Dave Barber

The explosive story of how a stubborn band of independent filmmakers started a film co-operative that became the most highly respected and mythologized film centre in Canada. Tales outlines the tremendous importance and impact of Winnipeg on the national filmmaking scene. Packed with rare archival footage, dynamic film excerpts, and hilarious interviews, this documentary traces the history of the legendary Winnipeg Film Group. We hear candid behind the scenes stories that illuminate the storied rise of acclaimed filmmakers like John Paizs (Crime Wave), Guy Maddin (Tales From The Gimli Hospital, My Winnipeg) Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan (We’re Talking Vulva, Good Citizen, Betty Baker) and Caroline Monnet (Ikwe). Often mired in controversy, the Film Group has been acclaimed at film festivals around the world – attested to by several Toronto film luminaries in the film – for subversive, original filmmaking. This documentary continues that tradition of bold, exuberant work.

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In April of 2013 long time Winnipeg Cinematheque programmer Dave Barber was invited to receive the Queen's Diamond Jubilee medal. It was a remarkable occasion. The awards ceremony was in a packed hall at the Legislative Building. Everything was going fine until...

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When we became Folk Fest is a feature documentary about the founding and explosive growth of the Winnipeg Folk Festival. The driving force of the Festival's start is the audacious and unflinching founder, Mitch Podolak. Using a cache of unseen Super 8 footage shot in 1975 by the Winnipeg Film Group, we see the Festival’s beginnings through incredible archival images and pristine sound recordings from the Folk Festival collection. Voices of interviews with celebrated fest luminaries and live musical performances carry the story of how an underdog music festival grew out of the meadows of Birds Hill Park to become one of the most important folk festivals in North America.

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A tenuously connected group of nobodies trudge through their dreary Winnipeg existence. A sickly man in an unhappy marriage, a stand-up comedian whose sets are received with indifference, a stoner couple who share only trivial exchanges, and a young loner are each living lives lost in translation, detached from their surroundings and the people around them.

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In April of 2013 long time Winnipeg Cinematheque programmer Dave Barber was invited to receive the Queen's Diamond Jubilee medal. It was a remarkable occasion. The awards ceremony was in a packed hall at the Legislative Building. Everything was going fine until...

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Bunky Blum is picked on in school. His only peace comes during lunch hour, when he and his mentally ill Mother eat McDonalds and visit a talking train named Train. The 83 year-old train is now a caged monument in the center of a children's park. However, Bunky believes that the train will break out of its confines and save him from the bullies of the schoolyard. When Bunky realizes that the train is not magical, all hope is lost and Bunky has a moral melt down. In a fit of rage, Bunky punches a girl in a wheelchair. The unsympathetic move lands Bunky on the losing end of a full out brawl. Bunky's Mother witnesses the schoolyard violence and she erupts into her own fit of rage, which ultimately sends her back to the psych ward. In the end, Bunky is left without hope, without family and without security. He returns to the old train to make a final plea for vengeance. But Bunky's giant steal savior has not come for vengeance. Rather, it offers Bunky what he needs, a shush of peace.

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Winnipeg Film Group. Deep in the winter of 1986. Guy Maddin is in the process of filming Tales from the Gimli Hospital and needs to rub a dead seagull on somebody's chest. Immediately, Dave Barber agrees, submitting his bare flesh to Maddin's road kill and to film history. (This film was commissioned by the Winnipeg Film Group's Cinematheque for its 25th anniversary, Silverscope)

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