What’s up, doc?

Many of us remember when Kelekis closed in 2013.

But the iconic North End diner lives on in myth and memory, including an almost forgotten 1981 documentary called Kelekis — 50 Years in the Chip given second life thanks to a new initiative by the Documentary Organization of Canada’s Manitoba chapter.

The Manitoba Documentary Archive, launched on YouTube this fall, showcases regionally made docs from across the decades. Some have been dusted off from the back shelves of the province’s filmmaking annals and are still gaining traction online.

Others are already doing a victory lap, such as Merit Motion Pictures’ popular Ballet Girls, directed by Elise Swerhone, which tracks a handful of young hopefuls as they strive and compete to join the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. It’s gained hundreds of thousands of views in the past few months.

“What makes this such a great venture is that we have content that speaks to what is going on here,” says Kevin Nikkel, who manages the archive. “Toronto can’t do anything about it, because this is on YouTube,” he adds cheekily.

Many of the films featured on the archive have a cosy or nostalgic feel, focusing on beloved venues and restaurants like Kelekis.

Call To Arms: The Story of the Royal Albert (2009) dives into the historic Exchange District watering hole/venue. In its punk heyday, the gritty venue was a required stop for DIY bands touring in vans across the country.

Through interviews with the likes of journalist John Kendle and Canadian music heavyhitters such as Propagandhi, Sloan and Bif Naked, Call To Arms captures the musical eruptions that still resonate within its sepia walls.

Havakeen Lunch (also by Swerhone), a classic of Manitoba documentary from 1978, is a poignant portrait of a favourite café in Manitoba’s Interlake on its last day — and an understated commentary on the loss of these civic spaces in small-town Canada.

“It’s a great example of a small regional story in rural Manitoba, and the struggle of the family that runs (the café) to keep the place open and decide what to do with it. And it’s just beautifully told,” Nikkel says.

One of Nikkel’s films also appears on the YouTube channel. Within TV show Letterkenny’s fictional rural universe, there’s a rowdy beer league team called No Regretsky. As it turns out, this was the name of a real hockey team captured by Nikkel’s 2009 doc of the same name.

“It doesn’t matter that they lose all their games, they’re having a great time, and the other teams start to get mad at them because they’re not taking this seriously,” says Nikkel.

“So it’s a great underdog story of people who believe in their team and the communal aspects of being a part of something collectively.”

Nikkel says that anyone can submit a documentary for consideration (there’s a form at the top of the YouTube channel). Having shared 20 films and gained more than 2,500 subscribers in the past few months, he’s confident the channel will continue to grow — and he is looking to explore more algorithmically dynamic spaces, like Instagram and TikTok, where organizations including the National Film Board often go viral with short clips of films from their archives.

Nikkel points that it’s always more difficult for filmmakers working far away from the country’s metropolitan areas, the Canadian film industry’s centres of gravity.

“Canada doesn’t hold a candle to Hollywood and all that, but Winnipeg really struggles in the shadow of the folks in Toronto who set the agenda and who get most of the funding,” he says.

“The Manitoba Documentary Archive is a way to champion our local stories.”

Nikkel encourages audiences to subscribe to the channel, so they can receive reminders about the weekly films released on the channel, and hopes educators may discover the channel too.

“You know, teachers out there who are hungry and looking for some content to show students in the classrooms — you got a growing buffet of local and Manitoba documentaries telling some really interesting tales,” he says.

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