Strange Dreams: Guy Maddin & Wanderwelle
Strange Dreams: Guy Maddin & Wanderwelle
Strange Dreams presents the short films of Canadian cult director Guy Maddin and the Amsterdam-based collective Wanderwelle, consisting of Alexander Bartels & Phil van Dulm, revealing unexpected affinities in their cinematic visions.
One of the most idiosyncratic authors of avant-garde cinema, Guy Maddin, came across online posts in 2023 from the Dutch collective Wanderwelle, which was expanding its musical and literary practice to include film. Through social media, they shared their fascination with the function of film as a memory machine, populated by phantoms, myths and distorted realities.
Over lunch in Rotterdam the foundation was laid for a collaboration: Maddin will serve as narrator in Misery Blvd., Wanderwelle's experimental documentary about Camp Westerbork, which is currently in production.
This special program features three films by Guy Maddin, some of which have never before been seen on the big screen, alongside three films by Wanderwelle, including The Four Nightmares, a film which is entirely constructed from archival material from the Eye collection. For this evening, Wanderwelle has also created the short film The Tale of Cradlejaw Jack.
At 21.00 Guy Maddin’s Rumours will be screened (a separate ticket is requiered)
Programme
Bring Me the Head of Tim Horton (Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson & Galen Johnson, CA 2015, 31')
An anarchistic cine-essay on spectacle and big-budget productions. Presented as a ‘making-of’ for Hyena Road, a film about Canada’s participation in the war in Afghanistan, it unfolds as an absurdist and psychedelic reflection on war, terrorism, and their cultural ramifications.
The Ashes We Leave Behind (Wanderwelle, NL 2022, 2')
A short archival film depicting the spectral remnants of humans and animals, caught in an endless repetition of their final attempts to escape a barn fire. Accompanied by experimental music, the work explores memory, death, and the enduring, invisible traces left by tragedy.
Odilon Redon, or The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity (Guy Maddin, CA 1995, 5')
A grainy drama in which a father and son compete for the attention of Berenice, a woman rescued from a train crash. Commissioned by the BBC as part of a series in which filmmakers were asked to create short films inspired by other artists, Maddin focused on one of Odilon Redon’s charcoal illustrations for the French translation of Edgar Allan Poe’s work.
The Four Nightmares (Wanderwelle, NL 2023, 26')
An experimental collage film compiled from the Eye Filmmuseum collection. Influenced by the biblical Book of Revelation, it tells the story of a man tormented by a series of nightmares predicting the Apocalypse, reflecting the major crises of our time.
Lines of the Hand (Guy Maddin, CA 2020, 3')
In this colourful fever dream, Luce Vigo and Udo Kier appear alongside the hands of Geraldine Chaplin. Based on Jean Vigo’s film treatment Les Lignes de la main, it features a voice-over by Udo Kier reading from John Ashbery’s play Inn of the Guardian Angel.
The Tale of Cradlejaw Jack (Wanderwelle, NL 2025, 11')
Deep within a forgotten mountain range, a lone climber is mysteriously lured into a cave, where a crescent-shaped entity recounts a dark tale. As the legend unfolds, the boundaries between myth and memory blur — revealing a deeper horror: the narrator may himself be the origin of it all...
This is part of
Details
Production year
2025
Length
90 min.
Country
NL
Part of
Eye on Art
Eye on Art is a programme on the intersection between film and other arts. Eye on Art keeps up with current events, with presentations on contemporary artists and programmes that coincide with important exhibitions, manifestations and Eye activities.
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