Guy Maddin (born February 28, 1956) is a Canadian screenwriter, director, author,

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

, and

film editor Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film which increasingly involves the use of digital technology. The film edit ...

of both features and short films, as well as an

installation artist Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called ...

, from

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

. Since completing his first film in 1985, Maddin has become one of Canada's most well-known and celebrated filmmakers. Maddin has directed twelve feature films and numerous short films, in addition to publishing three books and creating a host of installation art projects. A number of Maddin's recent films began as or developed from installation art projects, and his books also relate to his film work. Maddin is known for his fascination with lost Silent-era films and for incorporating their aesthetics into his own work. Maddin has been the subject of much critical praise and academic attention, including two books of interviews with Maddin and two book-length academic studies of his work. Maddin was appointed to the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

, the country's highest civilian honour, in 2012. Maddin first served as a visiting lecturer at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

's Department of Art, Film, and Visual Studies in 2015. Until then, he had always lived in Winnipeg.

Life and career

Early life (1956–84)

Guy Maddin was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, to Herdis Maddin (a hairdresser) and Charles "Chas" Maddin (grain clerk and general manager of the Maroons, a Winnipeg hockey team). Maddin has three older siblings: Ross (b. 1944), Cameron (1946–63), and Janet (b. 1949). Maddin attended Winnipeg public schools— the Greenway School (elementary school), General Wolfe (junior high school), and the

Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute is a high school located in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Founded in the late 19th century, the school is named after Daniel McIntyre, Winnipeg's first school superintendent. Notable alumni *Bill Norrie (1929-2012), ...

(high school). Maddin's early life was marked by tragedy—in February 1963, his brother Cameron killed himself on the grave of his girlfriend, who had died in a car accident. Maddin studied economics at the

University of Winnipeg The University of Winnipeg (UWinnipeg, UW) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, that offers undergraduate faculties of art, business and economics, education, science and kinesiology and applied health as well as gr ...

, graduating in 1977 without a plan to become a filmmaker. That same year, Maddin's father died suddenly after a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

, and Maddin married Martha Jane Waugh. Their daughter, Jilian, was born in 1978, and Maddin and Waugh divorced in 1979.Holm, D.K., ed. ''Guy Maddin: Interviews''. Jackson: U of Mississippi P, 2010. Print. After graduating, Maddin held a variety of odd jobs, including bank manager, house painter, and photo archivist. Maddin began to take film classes at the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Church, David, ed. ''Playing with Memories: Essays on Guy Maddin''. Winnipeg: U of Manitoba P, 2009. Print. There, Maddin met film professor Stephen Snyder, who held regular film screenings of titles from the school's film library at his home. Maddin attended, as did some early collaborators, including his friend John Boles Harvie, the future star of Maddin's first film, and filmmaker

John Paizs John Paizs (born in 1957) is a Canadians, Canadian director, writer and actor. In 1985 his independent comedy ''Crime Wave (1985 movie), Crime Wave'' was presented at the Toronto International Film Festival. He was the male lead and also wrote an ...

. Maddin appeared as an actor in two of Paizs' short films, as a student in ''Oak, Ivy, and Other Dead Elms'' (1982) and as a transvestite, homicidal nurse in ''The International Style'' (1983). Maddin drew early inspiration from the films of John Paizs, as well as experimental shorts by Stephen Snyder. Other early influences included ''

L'Age d'Or ''L'Age d'Or'' (french: L'Âge d'Or, ), commonly translated as ''The Golden Age'' or ''Age of Gold'', is a 1930 French surrealist satirical comedy film directed by Luis Buñuel about the insanities of modern life, the hypocrisy of the sexual m ...

'' by

Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish-Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and m ...

(in collaboration with

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarr ...

) and ''

Eraserhead ''Eraserhead'' is a 1977 American surrealist film, surrealist horror film written, directed, produced, and edited by David Lynch. Lynch also created its Eraserhead (soundtrack), score and sound design, which included pieces by a variety of oth ...

'' by

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...

. Maddin has stated that these films, along with the work of Paizs and Snyder, "were movies that were primitive in many respects. They were low budget, they used nonactors or nonstars, they used atmospheres and ideas, and were unbelievably honest, frank, and, therefore, exciting to me. They made moviemaking seem possible to me." Maddin also met film professor George Toles, who became Maddin's cowriter on many of his future films. Maddin's core group of friends from this period, who played various roles in the production of his early film projects, were known as "the Drones" and included Harvie, Ian Handford, and Kyle McCulloch (now a writer for

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boys Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand th ...

).Vatnsdal, Caelum. ''Kino Delirium: The Films of Guy Maddin''. Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring Publishing, 2000. Print. Maddin joined the

Winnipeg Film Group The Winnipeg Film Group (WFG) is an artist-run film education, production, distribution, and exhibition centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, committed to promoting the art of Canadian cinema, especially independent cinema. While specializing in shor ...

around this time, and also became friends with producer Greg Klymkiw, with whom he began making a

cable access Public-access television is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is narrowcast through cable television specialty channels. Public-access television was creat ...

television show, ''Survival'' (c. 1985–87). ''Survival'' was a satirical talk show centred around, as its opening credits noted, how "we must survive the inevitable social/economic collapse and/or

nuclear holocaust A nuclear holocaust, also known as a nuclear apocalypse, nuclear Armageddon, or atomic holocaust, is a theoretical scenario where the mass detonation of nuclear weapons causes globally widespread destruction and radioactive fallout. Such a scenar ...

". The show became a cult hit in Winnipeg and excerpts were re-released on the compilation DVD ''Winnipeg Babysitter''. Maddin plays a masked character on the show named "Concerned Citizen Stan".

''The Dead Father'' and ''Tales from the Gimli Hospital'' (1985–88)

Maddin's first short film (as director, writer, producer, and cinematographer) was ''

The Dead Father ''The Dead Father'' is a post-modernist novel by author Donald Barthelme published in 1975 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The book relates the journey of a vaguely defined entity that symbolizes fatherhood, hauled by a small group of people as t ...

'', a 25-minute black-and-white film about a young man whose father dies but continues to visit his family and disapprove of his son's life. Its budget is estimated at

CA$ The Canadian dollar (symbol: $; code: CAD; french: dollar canadien) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, there is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviation Can$ is often suggested by notable style g ...

5,000 ().Beard, William. ''Into the Past: The Cinema of Guy Maddin''. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2010. Print. Maddin began shooting ''The Dead Father'' in 1982 and finished the film in 1985. Spurred by the work of Snyder and Paizs, and together with Harvie and Handford, Maddin decided to begin making films and founded a film company called "Extra Large Productions" (they first decided on the name "Jumbo Productions" and went to get a jumbo pizza to celebrate, but changed the name when the pizzeria in Gimli, Manitoba, only served "extra large" pizzas). Maddin cast John Harvie in the lead role as the son, and University of Manitoba medical professor Dr. Dan P. Snidal as the dead father. ''The Dead Father'' (1985) was shot in black-and-white on sixteen-millimetre film. The style of the film owes much to the work of the

Surrealists Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

, with Maddin citing

and

Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, although his t ...

as its main influences. Critics routinely cite, as an example of Maddin's dream-like tone, the climactic scene of the film, where the son attempts to resolve his relationship with his dead father by uncovering his corpse (hidden to sleep at night in some nearby brush) and attempting to devour his father using a large spoon—since the dead father awakens, the son cannot finish eating him and must instead pack his body away into a trunk in the family's attic. Although Maddin did not feel that the film's initial, Winnipeg premiere had gone well, John Paizs convinced him to submit the film to the Toronto Film Festival and the festival accepted the film. At the festival Maddin met

Atom Egoyan Atom Egoyan (; hy, Աթոմ Եղոյեան, translit=Atom Yeghoyan; born July 19, 1960) is a Canadian filmmaker. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge in the 1980s from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave. Egoyan m ...

Jeremy Podeswa Jeremy Podeswa (born 1962) is a Canadian film and television director. He is best known for directing the films '' The Five Senses'' (1999) and ''Fugitive Pieces'' (2007). He has also worked as director on the television shows '' Six Feet Under ...

Norman Jewison Norman Frederick Jewison (born July 21, 1926) is a retired Canadian film and television director, producer, and founder of the Canadian Film Centre. He has directed numerous feature films and has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best D ...

, and began to form connections with Canadian filmmakers across the national scene. Maddin next began work on his feature film debut, ''

Tales from the Gimli Hospital ''Tales from the Gimli Hospital'' is a 1988 film directed by Guy Maddin. His feature film debut, it was his second film after the short '' The Dead Father''. ''Tales from the Gimli Hospital'' was shot in black and white on 16 mm film and star ...

'' (1988), also shot in black-and-white on sixteen-millimetre film. Kyle McCulloch starred in the film as Einar, a lonely fisherman who contracts smallpox and begins to compete with another patient, Gunnar (played by Michael Gottli) for the attention of the young nurses. Maddin had himself endured a recent period of male rivalry and noticed that he found himself "quite often forgetting the object of jealousy" and instead becoming "possessive of my rival". The film was originally titled ''Gimli Saga'' after the amateur history book produced locally by various Icelandic members of the community of Gimli (Maddin himself is Icelandic by ancestry). Maddin's aunt Lil had recently retired from hairdressing, and allowed Maddin to use her beauty salon (also Maddin's childhood home) as a makeshift film studio (Lil appears in the film briefly as a "bedside vigil-sitter in one quick shot

aken Aken may refer to: *Aken (god), in Ancient Egyptian religion *Aken (Elbe), a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany *Aachen, a city in Germany *Aken (novel), a 1996 novel by Madis Kõiv {{disambiguation ...

just a couple of days before she died" at the age of 85. After Maddin's mother sold the house/studio, Maddin completed the remaining shots of the film at various locations, including his own home, over a period of eighteen months. Maddin received a grant from the Manitoba Arts Council for CA$20,000 (), and often cites that figure as the film's budget, although he has also estimated the actual budget to have been between CA$14,000 and CA$30,000. Although ''Tales from the Gimli Hospital'' upset some of the residents of Gimli, who believed that the film made light of the historical smallpox epidemic that ravaged the community, and was rejected by the

Toronto Film Festival Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor ...

, it nevertheless became a cult success and established Maddin's reputation in independent film circles. The film garnered the attention of

Ben Barenholtz Ben Barenholtz (October 5, 1935 – June 27, 2019) was a Polish-born American film exhibitor, distributor and producer, who was a presence in the independent film scene since the late 1960s, when he opened The Elgin Cinema in New York City in 1 ...

, who had successfully distributed other cult films such as the

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his Cinema of Transgression, transgressive cult films, including ''Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), ''Pink Flamin ...

film ''

Pink Flamingos ''Pink Flamingos'' is a 1972 American film directed, written, produced, narrated, filmed, and edited by John Waters. It is part of what Waters has labelled the "Trash Trilogy", which also includes ''Female Trouble'' (1974) and ''Desperate Livin ...

'' and David Lynch's debut feature ''

''. ''Tales from the Gimli Hospital'' consequently succeeded on the festival circuit and screened for a full year as a midnight movie at a theatre in New York's

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

. Maddin received a

Genie award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...

nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

''Archangel'', ''Careful'', and ''Twilight of the Ice Nymphs'' (1989–97)

Having proven himself as a filmmaker and established a reputation outside of Canada, Maddin began work on a series of feature films produced on larger budgets and more traditional production schedules and processes. His second feature, ''

Archangel Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the hierarchy of angels. The word ''archangel'' itself is usually associated with the Abrahamic religions, but beings that are very similar to archangels are found in a number of other relig ...

'' (1990), fictionalizes in a general sense historical conflict related to the

Bolshevik Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolsheviks, Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was ...

occurring in the Arkhangelsk (Archangel) region of Russia, a basic concept presented to Maddin by John Harvie. Boles, a Canadian soldier suffering from amnesia, arrives in the town of Archangel as World War I is ending (due to the Bolshevik uprising, it appears as if the townspeople have, like Boles, contracted amnesia and "forgotten" that the war is over). Boles confuses the warrior-woman Veronkha with his lost love Iris and pursues her throughout the fighting. Fellow "drone" Kyle McCulloch stars as Boles. The film marks Maddin's first formal collaboration with fellow screenwriter George Toles. Maddin shot ''Archangel'' in black-and-white, on 16 mm film, on a budget of CA$430,000 (). Maddin modeled the film on the style of a

part-talkie A part-talkie is a partly, and most often primarily, silent film which includes one or more synchronous sound sequences with audible dialog or singing. During the silent portions, lines of dialog are presented as "titles"—printed text briefly ...

, an early cinema genre. Film critic

J. Hoberman James Lewis Hoberman (born March 14, 1949) is an American film critic, journalist, author and academic. He began working at ''The Village Voice'' in the 1970s, became a full-time staff writer in 1983, and was the newspaper's senior film critic ...

praised the film, and noted that such stylistic approaches were typical of Maddin's growing body of work: "Maddin's most distinctive trait is an uncanny ability to exhume and redeploy forgotten cinematic conventions." ''Archangel'' premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, and in 1991 was awarded Best Experimental Film by the National Society of Film Critics. Maddin's third feature, '' Careful'' (1992), was styled after another early cinema genre, the German mountain picture (or Bergfilm) — a surprising choice, given that (as filmmaker Caelum Vatnsdal has noted), "Winnipeg's highest peak is, in fact, an artificial hill that had been created by laying sod over a garbage dump." Maddin was ordered by the producers to shoot in colour, and so ''Careful'' became Maddin's first colour film, shot on 16 mm film with a budget of CA$1.1 million (). the colour style of the film emulated the two colour Technicolor movies of the early 1930s. Kyle McCulloch again starred, alongside other Maddin regulars such as Brent Neale and Ross McMillan. At one point,

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...

had agreed to act in the film, as Count Knotkers, but bowed out to complete Cape Fear. Maddin pursued casting hockey star

Bobby Hull Robert Marvin Hull OC (born January 3, 1939) is a Canadian former ice hockey player who is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. His blonde hair, skating speed, end-to-end rushes, and ability to shoot the puck at very high veloc ...

, but ended up casting Paul Cox. ''Careful,'' also cowritten by George Toles, is set in the mountain town of Tolzbad, where the townspeople are forced to repress their behaviour pathologically, since the slightest expression of emotion can trigger a devastating avalanche. Brothers Grigorss (McCulloch) and Johann (Neale) seem secure of bright futures as butlers, but Johann becomes incestuously obsessed with their widowed mother (driving him away from his fiancé and towards a dramatic suicide). Grigorss, who is in love with Klara, begins to work for Count Knotkers, who also harbours love for Grigorss' mother. Klara convinces Grigorss to duel the Count, resulting in the death of his mother, Klara's father, Klara, and finally Grigorss himself. ''Careful'' premiered at the New York Film Festival and, although it was not a commercial success elsewhere, "single-handedly saved a struggling art-house cinema in Missoula, Montana" where "sell-out crowds had filled the house twice every night for two weeks". For his next feature film, written by Toles, Maddin attempted to make an operetta called ''The Dikemaster's Daughter'' "set in a nineteenth-century Holland populated almost entirely by opera singers and dike-building navvies" about "a short-lived romance between the titular daughter and a fey opera singer". The singer is killed and the daughter is forced to marry a dike-builder who is also killed. A local alchemist then constructs an automaton copy of the latter, which the daughter succeeds in having implanted with two hearts (of both her opera singer love and her dike-builder husband) and a lever that switches control of the mechanical body between the two hearts. The movie was to feature

Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimat ...

and

Leni Riefenstahl Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (; 22 August 1902 – 8 September 2003) was a German film director, photographer and actress known for her role in producing Nazi propaganda. A talented swimmer and an artist, Riefenstahl also became in ...

, but

Telefilm A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

Canada "declared the project a 'lateral move'" for Maddin and the movie could not secure enough funding, so was aborted. Maddin consequently flirted with the idea of moving to Los Angeles to become a director-for-hire. He met with Claudia Lewis, who worked for

Fox Searchlight Searchlight Pictures, Inc. is an American film production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is part of the Walt Disney Company. Founded in 1994 as Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc. for 20th Century Fox (later 20th Century St ...

, but Maddin found himself dispirited with the projects he was offered: "I remember one was a love story set in a TB sanatorium. The only thing odd or bizarre about it was the very off-putting sight of people horking up blood and phlegm into little paper cups, and these paper cups would accumulate in volume until there were moonlit paper cups of phlegm floating on a lake, and it was supposed to be very beautiful, but it was nauseating. I'm making it sound better than it was, actually." Maddin also directed the TV film ''The Hands of Ida'' (which he "later repudiated") and married Elise Moore in 1995 (the marriage ended in 1997), and directed the short film ''

Odilon Redon, or The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity ''Odilon Redon, or The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity'' is a Canadian short drama film, directed by Guy Maddin and released in 1995. The film stars Jim Keller and Caelum Vatnsdal as Keller and Caelum, a father and son who compet ...

'' (which was commissioned by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

and won a Special Jury Citation at the Toronto International Film festival). In 1995, Maddin also became the youngest recipient ever of the Telluride Film Festival's Lifetime Achievement Award. Maddin's fourth feature, also scripted by Toles and inspired by the novel ''Pan'' by

Knut Hamsun Knut Hamsun (4 August 1859 – 19 February 1952) was a Norwegian writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. Hamsun's work spans more than 70 years and shows variation with regard to consciousness, subject, perspective a ...

, ended up being ''

Twilight of the Ice Nymphs ''Twilight of the Ice Nymphs'' is a 1997 fantasy romance film directed by Guy Maddin. The screenplay was written by George Toles and inspired by the novel '' Pan'' (1894) by Knut Hamsun, with an additional literary touchstones being the short stor ...

'' (1997), his second in colour and his first shot in 35 mm, on a budget of CA$1.5 million (). Set in the fictional land of Mandragora, where the sun does not set, a newly released convict returns to his family's ostrich farm and is embroiled in a host of romantic complications involving a heavy-breasted statue of Venus. ''Twilight of the Ice Nymphs'' featured

Shelley Duvall Shelley Alexis Duvall (born July 7, 1949) is an American actress and producer who is known for her portrayals of distinct, often eccentric characters. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Cannes Film Festival Award and a Peab ...

and

Frank Gorshin Frank John Gorshin Jr. (April 5, 1933 – May 17, 2005) was an American actor, comedian and impressionist. He made many guest appearances on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' and ''Tonight Starring Steve Allen''. As an actor, he played the Riddler on the ...

; The film's star,

Nigel Whitmey Nigel Whitmey (born 23 February 1963) is a British-Canadian actor who has appeared in TV series and films. He is also the husband of the actress Abigail Thaw, whom he met while training at RADA. Early life Whitmey was born in Peace River, Alb ...

, had his name removed from the film's credits after Maddin chose to remove Whitmey's voice from the film and replace it with Ross McMillan's. As seen in

Noam Gonick Noam Gonick, (born March 20, 1973) is a Canadians, Canadian filmmaker and artist.Ingrid Randoja"Gonzo Gonick" ''Now (newspaper), Now'', May 31, 2021. His films include ''Hey, Happy!'', ''Stryker (2004 film), Stryker'', ''Guy Maddin: Waiting for T ...

's documentary ''Waiting for Twilight'', Maddin was dissatisfied with the film-making process due to such creative interference from his producers, saying "just close the mausoleum lid on me" since he was possibly done making films. Maddin then entered a relatively "fallow period" although he continued to make short films, music videos (including the video for the song "It's a Wonderful Life" by

Sparklehorse Sparklehorse was an American indie rock band from Richmond, Virginia, led by singer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Linkous. Sparklehorse was active from 1995 until Linkous' 2010 death. Prior to forming Sparklehorse, Linkous fronted local bands ...

), and advertisements.

''The Heart of the World'', ''Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary'', ''The Saddest Music in the World'' (1998–2003)

During his break from making feature films, Maddin began teaching film classes at the University of Manitoba, where he met and encouraged the younger filmmaker

Deco Dawson Deco Dawson is the professional name of Darryl Kinaschuk, a Ukrainian Canadian experimental filmmaker. He is most noted as a two-time winner of the Toronto International Film Festival Award for Best Canadian Short Film, winning at the 2001 Toronto ...

. After being impressed with Dawson's short films, Maddin hired Dawson to work on a short film for the Toronto International Film Festival — Maddin was one of a number of directors (including

and

David Cronenberg David Paul Cronenberg (born March 15, 1943) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror genre, with his films exploring visceral bodily transformation ...

) commissioned to make four-minute short films that would screen prior to the various feature films at the 2000 festival. After hearing rumours that other directors were planning films with a small number of shots, Maddin decided that his film would instead contain over a hundred shots per minute, and enough plot for a feature-length film. Maddin then wrote and shot ''

The Heart of the World ''The Heart of the World'' is a short film written and directed by Guy Maddin, produced for the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival. Maddin was one of a number of directors (including Atom Egoyan and David Cronenberg) commissioned to make four ...

'' (2000) in the style of

Russian constructivism Constructivism is an early twentieth-century art movement founded in 1915 by Vladimir Tatlin and Alexander Rodchenko. Abstract and austere, constructivist art aimed to reflect modern industrial society and urban space. The movement rejected deco ...

, taking the commission at its literal face value, as a call to produce a propaganda film. The plot of ''The Heart of the World'' concerns two brothers, Osip and Nikolai, who compete for the love of the same woman: Anna, a state scientist studying Earth's core. Anna discovers that the heart of the world is in danger of a fatal heart attack (which would mean the end of the world), and the brothers compete amongst the public panic. Nikolai is a mortician and tries to impress Anna with assembly-line embalming, while Osip is an actor playing Christ in the Passion Play and tries to impress Anna through his suffering. Anna is instead seduced by an evil capitalist, but has a change of heart and strangles the plutocrat, then slides down into the heart of the world, where she manages to save the world from destruction by transforming into cinema itself, the world's "new and better heart — Kino!" ''The Heart of the World'' won a 2001

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...

for Best Short, and the 2001 U.S. National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Experimental Film (the same award Maddin had won in 1991 for ''Archangel''). The success of ''The Heart of the World'' marked the beginning of a productive period for Maddin, who produced five feature films within the following eight years. Maddin's next feature deepened but also ended his collaboration with Deco Dawson, who was credited as "Editor and Associate Director" on '' Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary'' (2002). Maddin and Dawson had a falling out in the wake of the production and have not worked together again (Dawson nevertheless spoke kindly of Maddin's following feature, ''The Saddest Music in the World''. ''Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary'' was budgeted at $1.7-million and produced for the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

(CBC) as a dance film documenting a performance by the

Royal Winnipeg Ballet The Royal Winnipeg Ballet is Canada's oldest ballet company and the longest continuously operating ballet company in North America. History It was founded in 1939 as the "Winnipeg Ballet Club" by Gweneth Lloyd and Betty Farrally (who also fou ...

adapting

Bram Stoker Abraham Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912) was an Irish author who is celebrated for his 1897 Gothic horror novel '' Dracula''. During his lifetime, he was better known as the personal assistant of actor Sir Henry Irving and busine ...

's novel ''

Dracula ''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...

''. Maddin elected to shoot the dance film in a fashion uncommon for such films, through close-ups and using jump cuts. Maddin also stayed close to the source material of Stoker's novel, emphasizing the

xenophobia Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...

in the reactions of the main characters to Dracula (played by Zhang Wei-Qiang in Maddin's film). The resulting film was greeted with critical acclaim, with an 84% average rating on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

and an 85% "Fresh" rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave the film 3½ stars out of 4, writing that "so many films are more or less alike that it's jolting to see a film that deals with a familiar story, but looks like no other." ''Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary'' won first prize (Prague D'Or) at the 2002 Golden Prague Television Festival, two 2002

Gemini Awards The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States a ...

for Best Canadian Performing Arts Show and Best Direction, and a 2002 International

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for Best Performing Arts. Originally a television feature, ''Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary'' was released theatrically in 2003. Maddin's next feature, ''

The Saddest Music in the World ''The Saddest Music in the World'' is a 2003 Canadian film directed by Guy Maddin. Budgeted at $3.8-million and shot over 24 days, the film marks Maddin's first collaboration with actor Isabella Rossellini. Maddin and co-screenwriter George Toles ...

'' (2003) was budgeted at $3.8-million (a large budget in Canadian terms) and shot over 24 days. The film was Maddin's first collaboration with

Isabella Rossellini Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini (born 18 June 1952) is an Italian-American actress, author, philanthropist, and model. The daughter of the Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman and the Italian film director Roberto Rossellini, she is noted ...

, who subsequently appeared in a number of Maddin's films, and cocreated a film with him about her father

Roberto Rossellini Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an Italian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He was one of the most prominent directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing to the movement with films such ...

. The film also starred

Mark McKinney Mark Douglas Brown McKinney (born June 26, 1959) is a Canadian actor and comedian. He is best known as a member of the sketch comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall, which includes starring in the 1989 to 1995 TV series ''The Kids in the Hall'' and 1 ...

(of the comedy troupe

Kids in the Hall The Kids in the Hall is a Canadian sketch comedy troupe formed in 1984, consisting of comedians Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney and Scott Thompson. Their eponymous television show ran from 1989 to 1995, on CBC, in C ...

Maria de Medeiros Maria Esteves de Medeiros Victorino de Almeida, DamSE (born 19 August 1965), known professionally as Maria de Medeiros (), is a Portuguese actress, director, and singer who has been involved in both European and American film productions. Ear ...

, David Fox, and

Ross McMillan Peter Ross McMillan (born 2 June 1987) is a professional rugby union player. His position is hooker. McMillan has previously played professionally for Nottingham, Gloucester, Moseley, Coventry, Birmingham & Solihull, Northampton, Bristol and ...

. Maddin and cowriter Toles based the film on an original screenplay written by

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a Literary award, literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United King ...

-winning novelist

Kazuo Ishiguro Sir Kazuo Ishiguro ( ; born 8 November 1954) is a British novelist, screenwriter, musician, and short-story writer. Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan, and moved to Britain in 1960 with his parents when he was five. He is one of the most cr ...

, from which they kept "the title, the premise and the contest – to determine which country's music was the saddest" but otherwise re-wrote. The action of ''The Saddest Music in the World'' centres around a contest run by Beer Baroness Lady Port-Huntley (Rossellini) to discover which country has the saddest music in the world. Chester Kent (McKinney), a failed Broadway producer, returns home to Winnipeg and competes with his father Fyodor (Fox) and brother Roderick (McMillan) to win the contest and its $25,000 prize. It's discovered that Chester's girlfriend, Narcissa (de Medeiros) was Roderick's wife but forgot this due to amnesia resulting from the death of their son (Roderick keeps his son's heart in a jar that travels with him). Chester reunites with Port-Huntley, his former lover, who lost her legs in a car accident. Fyodor, who is in love with Port-Huntley, has built prosthetic legs for her out of glass (and filled with beer), which she loves although she spurns Fyodor, leading to his drunken death. As the contest proceeds, things end tragically. ''The Saddest Music in the World'' won a number of awards, including three Genie Awards (Best Achievement in Costume Design, Best Achievement in Editing, and Best Achievement in Music, Original Score) and Maddin was also nominated for Best Achievement in Direction. Maddin received the same nomination from the Directors Guild of Canada, who awarded the film Outstanding Achievement in Production Design, Feature Film, and Maddin won the Film Discovery Jury Award for Best Director at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival.

''Cowards Bend the Knee'', ''Brand Upon the Brain!'', ''My Winnipeg'' (2003–07)

While in pre-production on ''The Saddest Music in the World'', Maddin directed ''Cowards Bend the Knee'' (2003), shooting entirely on Super-8mm film with a budget of $30,000. Developed as a series of short films, commissioned as part of an installation art project by Toronto art gallery The Power Plant that was curated by Philip Monk, these 10 short films, collected together, constituted a short feature, so that Maddin ended up completing and releasing two feature films in 2003.Maddin, Guy. ''Cowards Bend the Knee''. Toronto: The Power Plant, 2003. Print. ''Cowards Bend the Knee'' is the first in Maddin's "autobiographical 'Me Trilogy'" of feature films starring protagonists named "Guy Maddin", the second being ''Brand Upon the Brain!'' (2006) and ''My Winnipeg'' (2007).Wershler, Darren. ''Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg''. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2010. Print. ''Cowards Bend the Knee'' concerns the murderous exploits of a young "Guy Maddin" (played b
Darcy Fehr
, a hockey player whose forgets his beloved as she dies through complications during an illegal abortion. Guy becomes entwined in a love affair with the daughter of the abortionist, who compels him to murder her mother to revenge the death of her father. Guy meanwhile falls in love with the ghost of his dead lover, not recognizing her, and competes with his own father for her affection. Maddin based the film's premise loosely on the story ''

The Hands of Ida ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

'' and Euripedes's play ''

Medea In Greek mythology, Medea (; grc, Μήδεια, ''Mēdeia'', perhaps implying "planner / schemer") is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. Medea figures in the myth of Jason an ...

''. Critic J. Hoberman of ''The Village Voice'' called the film "Maddin's masterpiece", noting that the film "not only plays like a dream but feels like one". Maddin was next approached by the Seattle-based not-for-profit film production company called The Film Company and offered a budget to make any film he wanted, with complete freedom as long as he shot it in Seattle with local actors. Maddin ended up producing '' Brand Upon the Brain!'' (2006), from a script cowritten by Toles, shooting the film over nine days and editing it over three months with an estimated budget of $40,000. The plot concerns "Guy Maddin" (played by Erik Steffen Maahs as an adult, and Sullivan Brown as a child), whose domineering mother runs a lighthouse orphanage on an island where she and her husband perform scientific experiments upon the children in an effort to extend her youth. ''Brand Upon the Brain!'' was shot as a silent film, and premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival, where it was accompanied by a live orchestra, singer, an interlocutor (in the style of Japanese ''

benshi were Japanese performers who provided live narration for silent films (both Japanese films and Western films). ''Benshi'' are sometimes called or . Role The earliest films available for public display were produced by Western studios, portraying ...

''), and Foley artists. The film was toured across North America in a similar fashion, with a host of celebrity narrators including

Crispin Glover Crispin Hellion Glover (born April 20, 1964) is an American actor. He is known for portraying eccentric characters on screen, such as George McFly in ''Back to the Future'' (1985), Layne in ''River's Edge'' (1986), Andy Warhol in ''The Doors'' ...

and

John Ashbery John Lawrence Ashbery (July 28, 1927 – September 3, 2017) was an American poet and art critic. Ashbery is considered the most influential American poet of his time. Oxford University literary critic John Bayley wrote that Ashbery "sounded, in ...

. The film's normal theatrical run featured narration by

. In 2006, Maddin was presented with two lifetime achievement awards, the Persistence of Vision Award from the San Francisco International Film Festival and the Manitoba Arts Council's Award of Distinction. Roger Ebert wrote, of the film and Maddin's work in general, that "For me, Maddin seems to penetrate to the hidden layers beneath the surface of the movies, revealing a surrealistic underworld of fears, fantasies and obsessions." Maddin's next feature stemmed from a commission to produce a documentary film about his hometown of Winnipeg, for which Maddin's producer directed "Don't give me the frozen hellhole everyone knows that Winnipeg is." Taking what he described as a "docufantasia" approach that melded "personal history, civic tragedy, and mystical hypothesizing", Maddin produced ''My Winnipeg'' (2008), with a budget of $500,000. Maddin re-cast Darcy Fehr in the role of "Guy Maddin" and structured the documentary around a metafictional plot whereby "Guy Maddin" attempts to "film his way out" of the frozen city. Maddin rents out his former home and hires actors to play his family (including

Ann Savage Ann Savage (born Berniece Maxine Lyon, February 19, 1921 – December 25, 2008) was an American film and television actress. She is best remembered as the greedy cigarette-puffing'' femme fatale'' in the critically acclaimed film noir ''Detour ...

as his mother) in the recreation of pivotal scenes from his memories of youth. Along the way, Maddin documents facts, rumours, and fabricated myths about Winnipeg, including the demolition of the Winnipeg hockey arena (during the period after the sale of the

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, pl ...

had left the city without a national hockey team), an epidemic of sleepwalking, the ghosts of frozen horse heads returning every winter when the rivers freeze over, and

If Day If Day (french: "Si un jour", "If one day") was a simulated Nazi German invasion and occupation of the Canadian city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and surrounding areas on 19 February 1942, during the Second World War. It was organized as a war bond pr ...

(an actual historical event when a faked Nazi invasion of the city was mounted during World War II to promote the sale of war bonds). ''My Winnipeg'' received the award for Best Canadian Feature Film from the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, Best Documentary from the 2008 San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards, Best Canadian Film from the 2008 Toronto Film Critics Association Awards, and Best Experimental Documentary from the 2009 International Urban Film Festival, Tehran. In 2007, Maddin also became the first artist-curator of the

UCLA Film and Television Archive The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Also a nonprofit exhibition venue, the archiv ...

''Keyhole'', ''Hauntings'', ''Seances'', ''The Forbidden Room'' and ''The Green Fog'' (2008–2017)

Maddin soon received two other career awards, the Filmmaker on the Edge Award at the 2009

Provincetown International Film Festival The Provincetown International Film Festival (PIFF) is an annual film festival founded in 1999 and held on Cape Cod in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The festival presents American and international narrative features, documentaries and short films f ...

and the 2010 Canada Council for the Arts Bell Award in Video Art for lifetime achievement in the field. Maddin then returned to installation art with a commission to celebrate the opening of the Bell Lightbox cultural centre in Toronto, producing an installation series titled ''Hauntings'' based on the concept of reimagining lost films from the silent film era that are known to have existed or been planned by influential filmmakers, but either destroyed or not produced. In December 2010, Maddin married the L.A. film critic Kim Morgan, and they separated in 2014. Maddin shot his tenth feature film, ''

Keyhole A lock is a mechanical or electronic fastening device that is released by a physical object (such as a key, keycard, fingerprint, RFID card, security token or coin), by supplying secret information (such as a number or letter permutation or passw ...

'' (2011), digitally rather than his usual method of shooting on sixteen-millimetre or Super-8. Filming began in

on July 6, 2010. The film screened at the 2011

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

and the 2011

Whistler Film Festival The Whistler Film Festival (WFF) is an annual film festival held in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 2001, the festival is held the first weekend of December and includes juried competitive sections, the Borsos Awards, and the Pand ...

, where it won the Best Canadian Film Award. In 2012, ''Keyhole'' screened at the

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

Film Festival, the

Independent Film Festival of Boston The Independent Film Festival Boston is a not for profit film festival in Boston, Massachusetts. History The Independent Film Festival Boston (also known as IFFBoston or IFFB) was created in 2003 by the non-profit organization the Independent ...

, the

Wisconsin Film Festival The Wisconsin Film Festival is an annual film festival, founded in 1999. The festival is held every April in Madison, Wisconsin, and has recently been expanded from five days to eights days. The Festival presents a broad range of independent Ameri ...

Fantasporto Fantasporto, also known as Fantas, is an international film festival, annually organized since 1981 in Porto, Portugal. Giving screen space to Fantasy film, fantasy/Science fiction film, science fiction/Horror film, horror-oriented commercial fe ...

, and the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

. The film was released theatrically in 2012. ''Keyhole'' stars

Jason Patric Jason Patric (born June 17, 1966) is an American film, television and stage actor. He is known for his roles in films such as ''The Lost Boys'', ''Rush'', ''Sleepers'', '' Geronimo: An American Legend'', ''Your Friends & Neighbors'', '' Narc'', ...

as Ulysses Pick, a gangster who leads his gang to break into his former home and odysseys through the haunted house (in a plot inspired by Homer's ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major Ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek Epic poetry, epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by moder ...

''), searching room-by-room to find his wife Hyacinth

. The film was cowritten by Maddin and Toles and also stars

Udo Kier Udo Kierspe (born 14 October 1944), known professionally as Udo Kier, is a German actor. Known primarily as a character actor, Kier has appeared in more than 220 films in both leading and supporting roles throughout Europe and the Americas. He h ...

, Brooke Palsson, David Wontner,

Louis Negin Louis Negin (20 October 1929 – 2 December 2022) was a British-born Canadian actor, best known for his roles in the films of Guy Maddin."Enchantment". ''In Toronto'', September 2011. Career Born in London, England, and raised in Toronto, Ontari ...

, and

Kevin McDonald Kevin Hamilton McDonald (born May 16, 1961) is a Canadian actor, voice actor and comedian. He is a member of the comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall, who have appeared together in a number of stage, television and film productions, most notably th ...

from the comedy troupe

. In 2012, Maddin produced another installation for the Winnipeg Art Gallery, ''Only Dream Things'', for which he recreated his childhood bedroom and produced a short film by manipulating his family's home movies. Maddin expanded the approach of his ''Hauntings'' installation into another film/installation project, '' Seances'', which combines "a film shoot, an experience and an installation, which will subsequently become an interactive work". Maddin started shooting ''Seances'' in 2012 in Paris, France at the

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

and continued shooting at the Phi Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The film shoots themselves were presented as art installation projects, during which Maddin, along with the cast and crew, held a "séance" during which Maddin "invite the spirit of a lost photoplay to possess them". ''Seances'' will be launched online by the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

in 2015, in an interactive web project that allows users to randomly generate a combination of the 100 short films, "connected together into a paranormally eerie, semi-coherent whole." The number of films will ensure "hundreds of billions of unique permutations".Romney, Jonathan. "A Canadian in Paris". ''Sight & Sound'' (May 2012). Maddin and Galen Johnson also co-directed and shot, concurrently, a feature film titled '' The Forbidden Room'', with the same writers. Although often misreported as the same project, ''The Forbidden Room'' "is a feature film with its own separate story and stars" while "''Seances'' will be an interactive Internet project." ''The Forbidden Room'' is Maddin's eleventh feature film, with its world premiere in January 2015 at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

. Maddin's most recent feature film, ''

The Green Fog ''The Green Fog'' is an experimental film directed by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson, that loosely revisits the plot of Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 film ''Vertigo'' through a collage of found footage repurposed from old movies and telev ...

'' (2017), premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival on April 16, 2017. The film features a score by composer Jacob Garchik, performed by

Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for almost 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classic ...

, and is a collage-film, "a scene-by-scene reimagining of Alfred Hitchcock's ''Vertigo'' Bay Area film footage from a variety of sources — '50s noir, experimental films, '70s prime-time TV, and more."

Installations

Guy Maddin has cultivated a career as an installation artist alongside his film-making career. Maddin's installations generally include short films screened in unusual fashions, and tend to draw on both his autobiography and on the history of cinema.

''Cowards Bend the Knee'' (2003)

Maddin was commissioned by The Power Plant gallery in Toronto and, in an installation curated by Philip Monk, produced a series of ten short films. The exhibition premiered at the 42nd

International Film Festival Rotterdam The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since its foundation in 1972, it has maintained a focus on independent and experimental fi ...

from January 22 to February 2, 2003, where the catalogue described it as "A firstofitskind, tenpart peephole installation jampacked with enough kinetically photographed action to seem like a neverending cliffhanger." Each six-minute film is viewed through a peephole and together present a fictionalised autobiography, whose main character (named "Guy Maddin") is embroiled in illegal abortion, murderous intrigue, sexual rivalry, and hockey. The installation was also exhibited at The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery in Toronto from March 22 to May 25, 2003. A literary screenplay for the film was also published by the gallery, and the short films were collected together as a feature film (released theatrically and to DVD).

''Hauntings'' (2010)

Maddin was commissioned to produce an installation for the opening of the

Bell Lightbox TIFF Bell Lightbox is a cultural centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located in the first five floors of the Bell Lightbox and Festival Tower on the north west corner of King Street and John Street. TIFF Bell Lightbox features five cinemas, two ...

, a cultural centre and skyscraper, and configured eleven screens to show a series of original short films. The films consisted of reimagined "lost" films by famous directors that have been lost, destroyed or unrealized. Maddin stated in the press that "I've been literally haunted by the idea that there are these really intriguing titles by some of my favourite filmmakers that I'd never get to see .. andI told myself years ago that the only way I'd get to see any version of these is if I made the adaptation myself." The installation was also exhibited at Winnipeg's Platform Gallery from September 2 to October 2, 2011, for the WNDX Festival of Moving Image and at Concordia University's FOFA (Faculty of Fine Arts) Gallery from June 1–10, 2012.

''Only Dream Things'' (2012)

For a 2012 installation at the

Winnipeg Art Gallery The Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) is an art museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Its permanent collection includes over 24,000 works from Canadian, Indigenous Canadian, and international artists. The museum also holds the world's largest collect ...

, Maddin re-created his teenage bedroom. On the wall of the re-created bedroom screens a 19-minute short film Maddin produced by digitally distressing his family's home movies.

''Seances'' (2012–2015)

Expanding the approach of his ''Hauntings'' installation, Maddin's ongoing film/installation project, Seances. The film shoots were open to the public and streamed online, and thereby presented as live art installation projects, during which Maddin, along with the cast and crew, held a séance "invit ngthe spirit of a lost photoplay to possess them".Maddin, Guy, Evan Johnson and Robert Kotyk. ''Séances: Project Manual''. Designed by Galen Johnson. Cinema Atelier Tovar, 2012. The cameras used to record the shoots also live-streams their video online. Other writers on the project include

Evan Johnson ''For the Canadian filmmaker, see Evan Johnson (filmmaker).'' Evan Johnson (born August 21, 1994) is a professional Canadian football offensive lineman for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college foo ...

, Robert Kotyk, film critic Kim Morgan, and US poet

. In 2015, the Maddin and

will release "''Seances'' san interactive Internet project".

Books by Maddin

Guy Maddin is also an author, and has published three books, two of which are literary companions to his feature films.

''From the Atelier Tovar: Selecting Writings'' (2003)

Guy Maddin's first book (followed the same year by ''Cowards Bend the Knee'') contains selected "journalism, treatments for films made and unmade and . .selection from the director's . .personal journals" and also "candid photos and unpublished storyboards". The book is introduced by film critic Mark Peranson and published by

Coach House Books Coach House Books is an independent book publishing company located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Coach House publishes experimental poetry, fiction, drama and non-fiction. The press is particularly interested in writing that pushes at the boundar ...

. Maddin's journalism features reviews of a variety of films, from ''Minority Report'' to ''The Seven Samurai'', an article on the making of Maddin's feature ''

'', and writing on Bollywood melodramas. The book contains four film treatments, for the short films '' The Eye, Like a Strange Balloon, Mounts Towards Infinity'', ''Maldoror:Tygers'', and the feature film '' Careful''. The longest treatment is for an unmade film called ''The Child Without Qualities'', an autobiographical work that reads like an experimental short story. This unfinished short film's title alludes to the title of

Robert Musil Robert Musil (; 6 November 1880 – 15 April 1942) was an Austrian philosophical writer. His unfinished novel, ''The Man Without Qualities'' (german: link=no, Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften), is generally considered to be one of the most important ...

's unfinished novel ''

The Man Without Qualities ''The Man Without Qualities'' (german: Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften; 1930–1943) is an unfinished modernist novel in three volumes and various drafts, by the Austrian writer Robert Musil. The novel is a "story of ideas", which takes place in th ...

''.

''Cowards Bend the Knee'' (2003)

Guy Maddin wrote a lengthy treatment for the feature film ''

Cowards Bend the Knee ''Cowards Bend the Knee'' (also known as ''The Blue Hands'') is a 2003 film by Guy Maddin. Maddin directed ''Cowards Bend the Knee'' while in pre-production on ''The Saddest Music in the World'', shooting entirely on Super-8mm film with a budget o ...

'', which he published as a book through The Power Plant, the public art gallery in Toronto that commissioned the installation art show that both served as Maddin's first major foray as an installation artist and for which Maddin produced the series of film "chapters" that collectively make up the feature film. The book contains a foreword by Wayne Baerwaldt (then-Director of The Power Plant) and an introduction by Philip Monk, who also edited the book and curated Maddin's installation. The main text is followed by an interview with Guy Maddin conducted by Robert Enright. The book also contains stills from the film and a list of credits for the film. Most of the text is Maddin's treatment for the film, which follows the same plot. In the words of Baerwaldt, the story is a fictional "autobiography

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

features a diabolical plot surrounding a coward on a mission amed Guy Maddinthat resembles a cycle of dark spectacles dressed up as, among other things, lewd seduction, Canadian hockey, murder, amputations, hair design, general mayhem, fetish attractions and heartfelt loss." In the interview with Enright, Maddin notes that the book's genesis began with Maddin's intention to clarify the narrative of his films, since

"it is a source of continuing frustration that people would say --- and it was always a compliment --- we really like your films, they're so non-narrative. So I thought, damnit, I'm going to get a story that people are going to recognize, something that has legs. I started reading Greek tragedy, ''Electra'', ''Medea'' and stuff like that, and basically I just took some premises from these super-durable stories. The things I end up layering around these rock-solid premises are invariably pure autobiography . .once I slipped away what little remained of Euripides, what was left was some core sample of me."

Maddin's book treatment is written in a highly literary fashion that is not typical of screen treatments, so that the text reads like a literary work rather than a blueprint for the film: "It is the night before the innipegMaroons' first game against the Soviets. Meta and Guy lie in bed, in the midst of a particularly spectacular recital of what could be called THE LIMBO-DANCE OF SELF-PITY --- a verbal choreography performed by lovers who manipulate each other through complicated displays of insincere self-loathing. Participants enter the Limbo in hopes of restructuring the unspoken terms of their relationship."

''My Winnipeg'' (2009)

Guy Maddin also released a book titled ''My Winnipeg'' (Coach House Books, 2009). Maddin's book contains the film's narration as a main text surrounded by annotations, including outtakes, marginal notes and digressions, production stills, family photos, and miscellaneous material. The book contains a "Winnipeg Map" by artist

Marcel Dzama Marcel Dzama (born May 4, 1974) is a contemporary artist from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada who currently lives and works in New York City. His work has been exhibited internationally, in particular his ink and watercolor drawings. Education Dzama r ...

featuring such fictional attractions as "The Giant Squid of the Red

iver Iver is a large civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England. In addition to the central clustered village, the parish includes the residential neighbourhoods of Iver Heath and Richings Park. Geography, transport and economy Part of the 43-square- ...

, various poster designs for the film, and short articles about working with Maddin by Andy Smetanka,

Darcy Fehr Darcy Fehr is a Canadian actor. Career Fehr's films include ''Desire'' (2000), ''The Saddest Music in the World'' (2003), '' There's Something Out There'' (2004) and ''The Law of Enclosures'' (2000). Fehr's most notable roles have been his portr ...

, and Caelum Vatnsdal. Maddin also includes an angry e-mail from an ex-girlfriend, collages and notebooks pages, and an X-ray of the dog Spanky from the film. The book also includes an interview with Maddin's mother Herdis, conducted by

, and an interview with Maddin conducted by

Michael Ondaatje Philip Michael Ondaatje (; born 12 September 1943) is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer, essayist, novelist, editor, and filmmaker. He is the recipient of multiple literary awards such as the Governor General's Award, the Giller P ...

Books about Maddin

Maddin's work has been the subject of critical attention, including the following substantive (book-length) works.

William Beard: ''Into the Past: The Cinema of Guy Maddin''

William Beard, a professor in the Department of English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta, authored a critical book focused on Maddin's work up until 2010, focusing chapter-by-chapter on Maddin's feature films and also discussing his short film work. Beard previously published books focused on filmmakers

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...

and

David Church: ''Playing with Memories: Essays on Guy Maddin''

David Church, a film historian affiliated with Indiana University, edited a collection of essays about Maddin's work through 2009. The book contains both new and previously published essays by critics and scholars, including William Beard, Dana Cooley, Donald Masterson, David L. Pike, Steven Shaviro, Will Straw, Saige Walton, and others. Essays by several of Maddin's friends and collaborators, including George Toles, Stephen Snyder, and Carl Matheson, are also included.

D.K. Holm: ''Guy Maddin: Interviews''

D. K. Holm Douglas Kimball Holm (born February 11, 1953) is a movie reviewer, Internet columnist, radio broadcaster, and author. Holm was born in Portland, Oregon. He attended David Douglas High School and the University of Oregon. Published work From 1976 t ...

edited a collection of interviews with Maddin, selected from various sources, including the more comprehensive interview book by Vatnsdal. Holm also selects excerpts from Maddin's DVD commentaries.

Caelum Vatnsdal: ''Kino Delirium: The Films of Guy Maddin''

Caelum Vatnsdal Caelum Vatnsdal (born 1970) is a Canadian writer and filmmaker.Randall King ''Winnipeg Free Press'', November 24, 2012. He is most noted for his books ''They Came From Within: A History of Canadian Horror Cinema'' (2004), a comprehensive study of C ...

, a director, producer, author, and actor (who has appeared in a number of Maddin's films, most notably in

), published a book of interviews with Maddin discussing his filmography film-by-film (the book covers Maddin's career up to 2000).

Darren Wershler: ''Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg''

Darren Wershler Darren Wershler, also known as Darren Wershler-Henry, (b. 1966) is a Canadian experimental poet, non-fiction writer and cultural critic. Wershler was the senior editor of Coach House Books between 1997 and 2002, where the works he edited included ...

, a Canadian avant-garde poet, critic, and assistant professor in the Department of English at Concordia University, has published an academic monograph on ''My Winnipeg''. This book-length work contextualizes the film in relation to avant-garde literature and art by drawing on media and cultural theory. In Wershler's words, "I argue that Maddin's use of techniques and media falls outside of the normal repertoire of contemporary cinema, which requires us to re-examine what we think we know about the documentary genre and even 'film' itself. Through an exploration of the film's major thematic concerns – memory, the cultural archive, and how people and objects circulate through the space of the city – I contend that ''My Winnipeg'' is intriguing because it is psychologically and affectively true without being historically accurate." In the context of its Canadian production, ''My Winnipegs difference from the documentary genre also marks the film as distinct from the work historically advanced by the

. Maddin has called ''My Winnipeg'' a "docu-fantasia" and Wershler similarly points out that the film's "truth" lies somewhere "in the irresolvable tension created by the gap between documentary and melodrama".

Awards

* 1991—U.S. National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Experimental Film for ''Archangel''. * 1995—Telluride Medal for lifetime achievement in film at the Telluride Film Festival. * 2001—U.S. National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Experimental Film for ''Heart of the World''. * 2001—Genie Award for Best Short for ''Heart of the World''. * 2002—International

for Best Performing Arts for ''Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary''. * 2002—Gemini Awards for Best Canadian Performing Arts Show and Best Direction for ''Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary''. * 2002—Prague D'Or (first prize) at the Golden Prague Television Festival for ''Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary''. * 2006—Persistence of Vision Award for lifetime achievement in film given out at San Francisco International Film Festival. * 2006—Manitoba Arts Council's Award of Distinction for lifetime achievement in the arts. * 2007—City TV Prize for Best Canadian Film at the Toronto International Film Festival for ''My Winnipeg''. * 2008—Toronto Film Critics Association Best Canadian Film for ''My Winnipeg''. * 2009—Filmmaker on the Edge Award at the

. * 2010—The Canada Council for the Arts Bell Award in Video Art, for lifetime achievement in the field. * 2018—Golden Lady Harimaguada Award from the

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival The Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival ( es, Festival Internacional de Cine de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) is an international film festival that is held in Las Palmas in the island of Gran Canaria Gran Canaria (, ; ), also ...

for ''

'' * 2018—Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, The Douglas Edwards Experimental Film Award for ''

''"LAFCA 2018 Winners"
''IndieWire'', December 9, 2018

Filmography

Feature films

Short films

References

External links

Guy Maddin Official Site
*

* ttp://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/guy-maddin ''Canadian Encyclopedia entry on Guy Maddin''
''Conversations with Guy Maddin (by film professor William Beard''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maddin, Guy Living people Canadian cinematographers Canadian experimental filmmakers Canadian screenwriters Directors of Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners for Best Live Action Short Drama Film directors from Winnipeg Members of the Order of Manitoba Writers from Winnipeg Silent film directors University of Winnipeg alumni Artists from Winnipeg Members of the Order of Canada Canadian people of Icelandic descent 1956 births Postmodernist filmmakers

Life and career

Early life (1956–84)

''The Dead Father'' and ''Tales from the Gimli Hospital'' (1985–88)

''Archangel'', ''Careful'', and ''Twilight of the Ice Nymphs'' (1989–97)

''The Heart of the World'', ''Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary'', ''The Saddest Music in the World'' (1998–2003)

''Cowards Bend the Knee'', ''Brand Upon the Brain!'', ''My Winnipeg'' (2003–07)

''Keyhole'', ''Hauntings'', ''Seances'', ''The Forbidden Room'' and ''The Green Fog'' (2008–2017)

Installations

''Cowards Bend the Knee'' (2003)

''Hauntings'' (2010)

''Only Dream Things'' (2012)

''Seances'' (2012–2015)

Books by Maddin

''From the Atelier Tovar: Selecting Writings'' (2003)

''Cowards Bend the Knee'' (2003)

''My Winnipeg'' (2009)

Books about Maddin

William Beard: ''Into the Past: The Cinema of Guy Maddin''

David Church: ''Playing with Memories: Essays on Guy Maddin''

D.K. Holm: ''Guy Maddin: Interviews''

Caelum Vatnsdal: ''Kino Delirium: The Films of Guy Maddin''

Darren Wershler: ''Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg''

Awards

Filmography

Feature films

Short films

References

Further reading

External links