Check out what’s playing at Cinematheque in the Now Playing section and purchase advance tickets. Download a PDF copy of the May/June program guide.
The Lure promises to be an unsettling and absurd mix of genres: erotic horror musical comes to mind after viewing the trailer. The film has the potential to be more than just an exploration of femininity and girlhood: it takes the sinister seductress trope head-on through its protagonists, siren sisters Silver and Gold. It’ll be interesting to see how director Agnieszka Smoczynska spins this trope, born from hundreds of years of mythologizing women as inherently manipulative and female sexuality as threatening or misleading.
– Mariana Muñoz Gomez, Cinematheque Box Office
May/June is jam packed with great cinema. Pioneering East Coast filmmaker William D. MacGillivray will introduce a four day retrospective of his best work including a stunning film on singer Ron Hynes, The Man of a Thousand Songs, his early classic Life Classes selected as one of Canada’s Top 150 films and the incredibly poignant Linda Joy. Mike Hoolboom has curated a selection of great handmade shorts by Toronto filmmaker Lesley Loksi Chan, who will be here in late June! Finally don’t miss these new jazz films on John Coltrane, Mavis Staples, and the newly restored two-strip Technicolor classic King of Jazz.
– Dave Barber, Cinematheque Programming Coordinator
Lynch fans, this one’s for you. With both a documentary about the eccentric auteur and a screening of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me on the roster, weirdness will definitely abound. I would also recommend catching Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Werner Herzog’s hypnotic 3D documentary about cave paintings, if you missed it the first time around. Plus, the Architecture+Design Film Festival delivers a wide selection of factual and narrative films, with something to offer the architect and casual onlooker alike.
– Allegra Chiarella, Cinematheque Box Office
Mermaids; David Lynch; cats; jazz; UFOs – what do all of these things have in common? Nothing really on the surface, but they’re all things I love and the subjects of films that are playing at Cinematheque this May and June! How about some cherry pie and Mädchen Amick? We’ve got that too, at our Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me night, which will celebrate the singular vision of the show and its unhinged, bastard movie spawn. Also of note is our visiting filmmaker retrospective of William D. MacGillivray, whose East Coast films have often been overlooked in the pantheon of Canadian cinema.
– David Knipe, Cinematheque Operations Manager
This season, I’m most excited to see David Lynch: The Art Life. I’m a documentary geek and David Lynch has been a major influence on my creative expression. I can’t wait to see how deliciously weird he is in his day-to-day life. I also look forward to our special event: Tales from the Neighbourhood. I love seeing local stories, and I predict this event will be a hit.
– Jessica Seburn, Cinematheque Box Office
I think I’m still in disbelief that Laura Palmer’s words “I’ll see you in again in 25 years” are actually coming true with the new Twin Peaks series this May. To celebrate, we are showing the severely underrated 1992 movie prequel, Fire Walk with Me and the new Lynch Doc, The Art Life! As an avid (obsessive!) record collector, I am also personally very excited to hear the history of the forgotten record stores of Winnipeg in the new film New and Used: Winnipeg as part of our Tales from the Neighbourhood series. Also, make sure to jump on our “everything is on sale!” event this June: ten show passes, annual memberships and Dave t-shirts are all a steal of a deal!
– Jaimz Asmundson, Cinematheque Programming Director / Interim Co-Executive Director
While looking through the program for the next couple of months, I’ve found myself attracted to films that address everything whimsical, otherworldly and cryptic. Like the doc David Lynch: The Art Life or The Lure where I’ll be thoroughly mesmerized by disco night mermaids. My craving for the unexplained will be further satisfied with UFOs: The Secret History which explores Manitoba’s eerie underbelly of footage and stories involving our extraterrestrial friends. I’m excited to explore the depths of these fantastical realms and I’ll also gladly enter another dimension when I float away to the sound of Werner Herzog’s voice in Cave of Forgotten Dreams 3D.
– Sam Sarty, Cinematheque Box Office
The month of May and June promises to be a tantalizing experience for David Lynch fans. As I am a big time David Lynch fan, I must say, I am most excited for Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and the documentary David Lynch: The Art Life. Other great film events I am looking forward to include the wonderful Architecture+Design Film Festival and the Jazz Film Festival.
– Milos Mitrovic, Cinematheque Technical Liaison
In anticipation for the return of Twin Peaks in May, we will be screening the prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me for one night only. The film shows us the heartbreaking last seven days of Laura Palmer’s life, and takes away the humour of the TV show for Lynch’s most bleak and terrifying portrayal of small town America. If this isn’t enough for you we will also have the documentary David Lynch: The Art Life. In the doc Lynch takes us on a tour of his early upbringing in small-town America through to the events that helped shape him and his work. Also back by popular demand is Werner Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams in 3D. Make sure to get tickets online in advance to not miss out!
– Eric Peterson, Cinematheque Box Office & Projection