Nov 22, 2021
Wow, what a year! 2021 has been a difficult year all around for everyone, and especially for us here at the Cinematheque. We lost our dear friend, colleague and shining star of the Winnipeg film Community Dave Barber, who passed away on July 26. Reopening the theatre in August felt like a little victory and small relief, helping us to feel like things are progressing steadily towards normal, or some version of it. One of the things we’ve been most looking forwards to since reopening is the 12th annual Gimme Some Truth Documentary Festival, which we are ecstatic to be announcing here today.
After nearly two years of shuttered doors, a dark screen, and no visiting guests, it will be so lovely to finally welcome our first out-of-town in-person guest to the Cinematheque, Kier-La Janisse. A former Winnipegger, Kier-La returns to the festival she started 12 years ago to present her first feature-length documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror on December 4. We are overjoyed to be sharing the stage with Kier-La and a variety of other guests in-person and virtual throughout the festival. Others of note include local documentary master Kevin Nikkel, with his What We’ve Pulled Off So Far…, which looks at the history of filmmaking in Manitoba; Penelope Spheeris of The Decline of Western Civilization trilogy and Suburbia fame; and a heaping of independent filmmakers presenting new short docs across 3 programs: Shorts 1: What to Take and What to Leave, Shorts 2: A Set of Frozen Moments, and the world premiere of our inaugural filmmaking challenge Gimme 10 in 30!
As with all previous editions, this year’s festival aims to push the boundaries and accepted notions of what constitutes a documentary, challenging the form in bold, innovative, and fun ways. To this end, we present a grouping of feature docs doing just that: an rumination on life under the watchful rule of ever-present cameras and digital surveillance in All Light Everywhere; a playful blending of fiction and reality over the course of the last night in the existence of a famed Las Vegas dive bar in Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets; and a cinematic dream in black-and-white about the use of the mind-altering substance khat in Ethiopia called Faya Dayi.
More than anything, we at Gimme Some Truth want to bring you the best the documentary form has to offer. No matter how much we may look back, documentary always presents us with a palpable now, and this year’s edition of the festival offers many films that reckon with our precarious immediate reality: Flee, a gorgeously-animated but harrowing story of an Afghan refugee’s life journey; a deeply humane look at childcare workers in the US in Through the Night; and a mournful elegy to what we’ve lost so far through the global climate crisis in The Magnitude of All Things.
We can’t wait to welcome you all back to the Cinematheque December 1st to 5th for what will surely be a resplendent and celebratory return of our Gimme Some Truth Documentary Festival.
Hope to see you there!
– Gimme Some Truth Programming Team (David Knipe, Olivia Norquay & Jaimz Asmundson)
Wednesday, December 1
7pm – What We’ve Pulled Off So Far…
8:45pm – Opening Night Reception (Cordova Tapas & Wine, 93 Albert Street)
9:45pm – Flee
Thursday, December 2
7pm – World Premiere of GST + DOC MB Gimme 10 in 30! Documentary Filmmaking Challenge Films
9:10pm – All Light, Everywhere w/ Footsteps
Friday, December 3
7pm – The Decline of Western Civilization
9:45pm – Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets w/ Tomorrow, Today
Saturday, December 4
12:30pm – Through the Night
2:30pm – Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché w/ Still Processing
5:00pm – Shorts Program #1: What To Take and What to Leave
7:30pm – Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror
Sunday, December 5
2:30pm – The Magnitude of All Things w/ When Land and Body Merge
4:45pm – Faya Dayi
7:30pm – Shorts Program #2: A Set of Frozen Moments
All screenings at Winnipeg Cinematheque, main floor, 100 Arthur Street unless otherwise noted.
Advance tickets are available here, and festival passes are available here.
- General Admission: $10 / $8 students & seniors / $6 Members
- Festival Pass: $65 / $45 members ($10 discount until November 26!)
The festival pass includes admission to all events. Tickets, passes and class registrations are available online or at box office.
Gimme Some Truth is presented with the support of our funders: The Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba Arts Council, the Winnipeg Arts Council, The Winnipeg Foundation, and our sponsors Telefilm Canada, IATSE 856, and DOC Manitoba.
