Gimme gimme documentary film

The Winnipeg Film Group presents its fifth annual documentary festival, Gimme Some Truth at the Cinematheque

Johnathan Caouette will do a master class Sunday, March 17 at 10 a.m., including a conversation lead by Noam Gonick. Supplied
Supplied

Surely you’ve listened to at least one person’s rant about documentaries being grand camouflages of reality, journalistic failures or tedious viewer experiences.

With its fifth annual documentary festival Gimme Some Truth (March 14 to March 17) the Winnipeg Film Group intends to provide audiences with a greater understanding of the documentary form while reasserting that the overdone rant is démodé.

“This festival explodes the myth that documentaries are dull. It opens people’s eyes to another way of experiencing film,” says Dave Barber, Cinematheque’s programming coordinator.

The festival will include panel discussions, master lectures, workshops and special screenings, all taking place at the Cinematheque. It will also feature two late-night programs.

Winnipeg Film Group member Stéphane Oystryk is participating in the festival for a second year. His hour-long film, Alors, t’as soif de quoi?, documents Winnipeg electronic rock band Mahogany Frog through their music rehearsals and day-to-day lives.

“The film’s intention isn’t to create an image for the band, but to show that they’re regular guys who work day jobs and who share the same passion for music.”

Oystryk, who has experimented with several genres since he finished his film studies at the University of Manitoba, decided to make this documentary largely because he discovered a story that resonated with his own.

“Here they were making music without making money, and here I was in the same situation making my films. Our budgets were very modest but it was a perfect fit: I could offer them a free movie and they could offer me the opportunity to make it.”

Another notable participant in the fest is Winnipeg’s Mike Maryniuk, whose surreal imagery, handmade props and scratch animation enchant Barber.

“There are so many creative elements in his films,” Barber says. “It’s like he’s mixing everything into one big bowl of soup.”

Maryniuk, who works at Freeze Frame and teaches workshops on scratch animations, explains the process.

“It’s literally taking a strip of film and scratching it with dentistry tools. You can physically rework your image by hand after. It’s kind of like morphing.”

In several of his 34 films (including the Sundance-approved Cattle Calland The Yodeling Farmer, two of the nine short documentaries that will screen on the closing night of the festival), the local filmmaker depicts rural landscapes and patterns.

Maryniuk reveals that living in Winnipeg has shaped a lot of - as he calls it - the “underdog sensitivity” in his content.

“I tell stories that work at a much slower pace with images and concepts that are often overlooked by the rest of the nation. But I don’t make documentaries to show details in order. For me it’s about experiences.”

Although the festival’s focus is on local filmmakers, Jonathan Caouette is flying from New York for his first visit to Winnipeg, and he’s excited.

“You guys were big supporters of one of my favourite films, Phantom of the Paradise. It wouldn’t have been what it is today (without Winnipeg).”

Caouette’s raw storytelling about his mother’s mental illness in Tarnation and Walk Away Renée, both screening at the Winnipeg documentary festival, has led him to the New York Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival.

Despite his success, Caouette restrains from gloating.

“I still don’t consider myself a professional director, but rather an assembler. I never went to film school. I just grew up a huge video store geek, so watching movies was my education.

“I also still have the mindset of a 12-year-old boy. I like the idea of picking up a camera and just pointing it at something or someone.”

Whether or not he considers himself a professional, Caouette will be the head of a master class led by Winnipeg filmmaker Noam Gonick at the festival. According to Maryniuk, there is nothing more valuable as a filmmaker than to hear other filmmakers’ stories.

“It’s a chance to hear from Canadian filmmakers who really have found their authority,” Maruniuk says. “It’s sort of like a mani-pedi for the filmmaker’s soul.”

The Gimme Some Truth Documentary Festival runs Thursday, March 14 to Sunday, March 17 at Cinematheque. For a complete line-up and more information, visit www.gimmesometruth.ca.

Published in Volume 67, Number 23 of The Uniter (March 14, 2013)

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