Noted filmmaker shares his secrets

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This article was published 21/10/2011 (5309 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

‘He’s such a warm and loving guy,” said emerging filmmaker Judith Morrow of Albert Maysles, the famous documentary filmmaker who flew in from New York City this month to teach a masters class. It was part of Winnipeg Film Group’s fourth Gimme Some Truth documentary festival.

People who bought tickets to The Grey Garden viewing last Thursday night at Cinematheque were invited to the Winnipeg Free Press News Café party with the director. “People were in awe. Everybody wanted to talk to the man,” Morrow said.

Among the octogenarian’s many documentaries, Gimme Shelter and The Grey Garden (original 1976 version) are best known. “He showed us how filming an ordinary person in their natural lives can be done and you can make a beautiful movie out of it,” says Morrow.

At the masters class held at Cinematheque, Maysles illustrated his technique with clips of his filming of people travelling on a train. “He taught us how to be patient, to connect with people, to show them your love and let their stories unfold,” said Morrow.

Maysles showed a clip of a particularly nervous woman who turned out to be going to see her mother — they’d been separated since she was six years old.

“At the end, we see her getting off the train and reconnecting with her mother after 30 years — so very happy to see one another,” says Morrow.

 

SLEUTHING DEPARTMENT: Something mysterious is going on at the Whodunit Mystery Bookstore on Lilac Street. A stream of people are coming in and out at night, when the store is closed. Turns out they host support groups for mystery nuts. Local crime fiction writers with works in progress — people like Susie Strachan, Michael Hartley, Jane Walker and Bob Preston — have each other to lean on.

“They bring stuff they’ve written to read. People critique it. Good group. Very relevant!” says co-owner Wendy Bumsted in rapid-fire detective style. Feisty co-owner and husband Jack Bumsted cautions, “But if you don’t like being critiqued, you wouldn’t start with that group.”

Then there’s the mystery book discussion group that meets the last Tuesday of every month.

“All kinds of people attend between the ages of 35 and 75. Our group is different,” says the former history professor who’s used to handing out assignments — and expecting them in.

“We assign books and hand out questions and it’s very successful,” says Jack, who crams his group into the comfy little bookstore. “People like it a lot and are always trying to join. It’s not a drop-in thing. You have to commit. The next chance to join is after Christmas,” he says, so now’s the time to get in the queue.

 

HEAR OF EARWORMS? You know, those annoying songs that play over and over in your head and drive you crazy? Comedians J.D. Renaud and Chantel Marostica are setting themselves up for earworm torture this Halloween — 24 hours of listening to the same annoying song over and over — to raise money for the SmileTrain charity.

“We’re collecting $1 votes for the top song people want us to listen to for 24 hours straight all Halloween day and night,” says Renaud. It’s to support the surgeons who operate on cleft palettes in Third World countries. For $250, surgeons can give a child back a normal face and a new life.

The duo will set up on the patio at the Standard pub on Sherbrook Street, enduring their torture and collecting donations for the charity. Kinder people have voted for Halloween songs like Monster Mash, but others are throwing down vote money for crazy-making songs like The Bird. (“Everybody’s heard, about the bird. Bird, bird, bird. Bird is the word.”) “Our goal is $1,500.” That’ll be six children with reconstructed faces and new smiles.

What inspired this event? Says Renaud: “Last year I realized I’d never really donated to anything and I’m physically not fit to run a marathon. But, I’m mentally strong and I can do this.”

Marostica knows it’s going to be a trial for her. “I’m going to smoke a lot of cigarettes,” she confesses.

Best place to find them? They’ll be taking donations at their own comedy events at The Standard Oct. 26 and 27, and people can check out www.theplaceholdersshow.com where they’re keeping track of votes and money raised.

 

FROM BEAN-COUNTING TO RECORDING: You never know who you’ll see on stage in Winnipeg. Melissa McKinney, a financial clerk who hosted Rez Nation on NCI-FM under the name Foxy Jackson Brown with co-host Shortie Stylz, showed up at the Bella Vista open mike Wednesday night. She belted out Roxy Roller and a heart-wrenching version of Sweet Dreams, with lead guitarist John Cochrane behind her.

“My goal now is to make music my life and to get paid for what I love doing,” says the 33-year-old accountant. “I’m going after it. We’re recording a demo as the Melissa McKinney Band.”

Other NCI-FM radio listeners will know McKinney from hosting House of Rock, Hot Country and More and the National Aboriginal Top 30 Countdown. She likes country music, but she LOVES singing rock. “All kinds, like BOB-FM!” she laughs. Oh the irony, oh the ecstasy.

 

Got tips, events, sightings, unusual things going on? Call Maureen’s tip line at 474-1116, email her at Maureen.Scurfield@Winnipegfreepress.com or send mail to The Insider, c/o the Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, R2X 3B6.