The Winnipeg Film Group congratulates Jaimz Asmundson and his film The Magus for winning Best Artistic Contribution at the 2011 Lume International Film Festival. The festival which runs July 15 to 23, 2011 is held in São Luís, Brazil and is run by Lume Filmes.
The Magus is a multi-format, process-based experimental film that explores the root of artistic creation. The film documents visual artist, C. Graham Asmundson’s body of work over a rigorous six-month period. The film premiered at the International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA) in March 2011 and has also screened at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, and at Fantasia Film Festival.
Filmmaker, Jaimz Asmundson, Graham’s son, uses cinematography and editing as magical weapons to ritualistically birth, destroy and resurrect his father’s work. Through psychedelic imagery and machine-gun editing, the resulting film is a stylized, hyper-kinetic, cinematic manifestation of the Asmundsons’ personal exploration of occult ceremonies and experiences. Working this uncommon practice, the father/son team explores mind-altered states and invoke unnatural resurrections; where unforeseen demons and other spiritual forces are often released.
“Jaimz Asmundson has crafted an exquisite short film honoring his father. What begins in a very familiar-looking real world eventually leads us to a strange new reality that is disorienting and unknown. As much as Graham conjures up his art, Asmundson has conjured up a vision that is extraordinarily startling, beautiful and terrifying to behold.”
– Mike Everleth, Bad Lit