Doc explores film group’s volatile history

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This article was published 01/11/2017 (3243 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If Winnipeg enjoys a certain cultural cachet disproportionate to its population and overall stature, some thanks are due to the Winnipeg Film Group.

The plucky film co-op gets to be the subject of its own feature-length documentary, opening Cinematheque’s Gimme Some Truth documentary festival tonight at 7 p.m., courtesy of two of its membership stalwarts, Dave Barber and Kevin Nikkel.

Fortunately, neither co-director is inclined to gloss over the WFG’s history with undue sentiment. After all, when it was formed in 1974 it largely consisted of a group of artists who did not always get along in the co-operative spirit intended.

The film is disinclined to whitewash the failures and infighting that might befall any organization.

But in this compulsively watchable overview, one does marvel at the talent that fell into the group’s orbit, starting mainly with John Paizs, whose short trilogy The Three Worlds of Nick, followed up by the marvellous feature Crime Wave, announced a formidable talent that would set the tone of the WFG for decades to come in his ability to make big impressions with minimal resources.

Paizs inspired My Winnipeg filmmaker Guy Maddin and the through-line continued through the ’80s, ’90s and 2000s, with disparate talents including Shereen Jerrett, Ed Ackerman, Jeff Erbach, Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan, Noam Gonick, Deco Dawson, Sol Nagler, Matthew Rankin, Walter Forsburg, Mike Maryniuk, Danishka Esterhazy and Ryan McKenna.

(Paizs, as elusive as the characters he often played, is the only one of these filmmakers who doesn’t do an interview.)

Loaded with footage of films both fondly remembered and best left forgotten, Tales celebrates towering creativity on a flat surface.

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @FreepKing