... where the great plains begin

0 Comments POSTED: August 14, 2007 21:35 | By: Alex Rogalski
As a benchmark year in the prairies, the Winnipeg Film Group and the Saskatchewan Filmpool Cooperative celebrated their 33rd and 30th anniversaries respectively in 2007. Milestones are an apt time to reflect on history and forecast the future, so it seemed appropriate to address some of the Short Cuts Canada films hailing from the wide open western plains.

The-Whole-Day-Through-2.jpg    Adam Budd?s film ?The Whole Day Through? was shot on location in South Western Saskatchewan where Budd was raised.  I asked Adam what made him decide to make films in his home province. ?I realised I may be able to make film in Saskatchewan when I was introduced to the work of other filmmakers from the province like Jason Britski, Dianne Ouellette and Ian Toews in my Canadian cinema class at the University of Regina and through early screenings at the Saskatchewan Filmpool. Though geographically you are isolated, I never felt that way.?   

    Support from fellow filmmakers and assistance from a cooperative is a model that has served the prairies well. Cecilia Araneda, a filmmaker and Executive Director of the Winnipeg Film Group, explains that  ?Film co-ops were initiated within a void. Initially, lack of access to equipment prevented filmmakers from realistically practising their art. In Winnipeg, the Film Group is strongly financially supported by the arts council system, as opposed to the film industry, and so the development of the type of filmmaking we support aligns with a more artistic model of filmmaking. Informal mentorships and the influence of the existing community of practicing filmmakers in Winnipeg is of significant impact. Film exists in Winnipeg in a ?handed down? way - from filmmaker to filmmaker.?  
    
    Through his involvement with the Saskatchewan Filmpool, Budd furthers this sentiment, ?The support from other filmmakers and artists is very strong. It's a very close knit community and yet it's extremely diverse in interests. I would think nothing of going from contemporary dance to gardening to performance art to ceramics and to be welcomed at each event. Because the arts community is small it was possible to know and see most of the people on a regular basis. I think it also helps that some of the filmmakers in the province show their work all over the world and this gives a sense of hope and belonging. To know these people personally when you are young and starting out is a tremendous boost.?  

    The collective nature of an artistic community also influenced Jason Cawood, the writer of Terminus, who lives in Regina, ?From what little I've experienced with other places in Canada, it seems as though there's a lot more cross-over within the film and art communities in Regina.  Film people will show up to art events, and vice-versa.  There's very little segregation of the sort i've seen in other cities.  Perhaps it's merely because each individual scene in Regina is too small to thrive on its own, and so everyone supports each other regardless of discipline.?

    Winnipeg, although a more populated centre than Regina, shares with it the distinction that they are isolated urban centres, supported by rural economies.  ?Winnipeg is a city of about 700,000. We are not really as rural as the urban legend that has made its way out to the rest of Canada and the world?, explains Araneda.  ?Winnipeg is an extremely cosmopolitan city with a symphony orchestra, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and many artist run galleries. Comparing it toe to toe with other centres of the same population, you will see that it has a strong and cosmopolitan artistic culture ? perhaps because we are the only city for miles and do not have a ?Toronto? close by.?

    Access to local cultural institutions is obviously not enough to create a tradition of independent filmmakers, and as Araneda points out ecomonic conditions have made it more feasible for prairie filmmakers to pursue their passions without moving away. ?Factors such as affordable housing are not acknowledged nearly enough, nor is the size of Winnipeg. Affordable housing means that filmmakers can live off of a part time job and practice filmmaking the rest of the time. The small size of Winnipeg means that filmmakers can pop into the Film Group on their lunch hour or after work. Many filmmaker members are here weekly, and sometimes daily if they are prepping a film. On the one-hand, we are clearly working within a city (and not a rural environment), but on the other hand, our city is so small that it is lacking in opportunities for more industry-minded directors ? those must go east or west. The ones that remain working here truly are ?independent? in spirit.?  This spirit is evident in the work of Deco Dawson, Sean Garrity, Noam Gonick, Guy Maddin, and Neil and Cathy McInnes, all filmmakers who have established their careers in Winnipeg, working with assistance from the Winnipeg Filmgroup and whose films are featured this year at TIFF.

    The ?independent spirit? is a broad term, but one that reflects an outlook indicative of always looking from the outside in -  ?Perhaps if we'd grown up in a large, affluent city, our perspective would be more conventional, and there'd be less impetus to be subversive? says Jason Cawood, continuing, ?Certainly, living in a small prairie city, one cannot help but assume the role of an outsider, and from this vantage point it's easier to uncover the dark humour in urban life, at least more so than someone totally immersed in a big city.?

A prairie pysche is as difficult to define as ?Canadianness?. The landscape becomes a muse and allows us to define ourselves through it.  Two Short Cuts Canada prairie films do this succinctly yet in distinct ways. Sean Garrity?s film Re-Order and Adam Budd?s The Whole Day Through draw deeply from the environments of their characters, and there?s no mistaking the isolating nature of the great plains.  Reflecting on a late cinematic giant, Budd offers ?Another thought is something I remember from Ingmar Bergman - he thought of the landscape as another character. I like this analogy as it seems apt since the landscape isn't just a pretty backdrop - it's our nature, who we are. I think true self-knowledge lies within our home and therefore our familiar landscapes.?

Categories: Canadian Film Programmes

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