Congratulations to WFG members Mike Maryniuk, Matthew Rankin, and Guy Maddin whose three films will screen at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.
Maryiunk’s film, The Yodeling Farmer, co-directed with renegade roots music impresario John Scoles, explores the life and music of Manitoba cowboy yodeling legend Stew Clayton. This playful, animated documentary portrays the charming, yodeling farmer with humour and wit and “looks the way yodeling sounds.” This film is featured in the WFG’s Distribution Catalogue.
Rankin’s film Tabula Rasa, is a surrealist tale of loss and longing. In the aftermath of the 1950 Winnipeg flood, apathetic Fernand floats listlessly through a ruined city while his estranged wife, Marie-Oiseau, prays for the drowned souls of Saint-Boniface. Filmed in Montreal earlier this year the film is in French with English subtitles.
Both shorts are featured in the Short Cuts Canada Section of the festival, which features 43 new short films from Canadian filmmakers.
Guy Maddin, a TIFF favourite, will premiere his much-anticipated feature film, Keyhole in the Special Presentation Section. Shot in Winnipeg in the summer of 2010, Keyhole is a surreal indoor odyssey of one man, Ulysses Pick (Jason Patric) struggling to reach his wife (Isabella Rosellini) in her bedroom upstairs.
The 36th Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 8-18, 2011.