The Museum. Dir: Kenton Vaughan 2008. Source: The Festivalists. All rights reserved.
Kate McCurdy
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The 3rd annual Possible Worlds Film Festival, held in Sydney November 27 – December 2, aims to introduce and familiarise Australian audiences with the rich diversity, vibrant talent and the accessible nature of Canadian film. Much of the program of films selected for the festival will be screened in Australia for the first time.
This year’s program highlights included Guy Maddin’s docu-fantasia My Winnipeg and the Australian premiere of The Museum.
My Winnipeg is the latest feature film by Canadian auteur, and unique filmmaker, Guy Maddin. The film can be viewed as an attempt to revisit and therefore understand his upbringing in Winnipeg, Manitoba (the coldest and most central city in North America). The result has been described as ‘equal parts mystical renumeration and personal history, city chronicle and deranged post-Freudian proletarian fantasy’, and is an engaging, reflective and entertaining experience. Maddin’s keen sense of humour is at the fore, not only through the inspired application of animation, archive footage and re-enactments that make up the film, but also as he guides the audience via his narration.
Previous films by Maddin include a number of short films, as well as his recent features The Saddest Music in the World (2003) and Brand upon the Brain! (2006).
My Winnipeg. Dir: Guy Maddin 2008. Source: The Festivalists. All rights reserved.
Another documentary highlight at the Possible Worlds festival is Kenton Vaughan’s highly entertaining film The Museum, exposing the ego, art, politics and architecture of the newly rejuvenated Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada. William Thorsell, director of the Royal Ontario Museum, in response to the digital age and old-fashioned appearance of the museum, made the decision to give the building a much-needed facelift. Due to the scale and publicity surrounding such a make-over, as the newly designed building would effectively transform the entire city let alone Bloor Street on which it stands, the choice of architect for the project was crucial. The decision was to employ celebrity architect Daniel Libeskind, a global brand behind some of the world’s most prestigious landmarks including Ground Zero in New York.
The Museum is a fascinating portrait of these two visionary men and their daring quest to reinvent public architecture.
The Museum. Dir: Kenton Vaughan 2008. Source: The Festivalists. All rights reserved.
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