Emotional AGM results in ‘fresh blood’ at WFG

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This article was published 31/03/2021 (2013 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On the evening of Thursday, March 25, the Winnipeg Film Group held an annual general meeting that only occasionally resembled a nice, comfortable AGM, with hopeful open calls for “creative producers” and vague plans for an upcoming semi-centennial celebration in 2024.

Mostly, the emotionally charged online meeting displayed a schism that has torn through the 47-year-old institution in the aftermath of former executive director Greg Klymkiw’s departure, declared on March 17 with the blunt formal announcement: “The Winnipeg Film Group’s relationship with its Executive Director has ended.”

The AGM particularly focused on the “toxic” environment at the WFG, an accusation levelled mainly by former WFG employee Ben Williams, who posted an indictment of the leadership of both the executive and the board three weeks ago on his personal webpage.

Among other criticisms, Williams accused Klymkiw of “profane, socially backward and mean-spirited language at the workplace.”

By the end of the AGM, eight new board members had been elected, including Allison Stevens, Bisong Taiwo, Mariana Munoz Gomez, Melody Malakooti, Reza Rezai and Sarah Simpson-Yellowquill. All are new, except for Kevin Tabachnick, the only returning board member, who was subsequently elected to the position of chairman.

The evening also saw the announcement of David Knipe as the interim executive director. Knipe, formerly the WFG’s manager of operations, was also the senior film programmer of the Gimli Film Festival. Knipe said he is unsure if he will seek the executive director job permanently.

“The contract is for a year and my biggest goal is to find the next permanent ED,” Knipe said. “Whether I apply for that, I’m not sure yet.”

In any case, Knipe sees his job now is to make sure younger, less established members of the WFG have a voice in the organization, which became a creative force in the 1980s when local filmmakers such as Guy Maddin and John Paizs were putting the WFG on the cultural map with films such as the Klymkiw-produced Tales From the Gimli Hospital (1988) or Paizs’ 1985 feature Crime Wave.

But the WFG can’t go forward resting on its past laurels, Knipe says.

“I personally believe that any organization in the arts sector needs a changeover of ideas and perspectives. That’s what keeps organizations pushing forward, progressing and prevents them from being stagnant.

“Fresh blood is vital to the ongoing success of an organization, especially the Winnipeg Film Group.”

Knipe also considers it important to resolve the situation regarding Williams, who said in his post the four letters he sent to the board about the situation last year went unacknowledged.

“It certainly is first and foremost in our minds,” Knipe said. “We’ve been in contact with Ben and we plan to keep lines of communication open to figure out a way to rectify the situation.”

Knipe says he hoped Thursday night’s AGM will clear the air in the months to come.

“There’s a lot of hurt and anger in the film community in Winnipeg — not just circling around the film group — and a lot of that has been left to fester for years and we’re finally seeing a lot of it start to come to light,” he said. “I think Thursday night was one of the first steps towards a process of healing for the community.

“I feel like for a lot of people it was some form of catharsis for people to have their voices heard and get their perspectives on things.”

 

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @FreepKing