Apr 8, 2020
With COVID-19 closing down many independent theatres across North America, Winnipeg Film Group’s Cinematheque has banded forces with several film distributors to offer a new virtual streaming option so you can enjoy watching movies from the comfort of your home. This is not only an opportunity for our patrons to see new cinema, but is an important way that they can continue to support independent film during this pandemic.
We have developed this initiative which we call Cinematheque at Home – curated by the Cinematheque to offer new theatrical releases to our audience every week through Vimeo on Demand. Cinematheque at Home will offer 3 new programs (individual feature films and/or shorts programs) each week, which our audiences can pay to stream through our website.
Launching Friday, April 10, Cinematheque at Home will premiere two unique feature films – A new 4K restoration of the beautifully photographed Canadian western The Grey Fox and the Brazilian political thriller Bacurau, and Experimental Animation – a short film program curated by Shawna Dempsey & Lorri Millan.
Winner of 7 major Canadian film awards (including Best Picture and Best Director), The Grey Fox follows the story of real-life stagecoach robber Bill Miner (played by veteran Richard Farnsworth best known from David Lynch’s film The Straight Story). Miner is arrested and jailed for more than 30 years before he re-emerges into a bustling new world. But he only knows one career, and it’s not long before he pulls off a series of daring bank robberies.
“Here’s one of the loveliest adventures of the year.The director, Phillip Borsos, is able to make this a human story and still keep it exciting as an action picture” – Roger Ebert, rogerebert.com
Also premiering April 10 is the new Brazilian film Bacurau – a heart pumping western fantasy that has been compared to the films of Sergio Leone and John Carpenter. Winner of a special jury prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, the film follows the story of a group of small town inhabitants who must band together to protect their town and fight off a band of mercenaries led by their psychotic leader played by the legendary Udo Kier.
“A genre-busting entertainment that is at once a portrait of a community, a horror thriller and a timely piece of political filmmaking. Bacurau is one of those movies like Parasite… where you’re never quite sure which way it’s heading.” – John Powers, NPR
Lastly, media artist collaborators Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan introduce Experimental Animation, a selection of experimental animated short films by local filmmakers Leslie Supnet, Mike Maryniuk, Ed Ackerman & Colin Morton, Rhayne Vermette, and Jackie Traverse.
Stay tuned for more new exciting cinema from Cinematheque at Home! For more information and media inquiries contact Jaimz Asmundson, Programming Director of the Cinematheque at jaimz@winnipegfilmgroup.com.
