering a grand prize of $25,000.
Blondie's: A Winnipeg Legacy (2017)
Sandy Doyle is an outspoken no nonsense business woman. She became a worldwide celebrity with the creation of her diner Blondies Burgers.
Freshwater World (1974)
This documentary explores a variety of projects undertaken by scientists at Environment Canada's Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg to study the processes that pollute or disrupt clean and balanced freshwater environments.
Thursday (2020)
Thursday shot from filmmaker Galen Johnson's high-rise apartment during COVID-19 “lockdown” in Winnipeg, captures people going about their daily routines in the city's eerily empty streets, yards and parking lots, on their balconies and on the riverbanks. The extreme distance and the diminutive scale of humans is paired with sound close-ups—a combination that embodies the strange, heightened intensity of feeling of the time, knowing an era-defining tragedy is happening yet being so physically removed.
Aberdeen (2024)
An idyllic childhood with her mooshum and kookum, or grandparents, in her community of Peguis First Nation dissipates as Aberdeen’s hard-partying and absentee parents distances her from that haven. Now an adult, sleeping on public benches, Winnipeg-based Aberdeen is in survival mode. The last remaining stable parts of her life begin slipping away — her reliable brother Boyd is ill and gives up Aberdeen’s grandkids to the foster care system. Then she loses her ID.
Universal Language (2024)
Winter. Somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg. Negin and Nazgol find a sum of money frozen deep within the sidewalk ice and try to find a way to get it out. Massoud leads a group of befuddled tourists upon an increasingly-strange walking tour of Winnipeg historic sites. Matthew leaves his job at the Québec government and embarks upon a mysterious journey to visit his estranged mother.
After the Big One: Nuclear War on the Prairies (1982)
This film deals straightforwardly with the consequences of a nuclear attack for the Canadian Prairies. The Prairies are singled out because of their proximity to huge stockpiles of intercontinental ballistic missiles located in North Dakota. Scenes include a visit to a missile base and to an emergency government bunker in Manitoba. A doctor, a farmer and a civil defence coordinator provide different perspectives on nuclear war. Although the film focuses on one region, it provides a model for people everywhere who would like to know more about their own situation but don't know what questions to ask.
Becoming Ruby (2025)
Follow Ruby Chopstix, Canada’s first drag artist-in-residence, as they navigate the complexity of being an underrepresented drag performer while creating a special showcase to create space for other queer BIPOC performers.
this river (2016)
Join a grassroots collective of volunteers as they search Winnipeg’s Red River and its banks for clues to find out what happened to their missing family and friends. The documentary demonstrates the devastating experience of searching for a loved one who didn't come home with profundity and humanity.
The Manitoba Connection (2020)
This previously unreleased, 35-minute documentary film that takes you deep into the bowels of Winnipeg's punk and hardcore underground circa the mid-2000s. "The Manitoba Connection" provides a rare, lightning-in-a-bottle snapshot of DIY subculture as it is on the Canadian Prairie, marked by geographical isolation, brutal winters, and a history of working-class politics.
b.longing (2024)
A dialogue and home video about belonging, from young people living in modern colonial society.
Life on Victor Street (NaN)
This short documentary depicts an Aboriginal Winnipeg teen’s struggle to stay in school and away from local gangs. Filmed over 2 years, the film is a moving portrait of one family trying to break the cycle of addiction, violence and poverty in an environment filled with anger and despair.