< ARKHANGEL>
Shot on black and white and modeled on the style of a part-talkie of the 1920s, the film is set in Arkhangelsk during the Civil War, three
weeks after the end of WWI. A Canadian soldier with partial loss of memory mistakes a nurse for his dead lover, but she is married to
a Belgian pilot who doesn’t remember being married. The style of this painful love story is oblivious, too. Maddin permeates the film
with his evident appreciation for silent film techniques which he amalgamates with images originating from different countries and time
periods. It almost comes across as if it’s a production from a mixture of Dovzhenko, Pudovkin and Eisenstein..
< Director>
Guy Maddin is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, cinematographer and actor. He studied economics at the University of Winnipeg, working as a bank manager and house painter before becoming a filmmaker. Fascinated with lost silent era films, Maddin debuted in the film industry with his short film The Dead Father (1986), followed by his first full-length film Tales From The Gimli Hospital (1988). Madden styles his low-budget films in the manner of silent and early years of sound cinema, creating a surreal, grotesque atmosphere of psychodrama and black comedy. Maddin’s films illustrate cinema as an art form associated with memories, dreams, and ghosts. Guy Maddin is an artist known worldwide for his installations and collages. He is the author of three books and a member of The Order of Canada & The Order of Manitoba.
Guy Maddin
