Interview with Guy Maddin

This on-line interview was conducted in the Summer of 2009 for the farewell issue of Super 8 Today magazine but the issue did not make it to print so I would like to share it here:

INTERVIEW WITH SUPER 8 SUPER-HERO GUY MADDIN by Rick Palidwor

Guy Maddin is one of the most prolific and adventurous filmmakers in the world today. Since diving into the pool in 1986 Guy has made 9 features (5 shot in whole or part on super 8) and 27 shorts (7 shot in whole or part on super 8). But we are not here to celebrate quantity. Guy’s films are all unique and imaginative gems and many have won major international prizes (see selected filmography). In this respect Guy has probably done more than anyone else to advance super 8 into the world of professional filmmaking.

One thing I personally admire about Guy is that he continues to make shorts, most of which appear to be very personal non-commercial works. I am tired of misguided filmmakers who say “don’t make any more shorts once you’ve made a feature. It’s like going backwards”. No. You’re an idiot. It’s like telling Alice Munro not to write any more short stories because it’s a “lower form” than the novel. If you have an idea for a two minute story, make a two minute film. Conversely, if you can only afford to make a 2-minute film, tell a two minute story. In other words, your story should be no longer than it needs to be or can afford to be, end of story, literally and figuratively.

Sorry for the rant, but it’s one of my pet peeves: an arbitrary notion on the length of a movie based on an artificial standard. If Guy had stopped making shorts after his first “feature” in 1988, we would be blessed with a mere 10 Maddin films to date, rather than 36. In this respect, Guy’s work is a celebration of short form film as a valid art form. Full stop.

Another thing I admire about Guy, something I did not know until I conducted this interview, is the laid back, practical, almost flippant approach to the technology. In contrast to those who get bogged down in the minutiae of the technical aspects of filmmaking Guy reminds us that filmmaking is about ideas and imagination and a camera is just a tool. Great artists can make great art with any tool. Guy’s work is a living testament to a worthy old saying: It’s not the gear it’s what you do with it.

If you are not familiar with Guy’s work a couple of stories are in order:

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) commissioned a number of Canadian filmmakers to make short films to screen as trailers for their 2000 Festival. The directive, if I recall, was that the short should address filmmaking in some regard. Participants included such notables as David Cronenberg, Atom Egoyan, Patricia Rozema and Michael Snow, but it was Guy’s 6-minute opus, The Heart of the World (prophetically, his first to incorporate super 8 film) that became the talk of the festival. Go to YouTube and watch it to see what Eisenstein might have made if he’d grown up with the MTV-generation editing aesthetic.

Guy’s 2006 feature, Brand Upon the Brain! (shot entirely on super 8), was conceived as a silent film to be presented with live foley, live music and live narration. After premiering at TIFF this film-performance spectacle went on to tour throughout the U.S. with an 11-piece orchestra, a castrato, a 5-piece foley team and a revolving door of celebrity narrators, including actors Edward Hibbert, Anne Jackson, Udo Kier, Barbara Steele; actor-director-author-musician Crispin Glover; actor-director-musician Tunde Adebimpe; drag performer Justin Bond; writer-actor Joie Lee, author Daniel Handler; Tribeca Film Festival Director Peter Scarlet; singer-songwriter Lou Reed and; Mike Watt from the seminal punk band the Minutemen. Eventually a sound stripe was added for a “normal” release with actor Isabella Rosselini narrating. The DVD version features 6 narration tracks by Rossellini, actors Louis Negin, and Eli Wallach, musician-artist Laurie Anderson, poet John Ashbery, and Maddin himself.

At some point Guy was commissioned to make a “documentary” about his home-and-eternal-town Winnipeg, Manitoba, as part of a broader Canadian Cities collection which never came to fruition (though thankfully Guy’s contribution did). My Winnipeg  was his first foray into video, shot mostly on HDTV, but at some point Guy decided this was not the right project for HD so he projected the HD footage onto his fridge and filmed it. These newly filmed images were then combined with other 16mm, super 8 and cell phone footage (a new favourite of his) to create the most surreal “documentary” I have ever seen. After my screening (where Guy did live narration) I spoke to a friend who was from Winnipeg and discovered that many of the sections I assumed to be true, such as the multi-level public swimming pool, were “pure fiction”.  Apparently in Guy’s world a swimming pool can exist, metaphorically, on many levels, such as a “boys pool” and a “girls pool”, so he merely films it as if it were literally so.

More recently Guy was commissioned by Canada’s National Film Board to make a short drama as part of their 70^th anniversary celebration, but only after he immersed himself in their archives for a spell. A story printed in March 2009 at cinematical.com quoted: "What [Guy] has envisioned is an imaginative cinematic riff on the significance of a public film producer." The result, premiering six months later at TIFF, is Night Mayor, “the story of a Bosnian immigrant, serving also as Winnipeg's 'night mayor’, who in 1939 conceives a way to harness the power of the Aurora Borealis to broadcast images of his beloved country to its identity-starved citizens from coast to coast to coast.”

Ode to the imagination indeed.

Given Guy’s presumably frantic schedule I am humbled that he took the time to answer my questions and multiple follow-ups, emphasis on multiple.

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Rick Palidwor: I find it interesting that you did not start using super 8 until 2000 with The Heart of the World. Any reason you didn't use it prior to that and for what reason did you begin at the time that you did?

Guy Maddin: I didn't use super8mm before because I was set in my ways and very comfortable with the 16mm flatbed. For The Heart of the World, Deco Dawson cut the super 8 on the tiny equipment used in the old days before we blew it up to 16 -- my comfort zone. Later, when I switched over to Avid it became less terrifying to work in super8mm.

RP: When did you move to Avid?

GM: I went over permanently to Avid and Final Cut Pro in 2002 with Cowards Bend the Knee.

RP: Any favourite film stocks?

GM: First of all, thanks for the Canadian spelling of "favourite." I've been a big fan of 7266 Tri-X B&W. Lot's of grain, lots of mystifaction! It just gives you a world you can't see with the naked eyes. It turns your super8mm camera into a magical transformer of worlds. Well, the super8mm camera already is that, but it really maxes out its powers with this stock, I feel.

RP: Is "mystifaction" a typo (perhaps you meant "mystification") or an intentional neologism? If so it's a great new word, I just don't want to misrepresent.

GM: I like the sound of mYstifaction -- a mixture of mystery and putrefaction. Let's stay with it despite it making me seem like a colourful character out of Dickens.

RP: Have you tried any of the more exotic stocks, like those offered by Wittner, Spectra or Pro8 or do you stick with Kodak's off-the-shelf stocks?

GM: I guess I've been, sorry to say, a man of the shelf. I get nervous having to send stocks off to Australia, Kansas and/or Oz to have it processed. I like my local lab, Exclusive in Toronto, one thousand miles away from my home here in Winnipeg, that's about as local as a super8mm lab can be. I've never processed my own stuff, which makes me less of a filmmaker, I know, but I just feel that I've always relied on a high frequency of mistakes to help my look, but the inevitable mistakes in processing could just destroy days and days of shooting, so I play it conservatively at the processing stage while I'm willing to be as reckless and as adventurous as anyone at the shooting stage.

RP: Do you have any interest in Kodak's new high-speed colour negative stocks? (e.g. Vision3 500 ISO)?

GM: I do want to shoot in colour, but I don't know enough about this stuff to proceed. I probably just need to sit down with someone who's shot this stuff before I make the plunge. Either that or get a subscription to your magazine.

RP: I remember lots of hand-dyed or tinted frames in Saddest Music. Anything to say about that process?

GM: I'd like to say I personally stained, dyed or bleached in deep and pungent vats the very film emulsions used in those scenes to achieve the effects I got, but I simply had the colour timer turn a dial to eleven and then went for donuts. So banal.

RP: Do you shoot any Regular 8mm (aka Double 8) and anything to say about that format and the stocks available, as compared to Super 8?

GM:  I've never shot any. I have at least six Regular 8mm cameras, but no idea where to get the stock or process it. I should be interviewing you.

RP: You are credited as the Cinematographer on eight of your super 8 films. Anything to say on that decision to operate the camera versus handing that role to someone else? Size of production perhaps? Budget?

GM: I like hands on filmmaking, and nothing is more simple than super8mm. The low budget just means complete independence from investors, no one can stop me from doing my own camera work. But it's true I often have no money either.

RP: You must have used many different cameras over the years. Any favourites?

GM: I like the Bauer. I've used one Bauer or another on almost all my super8mm projects. I've also used Nizo models, but feel most charmed with the Bauer. It's just a loyalty thing. The Bauer was my first girlfriend and I get no thrill cheating on her.

RP: Do any of your Bauer's have model numbers?

GM: All of them were C107XL

RP: Any camera war-stories?

GM: The cameras, they break, and for the longest time I knew no one who repaired them. I'm no repair man, I just break 'em with my brutish hands. But I've found this Dr. Frankenstein figure here in Winnipeg who robs the camera graveyards at night for parts needed to bring my darlings back to life. Now, a harem of Bauers lies nestled in my boudoir, ready to jump into my hands at a word from me.

RP: Some of my most interesting footage has resulted from camera malfunction: has that ever happened to you?

GM: Yes, I depend on these accidents. Some are mechanical malfunctions, some are brain cramps. Others result from ignorance. I never even knew my Bauers had diopters until this year. Most of Cowards Bend the Knee, a feature I shot in 2002, is completely and to me delightfully out of focus as a result.

RP: Any concerns about the continued availability of super 8 cameras (the weak link in the future of super 8)?

GM: I never think of the future. I'm scared of the abyss.

RP: Any camera tricks you are willing to share?

GM: My only trick, but it's served me well, is to learn nothing.

RP: Do you have anything to say on your dealings with Super 8 labs?

GM: In addition to the fantastic people at Exclusive I've also worked with Dragan at Black and White Film Factory [in Toronto] -- a super nice guy who really cares a lot, but Exclusive has been so wonderful to me over the years. I'd also like to put in a word for Jeff Bottomley at Ryerson [University] in Toronto, where I processed 16mm for many years. These are loving people who care about their work. It's all been wonderful.

RP: A key step in shooting super 8 is the transfer to tape or digital file or optical blow-up. Anything to say about your experiences in this area, who you work with, etc?

GM: Margaret at Exclusive just has the people in the back eyeball it during transfer. It's always pleased me. Dragan really puts a lot of interpretive love into each frame. That guy knows his film. Bottomley was a reassuring master. You see, all these timings were done over the phone so it was important I trust and like these people. If footage turned out badly I needed to know it was my fault and not just the labs.

RP: In general is there anything you'd like to say about 8mm film and why you continue to use it in a professional environment?

GM: It turns Canada and my environment within it into an enchanted space. 

RP: Do you have any advice for super 8 shooters, re: labs, work-flows, shooting super 8 knowing it is going to 35mm print?

GM: Nope, just do it as often as possible. If there were 4mm film I'd use it. Wondrous strips of emulsion, I adore you!!!

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Guy Maddin, Selected Director Super 8 Filmography

(for a complete filmography go to IMDB.com)

* Denotes that Guy also did some or all of the super 8 camera work.

·  *Night Mayor (2009) 10 min, B&W

Shot mostly on 16mm but some Super 8.

·  *Spanky: To the Pier and Back (2008) (V)  4 min, B&W

Shot on super 8 7266.

·  *Footsteps (2008) (V)  B&W

Shot on super 8 7266.

·  My Winnipeg (2007)  80 min, B&W/Col

Shot on 16mm 7222; super 8 7266; miniDV; HDTV; cell phone.

Best Documentary, San Francisco Film Critics Circle
Best Canadian Film, Toronto Film Critics Association
Best Canadian Feature Film, Toronto International Film Festival

·  *Odin's Shield Maiden (2007)  5 min, B&W

Shot on super 8 7266.

·  Brand Upon the Brain! (2006) 95 min, B&W

Shot on Super 8 7266.

·  *Sombra dolorosa (2004)  4 min, Col

Shot on super8mm 7240.

·  The Saddest Music in the World (2003)  100 min, B&W/Col

Shot on 16mm and super 8 7266 (about 20%).

Best Screenplay – Adapted (with George Toles), Chlotrudis Award
Craft Award Outstanding Achievement in Production Design - Feature Film (Matthew Davies), Director’s Guild of Canada
Best Achievement in Costume Design (Meg McMillan), Genie Awards
Best Achievement in Editing (David Wharnsby), Genie Awards
Best Achievement in Music - Original Score (Christopher Dedrick), Genie Awards
Film Discovery Jury Award Best Director, U.S. Comedy Arts Festival

·  *Cowards Bend the Knee or The Blue Hands (2003)  60 min

Shot on super 8 7266.

FIPRESCI Prize - Special Mention, for its perversely witty fusing of the silent cinema tradition and contemporary installation art, continuing Rotterdam's bridge-building between different visual disciplines, Rotterdam International Film Festival

·  *Fancy, Fancy Being Rich (2002) (TV)  6 min, B&W

Shot onsuper 8 7266.

·  Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary (2002) 73 min, B&W

About 35% shot on super 8 7266.

Best Art Direction (Deanne Rohde, Ricardo Alms), Blizzard Awards
Arts Programming, International Emmy Awards
Best Film, Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival

·  *The Heart of the World (2000)  6 min, B&W

Shot on 16mm 7222 & super 8 7266 (about 50/50).

Best Cinematography, Aspen Shorts Fest
Special Mention - Short Film, Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film
Best Live Action Short Drama, Genie Awards
FIPRESCI Prize Best Short Subject for its loving and comic homage to the cinemas of Einstein and Pudovkin and silent cinema in general, Miami Film Festival
Best Experimental Film, National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA
Golden Gate Award Film & Video - Short Narrative, San Francisco International Film Festival

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Guy Maddin on DVD

All of Guy’s features are available on DVD, though at the time of this writing My Winnipeg is only available in PAL format from: mywinnipeg.co.uk. An NTSC release is bound to come.

Twilight of the Ice Nymphs and Archangel are packaged together with the short The Heart of the World as “The Guy Maddin Collection”.

Brand Upon the Brain! - Criterion Collection, includes two shorts directed exclusively for this release: Footsteps and It’s My Mother’s Birthday Today. The latter title, strangely, is not on the IMDB so slipped through my filmography net and all this was discovered too late to seek detailing from Guy.

Guy Maddin on DVD

Many of Guy’s shorts are on YouTube. I heard Guy say that he uploaded them himself.

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Rick Palidwor teaches filmmaking in Toronto. He has made numerous shorts, many originating on super 8, and he is the co-director (with Mitch Perkins) of Sleep Always, the first feature shot on super-duper 8 (widescreen super 8). www.friendlyfirefilms.com