Drama

  • Return to You

    A pair of lovers are separated by a war that is taking place just 4km from their home.  The young woman, strained by isolation, finally has her fiancé return home, but he is bleeding from fatal gunshot wounds.  As his breathing fades, the young woman decides to join her love in death by poisoning herself.

    Biogrpahy

    Born in Calgary, Alberta, Cam Woykin graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Lethbridge in 2003. He has since completed numerous short films, screening his work throughout Canada and internationally. Woykin currently resides in Toronto, where he is completing his Master’s of Fine Arts in film production at York University.
  • Canoe
    The film traces the anguish a middle-aged woman endures as she contemplates a decision on a summer day that might end her own life and that of her husband who suffers a long term and incurable illness.
  • Tashina

    A young Aboriginal girl's hopes and dreams are re-negotiated within the walls and tunnels of the institution of education.

    Biography

    Caroline Monnet (Algonquin/French), born in Ottawa, Canada, is a self-taught award winning filmmaker and artist. She completed a B.A in Communication and Sociology at the University of Ottawa and Granada, Spain. She uses video, photography, and installation to explore the dualities of her social, political, and spiritual identity, developing a critical framework influenced by history, community, and unconventional memory. Monnet’s work has been exhibited across Europe, Canada and the US. She is currently based in Winnipeg where she is an active member of ITWÉ, a trans-disciplinary collective dedicated to research, creation, production and education in the field of Aboriginal digital culture. 
  • Kidnappé
    A 17 year old suburban girl finds the mutilated body of her best friend in a park resulting in her becoming complacent and paranoid.
  • Sonata for Christian
    Christian is a young suburban boy who learns more about himself than he expects every time he goes to his piano lesson.
  • Sorrow's Companion

    A drama about a young Aboriginal man who just gets released from jail.  He wants to make changes in his life but the bad choices he makes get in the way.  We discover how these bad choices affect his life.
  • Open Window

    A backyard birthday party is consumed with tension when an abusive relationship between the birthday boy’s parents is revealed.

    Biography

    Born in Calgary, Alberta, Cam Woykin graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Lethbridge in 2003. He has since completed numerous short films, screening his work throughout Canada and internationally. Woykin currently resides in Toronto, where he is completing his Master’s of Fine Arts in film production at York University.
  • Light

    Light follows an elderly artist whose frustration sees him reborn in the pursuit of a fleeting dream.

  • The Scared Seven
    One young foster child defies all odds to establish balance through routine and spiritual enlightenment.
  • Chinatown
    A multi-layered epic set in the heart of Winnipeg’s historic Chinatown. It is the story of a half-baked opium addict, fighting to preserve Chinatown in the face of “progress.” Photographed on old 16mm color film stocks, combined with found footage, and using a collage technique, Chinatown is a poppy-perfumed protest against the faceless/sameness identity smaller cities get bullied into accepting, often at the expense of real history and identity.
  • Devil on Commission
    After succumbing to a fatal fall while 'changing a shower curtain', Hugh really wants to get to Heaven. Unfortunately, the wait might simply be too long. The officious operator on the other end of the line has too many forms for Hugh to fill out before he can be allowed in. And, adding insult to injury, the sight of his own corpse is really starting to get to him. Luckily, the road to Hell is easy and sounds like a lot more fun. All Hugh has to do is say OK. But at what price...and who's this Darryl guy, anyway?
  • fish in barrel
    A live action experimental drama focused on a young man's psychological struggle that combines elements of sculpture, photography, and video to slow time and visually explore the idea of internal conflict. This struggle erupts into visions that question what lies below the surface and is extended into an underwater environment that can be seen as nurturing, dangerous, inhospitable, safe, or distant.
  • The Red Hood
    Set in the Canadian prairies during the Great Depression, The Red Hood is a dark re-telling of the traditional fable Little Red Riding Hood.
  • Truce
    Truce eloquently depicts the fine line between soldier and human being; at what point do we see the person and not an enemy.
  • A Good Indian

    A fair skinned First Nations person has his pride and identity put to the test when two bar patrons involve him in a discussion.
  • The Stranger
    A cinematic poem about dreams and realities, The Strangers is an experimental film that depicts one man’s metaphoric melt down after a brief romantic encounter.
  • Marriage
  • Tutulungan Kita - I'll Help You
    A Filipino man new in Canada fumbles helping a Filipino-Canadian woman at a bus stop. What happens next is a connection they soon develop that goes beyond their cultural ties.
  • Lifetime
    A 1960's angel helps a 1990's teenage boy in a struggle over life and death.
  • Subterranean Passage
  • Did Jesus Ever Laugh?
  • My Relationship with Film and Why I Love Him
  • Keeping Quiet

    Bob tries out the world of classified dating to disastrous results.

    Biography

    Shane Belcourt is an award-winning filmmaker, writer, and musician based in Toronto. His feature film, Tkaronto, has played many international film festivals, most recently winning the Best Director prize at the 2008 Dreamspeakers Film Festival and 2008 Talking Stick Film Festival. Shane was the recipient of the 2007 IFC Mentorship Award and one of 22 filmmakers chosen for the 2007 TIFF Talent Lab. Most recently Shane co-wrote and directed Boxed In, a short film produced by the NFB that was included in the Canadian Pavilion at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Currently, Shane is working as the writer-director for two animation projects, a half-hour animation on problem gambling in Aboriginal communities and a personal short animated documentary about growing up the son of a Metis rights leader, Red Car, Blue Hood. Shane has also been selected to Telefilm's Feature Aboriginal Storytellers Program to further develop his next dramatic feature film, Better Place and was selected to be the Filmmaker in Residence by the Winnipeg Film Group in January 2010.
  • Dames
    Slick-as-grease Dames captures all of the energy and sass of classic film noir. You can smell the smoke in its seamy 1940s nightclub, the alcohol on the guys, and the perfume on its sex-drenched dames. But instead of dealing out the genre's dubious fate for women brimming with style and sexuality, its femme fatale Roxie breaks a long held film noir law. Outsmarting her hustler escort, Roxie sets her sights on the good girl Vera, who deals out a few surprises of her own. Together Roxie and Vera raise shot glasses to adventure and score on their own terms. When the smoke finally clears, itÕs the guys that have been set up. This jaunty homage to film noir mixes sly humour, a canny cast and a smoky noir feel to demonstrate that not every femme fatale hooks her schemes and dreams onto dangerous men.
  • Nocturne
  • I'm Alright Ma
    A disturbing, frightening film about the frequently callous and unthinking exchanges between an adolescent and parent, and their horrific consequences.
  • If
    A timid man longs to speak to the woman he's been secretly photographing for years.
  • My Boss, The Scarecrow
    A wearied office worker goes through the everyday paces of his job. One thing keeps bothering him though - his boss is a scarecrow. And nobody wants to talk about it.
  • Iris & Nathan
    A short drama about romance and identity, intended for urban adult audiences.
  • Argentina
    The dispassionate calm of a solitary man is captured with disturbing clarity. The sound and images of Argentina mirror the stoic calm of this lone man.
  • Porcelain Dreams
    From deep within Edward's fragmented mind, his deepest fears have surfaced. Now to regain his hold on sanity he must decide whether to run from his fear, or destroy it.
  • Selbstmord
    X has been captured, and is being tortured by someone.  He escapes, but the Agent is hot on his heels.  In the outside world things are no better.  Is he dreaming?  After a series of confusing interactions X finds himself in surroundings that seem familiar.
  • Figment
    Figment is a twist upon a twist when a doctor experiences a young girl’s trauma under hypnosis.  Urge to face the fear that holds the girl’s secret, the doctor unwillingly comes upon a room tucked deep in the girl’s mind.  A room where a terrible act is faced and vengeance awarded.  But why is the girl in a black room under watchful eyes?  Why are agents wanting to unlock the secret tucked in her silent mind?  Is it real or is it a figment?
  • The Keys
    Running late for work, Joe Monday rushes downstairs, still pulling himself together.  No time for a proper breakfast, he grabs a pop tart, his briefcase (but not his keys) and is out the door.  Upon hearing the click of the door he realizes his error and panics. Knowing he can’t be late, he assaults the door, in a desperate attempt to open it.  After failing miserably he has the bright idea to break in through the window... and the fun begins.
  • Mob Flick
    Joey is a senior member of a crime family.  His brother and sister-in-law are murdered, leaving his young niece without parents.  The FBI knows who did it.  Joey must decide between “Family” loyalty and his thirst for vengeance when his brother’s killer is revealed.
  • Way of the Samurai
    Kimura, a noble Samurai of feudal Japan, is drawn back into the life of his wayward childhood friend, the bandit Kenji. Kimura fails to convince Kenji to restore honor and meaning to his life, resulting in violence and a final, fatal showdown. Only one will survive, forever bearing the burden of having extinguished the life of his dear friend.
  • Fragments
    An aspiring stained glass apprentice struggles to end her relationship with the master artist of the studio. As she works alone in his absence on a stained glass window, she finds the means to finally provoke a conversation. The conflict forces him to bring closure to their relationship.
  • Juliet at 2:15
    Ben is not the greatest Romeo, but he better learn fast if he wants to keep his Juliet. He dreads the arrival of his girlfriend Terry Flett for her 2:15 film audition because she is sure to confirm her suspicions of a love triangle.
  • On A Sunday
    In a 1950s Canadian prairie town, a son's long-time desire to attend a church
    camping retreat with his father unearths a long-standing grudge held by a
    controlling church leader.
  • Angel Face
    Tempted by a beautiful body, two brothers blow their paycheck on the promise of a good time. Suddenly the evening spirals out of control and they are thrust into a journey through guilt, fear and survival. Exploring the limits of loyalty and conscience, angel face takes a dark look at the bond between brothers.
  • Magdelene
    The emotional and mental life of a homeless bag lady obsessed with Marlene Dietrich. A comical but sympathetic glimpse into the imaginary world of a woman who is beautiful in spirit, but sad of heart. Jarringly close to our own realities, and our own limitations in life.
  • Stryker

    The raw tale of the Indian Posse street gang's pulse-pounding fight for dominance in the drug wars of Winnipeg's North End.

    Killer cop smack-downs, hell-raising hoods, lascivious foster moms and trannies packin' heat come together in this uproarious, unnervingly real landmark film where thug membership comes at mortal costs.
  • The Key
    The Key deals with the struggles for personal, uncompromised freedom in the face of responsibilities to others.  The story follows, Satan, the representation of the uncontrolled side of the psyche, striving to escape from his imprisonment in Hell.  Between him and the way out is Sin, a figure from his past who holds the key to his desires.  The film explores the humanity and the desperation of the two characters, asking, can we survive without a dark side?
  • The Snow Queen
    When the real world turns sour, ten-year old Talia finds shelter in a fantasy world of ice and snow. But as life becomes more and more difficult, Talia's daydreams become less protective and more menacing.
  • Threefold

    Three stories, three colours, three stages in a woman’s life. In this lush and ethereal short film, tales from classical mythology are turned upside-down to celebrate three powerful women.  These ancient world ‘bad girls’ were punished for their curiosity, sexuality and knowledge, but in this film they are rewarded for their desire to understand and actively participate in the world around them. Expect the unexpected in Threefold.
  • The Nature of Nicholas
    Set on the Canadian Prairie, The Nature of Nicholas is a unique coming-of-age story of a twelve-year old boy wrestling with an attraction to his best friend and tormented by the ghost of his father. Twelve-year-old Nicholas is the focus of this unique coming of age story about the tumult of budding sexuality and a boy’s struggle to reconcile his desires with what’s expected of him.
  • The Reason Why
    David and Corrie are two people struggling to understand the situations they are in. Each has questions to ask the other, but neither is ready-or willing-to give answers.
  • Weave

    After pulling off a flawless heist, three friends rush to an undisclosed location to pay a ruthless loan shark an old gambling debt. But between the robbery and the meeting, something unimaginable happens. Now, with the wheels set in motion, a deadly game of cat and mouse ensues. And as the truth of the story unfolds, the question remains: who is really the hunter and the hunted?
  • Horsethieves
    This is the Story of Erland Eastly, a factory worker who dreams of a job on the oil rigs.  In need of money, Eastly joins a group of three petty thieves, led by a charismatic sociopath.  This film follows the group of dysfunctional young men over the course of a weekend. Set in a small town in Canada, Horsethieves examines lost young men who genuinely wish to improve their lives but don't. 

  • 504938C
    This film is about rebirth - a young man coming to grips with his past and trying to change the future. This film takes place mostly in his jail cell as he burns Indian medicine for strength. While the medicine burns and smoke comes up from a wooden smudge bowl he reflects on his past. As he leaves prison, and the experience of rebirth, he has to decide between his family and his gang life.     
  • Blind Dog Bluesday
    Blind Dog Bluesday is a loving portrait of blues rock artists, Ken Crook, lead singer for both the bands Mudbelly and Blind Dog. Every Tuesday, every Bluesday, Ken heads up the blues jam at the Windsor Hotel, a century old hotel in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Blinded by Marfan Syndrome (which afflicted actor John Ritter) Ken's deep love for the blues and gentle nature keep his spirit high. The film features interviews with Ken's friends and family, and hangs out behind the scenes at Ken's House Party, a visit by Charlie Chaplin, and features smoking live performances of classics such as Stormy Monday, Roadhouse Blues and Sweet Home Chicago. As Ken's wife, Barb says, "Every day is an adventure with Ken, You just never know what's going to happen!"
  • Between Static
    A comedy about the everyday annoyance of waiting at a red light.  When a normally subdued man, Benton, is forced to wait at an unchanging red stop light, it forces him to re-evaluate his own unwillingness to change. Will Benton decide to take a risk and drive through the intersection or sit and accept his fate?
  • Lost

    short

    Angela, a disillusioned young woman, moves away from her troubled home into her recently deceased Aunty Esther's apartment. On the edge of a dismal hospital complex, the house is not quite what it seems. And, its many inhabitants are capable of far more than they may have imagined.

    long

    Angela is an angst-ridden, disillusioned twenty-two year old woman.  When Angela’s aunt Esther dies suddenly, leaving a vacant apartment in The City, Angela seizes the opportunity to escape a confusing and abusive home life and start over on her own.  Placed next to a dismal hospital complex, the apartment is a house without a neighbourhood, filled with the signs of an unexpected and sudden death: an unmade bed, half eaten food, and the grisly reminder of her aunt’s fatal fall down the front stairs. Angela takes up easy employment at a telemarketing firm, whose cutthroat commercial tactics and socially undesirable employees quickly overwhelm her fragile sense of self.  Increasingly, the young woman becomes aware of the presence of Others in her aunt’s apartment. As the hauntings take on mounting urgency and escalating violence.  Angela begins to unravel. But that is only the beginning....what do a hospital, an answering machine, a tv antenna and an army of the undead have in common? Watch and find out.

  • Inland
    Two lovers, a beach, a little girl and the secret that pulls them apart.
  • Morning Radio
    When the Henry family moves from Portage la Prairie to Winnipeg in the middle of January 1980, Mr. Henry decides not to force his teenaged daughters to transfer schools.  Instead, he hires a stranger named Mr. Moore to drive his girls the one-hour commute each morning back to their high-school in Portage.  ‘Morning Radio’ follows 17 year-old Mary Henry and her 15 year-old sister Faye as they are picked up and driven to school by Mr. Moore for the first time.
  • The Coffee Maker
    Ann is a young widow who has taken her first big step toward re-establishing a life of intimacy with someone new, by spending the night with a female friend, Jamie. In the morning, an unsuspecting Jamie evokes an unexpected reaction from Ann, who is dealing with the emotional repercussions of the night before.
    The film examines how people deal with loss; how grief sneaks up on us; how we keep apparently harmless mementos in plain sight but lock away real feelings deep inside; how we set up boundaries to keep people away, then lower them, only to raise them again as the waves of pain threaten to break over the walls.
  • Black Bridge
    The downward spiral of a group of teenage head-bangers whose passion for heavy metal music, partying and experimenting with the occult lead them down a dark path…
  • The Snow Fort
    William, a 10-year-old wise beyond his years, watches over his young friends as they build their first snow fort. Once the final blocks are in place, a group of teenagers show up to cast a shadow on their perfect day.
  • Retired
    Doug fields hundreds of customer calls every day with good humour, but when the phone  rings one minute after closing on the worst day of his life, Doug's decision to answer it or  not becomes a matter of life and death.
  • A Girl on the 22nd Floor Dreams of a Circus
    A Girl on the 22nd Floor longs for fresh air in a city that does not allow itself to think of real urbanity. A girl, high above the city, has dreams that take her far away from the place she is.  This short film is part of a triptych. The other 2 films are loving vertigo and colour me.
  • The Uniform

    Trapped in a parabolic nightmare, Joe just cannot figure out why her work pants do not fit, and how to put a stop to her promiscuous mother, who keeps her lover and disowned son secretly stowed away.

  • ReOrder

    Stunned by his fiancée’s admission of adultery, Kyle obsessively attempts to rebuild his life, piece by piece.  As Kyle withdraws into himself, filmmaker Sean Garrity’s brilliantly structured mise en scène provides insight into a man reckoning with his lover’s betrayal. (Toronto International Film Festival)
  • Fugue Nefesh
    A survivor of the Holocaust and an impoverished aboriginal boy have just died. United in their displacement, they become caught up in the flux of transmigration. A nomadic fugue, they wander timelessly among the naked souls of Winnipeg's desolate North End.
  • The End of Everything
    Many times Chris has fantasized about proposing to his girlfriend. He has it all planned out when a simple little gesture from his girlfriend changes everything.
  • Welcome

    Scuttling through the decrepit and impoverished city streets that comprise his only playground, a young boy lives in social peril.

    The stark, vérité, imagery reveals the alienating effects of urban neglect; places where nature has started to reclaim what society has squandered. Welcome was filmed on location in Winnipeg's crumbling and disenfranchised Chinatown district.
  • Bunky Blum and the Talking Train
    Bunky Blum and the Talking Train is a tragedy about bullying, a root of violent behavior, and the unnecessary destruction it has in institutions and on our psyche.
  • Wild Turkeys
  • The Bunker

    Two men are trapped in a bunker. The state of the world is unknown. As time moves on, the struggle for power begins to consume them as their conflicting ideals collide. But it is the secret they share that could destroy them both.

    My intention behind this film was to explore the psychology of guilt and how it can build within people. I wanted to look at it in a very different kind of circumstance, where two people are put in an already difficult and stressful situation, and to add to that this event in their lives that is consuming them more and more every day. How far are people pushed when they are trapped together and trapped within themselves? 

  • ...life happens
    A street poet comes back to his home city to look for a job.
  • Afternoon

    A woman’s struggle and fight with the demons in her head come to play with tormentor.

  • Halley's Comet

    As she moves through the fragments of her life, a woman recalls a dying childhood friend's dream to watch Halley's comet pass by the Earth.

    Halley's Comet is the third in a triptych of short films titled “She: Nameless & Separate”, and represents connection.
  • I Have Lived
    I have lived is an experimental video captured from a wireless camera that was imbedded into the centre of a stethoscope. Moving images and emotions are captured as the doctor delivers news of new life to tragedy as the doctor goes about his day in a busy medical clinic. i have lived offers the viewer insight to the fragile and delicate doctor/patient relationship from the POV of an unlikely, unique inanimate object. With a soundtrack by the talented Winnipeg duo The Absent Sound.
  • A Common Denominator
  • Amnesia
    As people in her life start disappearing one by one, a woman begins to understand that her own life is vanishing from around her. Wounded by memories of all that she has lost, she is unable to connect to the one person she needs the most.
  • Blue Waterfall
    Blue Waterfall is about the classic problem of jealousy, and does not have a clear beginning or ending. A man tries to distract a woman with sweet fantasies, while other misnomers come into play and lead her down dark pathways.
  • Buenos Aires Souvenir
    A woman ruminates about an episode where she was backpacking through South America, and had a brief sexual affair with an Argentinean man. An exploration of memory and objectivity.
  • Come In The Raw 3!!!
    Max finds himself on a gravel road in the middle of nowhere. He loses consciousness after being hit by anautomobile. When he awakens he encounters several unique characters who do not follow the same rules oftime that we are accustomed to. Is Max dreaming?
  • Cowards Bend the Knee
    Jam-packed with enough kinetically photographed action to seem like a never-ending cliff-hanger, Guy Maddin's tremendous Cowards Bend the Knee is a Feuillade serial ultra-condensed and blenderised, as ghostwritten by Euripides. If fiction is sometimes barely disguised autobiography, Cowards is its mirror image, twisted and poisoned wish-fulfillment: the mythomaniacal Maddin casts 'himself' (actually, Darcy Fehr) as a hockey sniper made lily-livered by mother and daughter femme fatales, and resurrects his father as the team's radio broadcaster and his own romantic antagonist. Set in a shadow-suffused hockey arena and a Mabuse-like beauty salon-slash-abortion clinic lined with two-way mirrors, the plot drips with the Grecian formula, as sordid family secrets spawn unintentional murder most foul.

    Veering into penny dreadful territory with the introduction of a vengeful ghost and uncontrollable extremities as windows into the unconscious, Maddin evokes the expressionist classic The Hands of Orlac, and channels the editing style of Austrian avant-gardist Martin Arnold; Maddin fixates on his character's groping and fisting expressionist paws, bathing them in ethereal light and chopping them into dazzling, iris-heavy micro-montages. Room to pant is provided by slo-mo replays, alternately poignant and explosive: lurid, frenzied moments of impulsive violence and carnivorous sexuality lend this bewitchingly onanistic work the sublime naughtiness of an antique hand-cranked skin flick. It all takes place, after all, within a drop of sperm. Originally presented as an installation in ten peepholes at Toronto's Power Plant gallery and the 2003 Rotterdam Film Festival (where it won a special mention from the FIPRESCI jury), and now receiving its Canadian theatrical debut, Cowards demands serious consideration as a major work of art by Canada's most self-deluded cinephile.
  • Deco Dawson, Volume 1 (1998-2003) DVD
    In 1998 filmmaker Deco Dawson appeared on the filmmaking scene in Winnipeg, Manitoba, reintroducing techniques of the silent period, particularily the use of adrenalin-infused quick-paced editing, the use of lens obstructions and authentic period photography.

    Dawson has since created 7 short films, all chronicled in this DVD edition, and has received much international acclaim. dawson's filmography has been featured in its entirety as special screenings at the Cinematheque Ontario, the Pacific Cinematheque, the Canadian Film Institute, the Calgary International Film Festival, the Northwest Film Forum, Cinema du Clef, as well as others.

    Dawson's film(dzama) won the best short award at the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival and the most technically innovative award at the 202 Ann Arbour Film Festival. In 2002, dawson was named one of the top 25 young filmmakers in North America by Filmmaker Magazine.

    short films on DVD

    film(emend)
    film(luster)
    film(knout)
    film(lode)
    film(dzama)
    The Fever of the Western Nile
    Defile in Veil
  • Endings
    If someone could tell you how your life will end - would you want to know?

    This is the story of Megan, a young woman with the ability to see "endings"  -the moment and setting of a person's death. Her visions are activated by touch - forcing her to withdraw from other people, both physically and emotionally. When Megan's friends host a dinner party she is mortified that her "gift" becomes the topic of conversation. But not everyone is afraid of their future...
  • I Wish
    Keely lives in a trailer park with her worst nightmare, her father. One night she is given an opportunity to change her life
  • Jack's Prophecy
    Extreme human emotions often create extremely irrational behaviour. For Jack, the loss of his marriage, his child, and ultimately his life as he knew it, has sent into an emotional tailspin from which he may never return. A sense of quiet madness, explored through his internal voice, prevails as Jack's inability to accept his predicament results in his downfall. His desperate sense of false hope ultimately results, metphorically, in his self-fulfilling prophecy, a delusional reunion with his daughter.
  • My Own Partridge Family

    The story of Jon Jorghenson, an orphan by violence, and a student of apathy. Wiling his time away in a pawnshop, Jon discovers a hidden treasure that will alter his life profoundly - the remnants of another family's long-lost home movies.

    Jon takes the films home and, over the next few days, watches the slow unfolding of another family's ("the Partridges") saga. It is a full and happy history, and Jon finds himself experiencing their life through their eyes. For the first time, Jon Jorghenson feels a part of something real. Jon begins to understand the power he possesses to change his fate. Under the pretext of a school assignment, he cuts up the home movies and edits them back together to create for himself a new and personal life history.
  • Shaken
    The main character faces a difficult choice, which will change what is left of his life, forever. The mysterious presence of a girl in red set the stage for tragedy, revenge, sacrifice and most importantly, love.
  • Strawboy
    Set in the world of dreams and fantasy, a young boy attempts to solve his mother's murder while confined to a staircase. Ultimately a story of a boy emerging from childhood and accepting responsibility, 'strawboy' examines those often hazy borders between fantasy and reality, and those between early life and adulthood.
  • The Blue Bridge
    A thirteen year old boy and a young woman, who is a deaf-mute and a prostitute, meet each other on the bridge every morning. Since he first met her, he is interested in her questionable atmosphere. But one day, on an ordinary morning, something will happen between them. Basically a bridge can connect two places which are divided by some kind of obstacle. In this story, the bridge brings the boy to be mature through meeting one young woman.
  • The Darkling Plain
    Set in New York City, a contemporary fairy tale about deception and betrayal. Shot in Neo-realistic film noir style.
  • The Knife Man
    One man's dark fantasies with his knife collection makes his family concerned.
  • The Torch
    In the privacy of his small apartment, a man employs the service of call girls, yet dwells on the memory of a woman wish whom he shared only a smile. These memories shatter when this woman unexpectedly enter his life again as his next call girl. After the shock of this encounter, he renounces his call girl habit. The woman, later consumed by thoughts of him, abondons the sex trade.
  • Treatise on Prairie Mysticism, A
    An experimental dark comedy about an aging prairie poet who tells the fantastical tale about the birth of her muse.
  • Archangel

    Archangel is: a tragedy of the Great war; a dreamlike world of long ago lost love; a Goya painting etched in frost. Nestled beneath a white, fluffy blanket of forgetfulness is Archangel, a crystalline city of spires and onion domes. There is a Canadian soldier, a Belgian aviator and a Russian nurse, their minds clouded by mustard gas and the horrors of war, forget, whom they are really in love with.

    Praise for Archangel

    “Shot in sumptuous black and white worthy of Josef von Sternberg and filled with slices of the surreal and the cruel, Winnipeg visionary Guy Maddin's second feature is a masterpiece: a wistful, luminous conflation of absurdity, high romance, heroic delusion and the Canadian colonial. Buster Keaton would approve. Bunuel, too.”

    - Tom McSorley, Executive Director of the Canadian Film Institute
  • Argentina
    The dispassionate calm of a solitary man is captured with disturbing clarity. The sound and images of Argentina mirror the stoic calm of this lone man.
  • Brand New World
    A consumer activist is out one night to poke a little fun at the corporate brand culture taking over our society, but he suddenly finds his vigilant act useless. It looks like there is nothing one can do to stem the advertising glut in our society. Or is there?
  • Brothers
    Brothers is the story of two brothers who live together in their apartment, which they never leave. The older brother manipulates the image and idea of their absent father in an attempt to prevent his younger brother from ever being curious about the world outside the apartment.
  • Build Me A Woman
    This mock documentary follows a lonely bachelor's effort to secure the perfect woman.
  • Cold Turkey
    A woman desperate to quit smoking, stumbles upon the ultimate secret to conquering her addiction...with the help of a Burmese cat.
  • Dames
    Slick-as-grease Dames captures all of the energy and sass of classic film noir. You can smell the smoke in its seamy 1940s nightclub, the alcohol on the guys, and the perfume on its sex-drenched dames. But instead of dealing out the genre's dubious fate for women brimming with style and sexuality, its femme fatale Roxie breaks a long held film noir law. Outsmarting her hustler escort, Roxie sets her sights on the good girl Vera, who deals out a few surprises of her own. Together Roxie and Vera raise shot glasses to adventure and score on their own terms. When the smoke finally clears, itÕs the guys that have been set up. This jaunty homage to film noir mixes sly humour, a canny cast and a smoky noir feel to demonstrate that not every femme fatale hooks her schemes and dreams onto dangerous men.
  • Dialogue
    dialogue explores the creation of identity. In this case, the identity of Moira, a hauntingly beautiful and passionate young woman. This is her story: a movement from passive recipient to active creator of her own identity. dialogue concludes with an explosive, and shocking decision.
  • Dory
    Tennessee Williams meets Alfred Hitchcock. It's a hot summer night. Dory and her sister live in an isolated prairie farmhouse with Dory's infant daughter Becky. With the evening comes mental and physical abuse. Sister Dory, you see is quite mad.
  • Fragments: Egil's Saga
    The director's first film recreates the dramatic Norse tragedy of Egil; a tale of violence and revenge.
  • Gavin Frogboy
    In a small town plagued by mysterious sightings of several large creatures roaming the streets, Gavin, living with his insensitive father; believes he will have more freedom as a frog than a human being. Gavin Frogboy is a story of a neglected boy, his unconventional solutions to his problems and the paranoia of a small town.
  • Green Peril
    A hilarious look at motivated behaviour gurus, and our relationship with plants. Tom Grey believes you can improve the work force by eliminating sleep and extraneous organisms from the home and work place.
  • Home Advantage
    The newspaper ad read "Due to expanding financial needs I'm Looking to take on one or more new employers." A tale of a job interview with a decided twist.
  • How Much for Half a Kilo?
    A writer tries to sell his work in order to pay his debts. Through several rewrites, the landlord is continuing to collect his rent. And on goes the story . . .
  • Iris & Nathan
    A short drama about romance and identity, intended for urban adult audiences.
  • Lifetime
    A 1960's angel helps a 1990's teenage boy in a struggle over life and death.
  • Middle
    Being middle class in the middle of the city at the geographical centre of North America doesn't help Mike feel any less alienated. In fact, troubled by the dichotomy of being in the middle of everything and at the centre of nothing, he seeks the advice of Brad, a new age guru/songwriter who sells disposable junk in the guise of spiritual understanding.
  • Mike
    Mike is released from a mental institution and finds himself in a filthy room and board where dreams and reality are one. A moving depiction of mental illness and a scathing indictment of the impersonal health care system.
  • Monday with the Martins
    The Martins would be a common, happy couple if it weren't for the fact that Mr. Martin's penis is a fully functional hand on the end of a short arm.
  • Mother-Daughter Love
    A mother and her look-alike young daughter have died and are wandering their hometown looking for a way to come back to life.
  • Mr. Twenty-Five Cents
    A story of a man who believes in the tooth Fairy! A drama exploring society's responsibility for everyone's impurities. By stealing children's teeth, Mr. 25 Cents captures their purity and saves it from corruption.
  • Muse
    What happens to someone who contains richness, and beauty, who becomes afraid of showing it to the world?
  • My Boss, The Scarecrow
    A wearied office worker goes through the everyday paces of his job. One thing keeps bothering him though - his boss is a scarecrow. And nobody wants to talk about it.
  • No Problem
    Marcia is determined to create a new life in Canada for her family. She tries hard to fit in and to forget about the horrors of her past. When a charming, persistent salesman knocks on her door, her gentle domestic life is threatened. Pushed to the extreme, what will she rely on?
  • Rapture
    A short drama about one man's fixation on an ideal and his ineffective attempts at replicating this ideal in his own world.
  • Rushes
    A challanging, amusing study of an actor-turned-writer-turned-director, a struggling actress (struggling against the script), and an unfortuneate crew, on one day's shoot in a small but very pretty kitchen.
  • Soft Like Me
    On a prairie wheat field, in a mythical past, boys are enslaved to harvest the crops. They hope to escape, but with hope comes punishment.
  • Starwatchers
    A mockumentary that follows the stars of a fictional sci-fi TV series confronted by obsessed fans. Set at an actual sci-fi convention and intercut with special effects.
  • Surviving Stray Thoughts
    A seemingly average man announces that he'll be sharing his thoughts with us, as they occur, in real time. However as his stories unfold, they begin to collide until they take on a life of their own
  • Tales From The Gimli Hospital
    Perhaps the most popular movie ever made in Manitoba, this dreamlike cult film is set during a smallpox epidemic in Gimli, Manitoba near the turn of the century. Gunnar and Einar, are two men who share madness, jealousy, smallpox and a small room in the Gimli Hospital. Trouble lurks because each carries a dark secret.
  • Tenants and Landlords
    A black comedy about how two tenants deal with their obnoxious landlord.
  • The Alley
    Bernie, a squeegee kid who struggles to survive in the city, finds a friend in Mo, a veteran of the streets who chooses to live and paint in the alley. The Alley is a story of friendship and compassion between two unlikely street people, an old man and a young teenager.
  • The Guinea Pig Age
    In an age of microwaves and pollution, we're all guinea pigs and anything can happen. Guinea Pig Age is a cautionary tale with tongue in cheek.
  • The Piano Lesson
    Illusions are shattered when a young girl sees behind the photograph into the relationship of an elderly couple.
  • Under Chad Valley
    A chilling, thought provoking drama set in a metal tank deep in the underground, punctured by large tree roots. Two butchers slice and separate large chunks of meat as two girls bear witness to their strange homosexual relations.
  • Under the Rocking Horse
    A fantasy story about a young girls summer frolic.
  • Unwoven
    On the death of her mother, a woman recalls another separation that happened to her as a child. Through memories of a childhood braiding game, she comes to understand her mother's profound sadness and her own need for connection.
  • Victorian Beach
    On a white, wintry beach, two women explore sexuality on the Victorian Prairies.
  • Waiting
    While waiting in a movie for the film to start, a guy tells his date a long, elaborate, annoying joke.
  • Attaché
    A mysterious man executes a difficult mission.
  • En trois-temps
    An examination of the numbing effects of death on a young girl's spirit. We meet her three times in her life, moments when death randomly appears. Time plays with her memories as she struggles to understand. She learns that acceptance is key
  • Fare To Remember, A
    Thomas, a cab driver who drives night shift, obsesses about a female fare he picks up. He must decide whether he should act upon his feelings for her even though he loves his wife. With the advice of a cross-dressing friend and the opportunity presented by a caring hooker, Thomas has an epiphany and decides to take the high road�at least for now.
  • Flagrante Delicto Herr Kracauer
    A crazed and lonely scientist invents a sexy new life form. Forget boy meets girl, boy makes girl! Eat your heart out Metropolis!
  • Icaro
    A beautiful short film that tells the story of a young man, a modern Icarus, who is limited in his life. He dreams of better places, and plans to fly away.
  • In Separate Worlds
    Not able to cope with his wife�s death, Raymond detaches himself from his children and instils a code of silence within the household. In order to deal with the pain of their loss, all three family members resort to a similar coping mechanism, escapism.
  • Jealous Rooms, The
    The Jealous Rooms is about jealousy and obsession. A man becomes utterly frenetic over the idea that his lover might abandon him. The viewer becomes a voyeur with the man. Eventually the lover does leave, and the man is left in darkness.
  • Opposite of Forever
    One relationship falls apart, while another let�s go of a love that still survives. All the while a struggling artist watches on as this all unfolds before him, trying himself to come to grips with his own relationship questions through his art.
  • p.m.
    As Neil struggles to make sense of the world around him, he wanders through reveries and memories of the past. While his parents bury their pain in their daily rituals, Neil is left alone to detach himself from the shared life he had with his brother. Neil knos no other life than the one with his brother. Alone, he finds that the painful process of letting go might be the best way of holding on.
  • Shooting Guns in Church
    Conrad, the protagonist of the film, is pressed by his girlfriend, Jewel to get rid of his gun, buy milk, and be back to watch the baby, so she can make her appointment. While on his mission for milk, Conrad ends up in conflict with a priest -- a potential source of quick cash. As providence would have it, Jewel arrives at the church to meet the priest. The moment is ripe for her to demand that Conrad surrender the gun. Under these strange circumstances, the priest is the last person we expect to pull the trigger, leaving Conrad to make a choice.
  • Sunny's Sorrow
    This is film is an emotional journey of a father and a duaghter in a forest. No dialogue, no lighting, no music, and only Mother Nature as the back-drop. Shot entirely in sequence, this is an artistic short film with an unforgettable climax.
  • Type Five dHead
    Alton is obsessed with building robotic creatures. Jeanette is obsessed with Alton. The communication stops between them, but in the end, it all works out.
  • Accidents
    An overzealous newspaper photographer can't stand the recent lack of car accidents. He decides to take matters into his own hands.
  • Barbeque, The
    A drama about a young black woman's encounter with her ex-boyfriends white family. A compelling film about racism.
  • Careful
    Careful, described as Twin Peaks directed by Erich von Stroheim, is a tale of star crossed lovers, duels, and incestuous obsession in a repressed mountain town, filmed with a bizarre and beautiful color scheme. The short is a magical homage to the European symbolist painter.
  • Caretaker, The
    Inside a wretched slum apartment building trash, liquor bottles, derelicts and lovers are tended to by an unshaven, unsmiling caretaker. He is master of this depressing domain, a keen observer but rarely an active participant. Into this dismal world comes a young boy, misplaced innocence in a sordid world.
  • Celestial Matter, The
    An offbeat drama set in the late Middle Ages. A young scientist faces a heresy trial, where he must justify his new ideas before a tribunal of unsympathetic clergy. We slowly come to realize that the young man's ideas on the nature of celestial bodies have more startling implications than anyone imagined.
  • Cellar, The
    Woolsey and Festus make their way into the cellar of a collector named Mr. Friendly. Try as they might, the bickering salesmen fail to sell Friendly on any of their strange products. Then their host makes an odd pitch of his own: a matching set of wooden crates.
  • Clockwork
    Clockwork is a drama that begins when a two-bit con artist, Rick, bilks a destitute craftsman, Leo, out of the last of his money. When Leo discovers the scam, a chase begins and concludes with the two men trapped in a storeroom together. During their confinement, Rick defends his actions by explaining his entrepreneurial credo to Leo, and the two play one last game of cards for very high stakes.
  • Cookies and Midnight Cigarettes
    The mingling aroma of cookies and cigarettes; is it enough to break down the barriers of isolation?
  • Daft
    A comedic farce which synthesizes both talkie and silent film genres, a bumbling idiot, Mr. Tibernius Pepperloaf goes for a job interview conducted by the fabulously verbose, Mr. Shadgrime.
  • Do Not Disturb
    A young maid's fantasies in a dingy hotel lead to terror.
  • Dog in the Window
    Billy Kidd is a small boy who has to find his own way to cope when he moves back in with his mother. He didn't want to go, but his father said it was best. Now he has a new city, a new school and an overprotective mother. When she embarrasses him in front of the other kids he decides he needs some relief.
  • Downtime
    Life in Winnipeg is grim, grimy and gruesome. An austere film with touches of offbeat humour. Dark and brooding it paints a dismal picture of life for young people out on their own. The actors and words of its characters—strangers thrust into unexpected intimacy—are funny, unnerving and insightful.
  • Fact of The Matter
    A globetrotting anthropologist spends his summer leave exploring the ghost town near his hometown. Lost among the familiar he finds an insoluble mystery.
  • Fall
    Two women mourning the loss of a loved one, find out about the true meaning of life.
  • Flipside
    A film about fear—about funhouse visions of reality that any mind can and will produce out of self-feeding corrosive guilt. Flipside has no dialogue, only music and sound effects; it is a story—maybe not a conveniently tidy one.
  • Fuck It!
    Fuck It! is a film about obsession and the fragmentation of the soul. A woman becomes obsessed with waiting for her phone to ring.
  • Golden Apple, The
    This tongue in cheek version of a traditional Italian fairy tale gives the notion of bearing fruit a new twist. Excellent cinematography, locations and period music make this film a must for kids and adults.
  • Goodbye, The
    Beta; Shocking her distraught family, a woman with Alzheimer Disease reaches out to her dying friend in an attempt to say her forgotten goodbye. A true story that demonstrates the power and the will of the human spirit.
  • Goodnight
    Sometimes it takes being in the wrong place at the wrong time before we change. Debbie is a young woman whose life and relationships change in the aftermath of an auto accident.
  • Hot Cuppa Tea, A
    A warmhearted and eccentric film about two people brought together by acts of everyday courage to form an offbeat friendship across barriers of culture, age and gender.
  • House of the Wind
    A short drama based on a poem by internationally acclaimed poet George Amable. Shot in an abandoned community just outside Gimli, Manitoba, the film is about a writer who abandons civilization for the gentle, natural beauty of a ghost town. The effect this has is revealed when a woman close to him comes to find him.
  • How Much Land Does A Man Need?
    Based on Tolstoy's parable. A man in search of property makes a pact with a mysterious landowner—but when greed leads him to break the deal, he finds out how much land any man truly needs, Beautifully written and filmed, with a broadly comic performance by Jay Brazeau.
  • Hunger Artist, The
    A performance artist, Albert X starves himself to fame. An adaptation of Franz Kafka's A Hunger Artist set aside against the backdrop of contemporary Fringe Theatre.
  • International Style, The
    An amusing melange of '60s spy thrillers and other classics. Super secret agent Nick attempts to liberate a top secret microchip from the clutches of multimillionaire Quinton Frost. Paizs pokes fun at the jet set, the Cold War and Jean-Paul Sartre.
  • Jesus Macht Nicht Mehr Mit (Jesus Can't Bear it Any Longer)
    Three soldiers of the German army of WWII are blasting out graves in the frozen ground to bury the dead. One of them has to test their size. He lies down in each grave for measure. The conflict develops when the grave tester, Jesus, declares himself no longer willing to descend into the graves refusing to obey orders. Produced in Germany.
  • Last Dance
    A visually stimulating work about modern dance.
  • Latent Greatness
    The old story of the boss, the secretary and the clerk, and what happens to the loser in the office triangle romance. When the rejected clerk hits bottom, it's his rival who gives him a chance to reveal his latent greatness.
  • Making Angels
    A richly textured drama in which an elderly woman remembers a happy winter day of her youth with a mixture of pride and regret.
  • Me, Myself & I
    A short drama about the problems faced by an author with writers' block.
  • Memento Mori: Remember You Must Die
    Homage to the silent surrealist films of the 1920's, Memento Mori reflects obsessions with death and medieval Christian iconography.
  • Missing Shoe, The
    The Missing Shoe is a story about Doris, an alcoholic and her daughter, Emily. Doris, with no will to live, except to see her daughter, inhabits a small local restaurant. In this restaurant, a red shoe becomes the focus of attention and evokes in both, Doris and Emily, a set of painful memories.
  • Monster in the Coal Bin, The
    The year is 1957; Furby, a sensitive eight year old boy, is struggling with his parents recent separation. He and his mother move into an ominous looking old house where he is admonished by a coal deliveryman to watch out for the monster in the coalbin. This sparks Furby's imagination and his subconscious fears of an unknown future surface. We watch Furby as he wrestles with these fears until finally confronting and transcending his Monster.
  • Motus Maestro
    French; A narrative film about a composer who pierces his ears because he believes he must be deaf to create beautiful music.
  • Mr. Right
    An episodic film made from the point of view of a misfit who is never seen on camera, but comments bitterly and cynically on what we see, on the people he has known.
  • My Story
    My Story was written and produced by junior high school students in Thompson, Mb based on their own experiences with drug and alcohol addiction and recovery.
  • Nail Polish
    Nail Polish is about a woman's obsessive perfectionism?the enslavement of, escape form, and the exploration of self preservation. The main character, Ellen, exaggerates the transformation of an enslaved traditional 1950's housewife gaining her independence through action. We see how a single incident can change the course of one's life. We see how the insanity of isolation affects one's personal world.
  • Passing By
    Passing By deals with the manner in which people so often deny themselves the right to enjoy life; to live life to the fullest, and not to dwell on the negative things we encounter from time to time.
  • Picture When
    A story about two sisters who dream of escaping. They may share the same dream, but they do not connect emotionally. Pictures from the past keep obstructing the way.
  • Popcorn Incident, The
    A darkly comedic look into the life of the The Popcorn Guy who fulfils his desire for human contact with an increasingly intense lust for popcorn.
  • Purgatory
    Purgatory is the story of the falsehood that is being perpetrated on the masses by a theocratic government. While being initiated into the religious order, a new acolyte discovers this horrible secret and declares that he will reveal the truth. Unfortunately the mental and physical strain of the revelation overcomes him before he can rectify the situation.
  • Running Time
    A darkly comic experimental drama about a runner's unhealthy obsession with winning.
  • Sad Fate of the Girl Justine At The Hands of the Marquis de Sade, The
    Set in the highly stylized 18th century chateau of the Marquis de Sade at the time of the Marquis' death, the players in his famous works on sex and violence perform in an atmosphere of malevolent desolation.
  • Sand
    Sand is the story of two Black Canadian soldiers. Both men were assigned to the 37 colored grenadiers, a construction unit comprised of black soldiers assigned to North Africa during World War II. On April 16, 1942, their transport ship was struck and sunk by a mine 306 Km north of Morocco. There were only two survivors. For 18 hours they floated in a leaky raft through shark infested waters to a small deserted island.
  • Seduction
    A man realizes that the people who are swimming with him in the pool are blind.
  • Shellgames
    Shellgames is a short film with a Twilight Zone feel. It centres around a man and his obsession with a seashell he finds on a beach and a murder it unravels for him.
  • Snakes and Ladders
    Everyone knows the worst part about getting a new job is maneuvering through the first interview. Karen Neilson is a young woman who thought she understood the rules of the game until she confronts a corporate board with an unexpected agenda.
  • So Long Charlie
    A short drama about the dangers of drinking and driving, focusing on the effect of peer pressure on young adults.
  • Sons & Daughters
    A sensitive exploration of childhood in the fullness of its imagination, fierceness and wonder.
  • Sticks
    A young woman on a date discovers the truth about her boyfriend's addictions.
  • Taken for a Ride
    A young businessman, successful in his world, finds he doesn't have the skills to make it on the fringe of urban life.
  • This is Art
    A film for anyone who's ever been out of work! Del is up against it in this comedy of errors—out of work, aimless and about to be thrown out on his keester if he can't come up with the rent money.
  • Three Fates
    Based loosely on Norse Mythology of the Three 'Norns', weavers of destiny. Three Fates is a twisted journey through the eyes of a deadman, who fails to realize his own death. He comes face to face with three strangers and a fast paced poker game. He soon realizes his very soul may ride on the outcome of the game.
  • Through My Eyes
    An examination of how art and truth come into conflict at the trial of a young man accused of rape. The film features the Royal Winnipeg Ballet dancer, Jordan Morris.
  • Welfare King, The
    Experiencing life on welfare through the eyes of the children.
  • Within Raisin
    A dark comedy dealing with an alcoholics attempt to raise money for his addiction.
  • Work and Money
    An intricate film within a film about an artist questioning the direction of his work in progress.
  • Young Woman Walking
    In the urban landscape, a walk may be either a life threatening or life affirming activity.