Daniel Garber talks with Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson about their new film Rumours at #TIFF24
Photographs by Jeff Harris
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Somewhere in Germany, the G7 is holding a summit at a chateau beside an archaeological peat bog site. The leaders of the top western economies — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US — are working hard to write a caring communique pledging future improvements in our world. Until something strange happens — all of the support staff suddenly disappear, and this elite cabal of Presidents and Prime Ministers are left to fend for themselves. And there are strange creatures dancing in the woods. Can these hapless leaders band together in time to stop the dangers threaten this planet? Or will they be reduced to suspicious conspiracies and petty rumours?
Rumours is also the name of a bizarre and funny new feature that premiered at TIFF. It combines geo-politics with ancient mythologies and otherworldly forces. Throw in some sexual intrigue and the threat of global apocalypse and you have something very different from anything you’ve ever seen. Rumours is the work of award-winning Winnipeg (review) filmmaker Guy Maddin (Interview: Seances, 2013) and his collaborators Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson. Guy Maddin is known for his uniquely baffling film images that range from unsettling Canadiana to creepy fantasies (Interview: Louis Negin, Keyhole, 2012) infused with perverse sexual neuroses… and more than a few laughs. Guy has worked with Evan and Galen Johnson for a decade now (Interview: The Forbidden Room, 2015).
I spoke with Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson in person, at TIFF24.
Rumours had it’s North American premiere at TIFF and is now playing in Toronto.
Daniel Garber talks with Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson about their new film The Forbidden Room at #TIFF15
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
A man in a smoking jacket extolls the joys of a good bath. Three sailors trapped in a submarine look for help, even as an angelic lumberjack finds his way on board in search of the orgies of the clan of the cave bear. Outside, somewhere a volcano is erupting, a butler is murdering and a 
ghost is returning in a never ending confusion of interlinked stories as complex of chinese boxes. But will our heroes ever reach the mystery of the Forbidden Room?
The Forbidden Room is also the name of a new 
film the showed at the Toronto International Film Festival. Winnipeg filmmaker Guy Maddin is known for his tales of twisted nostalgia, his eerie retakes of Canadian history, and comical melodramas done in new interpretations of 
archaic styles. He’s one of the few directors that can make an art film that is totally enjoyable and funny. His amazing movies include Tales from the Gimli Hospital, and My Winnipeg. Co-
directed by Evan Johnson this film adds new artistic and editing techniques to bring it to mind-blowing levels of beauteous artistic mayhem, unfathomability and WTF-ness.
I spoke to director Guy Maddin and co-director Evan Johnson at #TIFF15. We talked about: seances to lost cinema, Paris, the Centre Pompidou, the Phi Centre, Quebec, NFB, Louis Negin’s scrotum, Pierre & Gilles, Carl Dreyer, Roy Dupuis, instructional films, John Ashbury’s writing, exploitation movies, editing techniques, Guy Maddin’s mojo, analog vs digital film, Havana, women in skeleton unitards …and more!
The Forbidden Room opens today in Toronto.
Photos of Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson by Jeff Harris.
Daniel Garber interviews Guy Maddin about his project Seances
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Winnipeg filmmaker GUY MADDIN is known for his tales of twisted nostalgia, his eerie retakes of Canadian history, and comical melodramas done in new interpretations of archaic styles.
His amazing movies include Tales from the Gimli Hospital, The Saddest Music in the World, and the semi-documentary My Winnipeg.
He’s one of the few directors that can make an arty film using experimental techniques that is totally enjoyable and funny.
But now he’s doing something different: bringing together live performance, interactive video and bilingual filmmaking in a
very unusual way. He’s currently shooting 12 movies in 13 days at the Phi Centre in a project known as SEANCES. Guy Maddin speaks by telephone from Montreal to help guide us through the smoke and mirrors.
Interview: Louis Negin on his role in Guy Maddin’s upcoming film Keyhole.
Daniel Garber interviews actor Louis Negin on Guy Maddin’s new film Keyhole, his role in the film, and his impressions of nudity, Winnipeg, and being Maddin’s muse.
culturalmining.com 
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