BNMI Co-Production Archives 'M'

The Making of MEN

The Making of MEN follows the filming of MJW Productions MEN (which also appears in this catalogue), an original dance film for television, conceived and filmed in the Canadian Rockies. The cast of seven men, all in their 60–70s live in and around Canmore. They come from a variety of backgrounds – judge, miner, rancher – and have never performed before. This film allows viewers behind-the-scenes to watch how the filmmakers worked with these men, providing a memorable and touching film. This film was produced in association with CBC Newsworld.

Co-producers: Drew Martin and Lindsay Spear (The Idea Factory, Edmonton, Canada), 1998
Format: Video, Length: 20 minutes

Mauve Desert

This interactive narrative is centered around the story of Melanie, a fifteen-year-old girl philosopher who drives deep into the desert each night in her mother’s Meteor. Recognizing Melanie’s desires, other women are drawn to her, as individuals from other landscapes, languages, and generations become obsessed with her story. Their obsessions drive them to retell her story in their own respective languages and revisit themselves in the process. Adriene Jenik is an award-winning video/television maker and new media artist, and is currently an assistant professor of computer and media arts at UCSD.
Co-producer: Adriene Jenik (United States), 1996
Format: CD-ROM

Maxwell’s Demon

This video tells the story of how independently-minded femme fatale Helvetica Bold is having a child – her way. But when the sperm bank operator Rosetta Stone mysteriously commits suicide, Helvetica Bold turns to gumshoe Dick Valard. His investigation leads him to the hapless astronomer Maxwell, a participant in strange dream experiments in Rosetta Stone’s lab and also Helvetica Bold’s unwitting sperm donor. As Valard probes deeper, he begins to unravel an intricate web that entangles an array of eccentric characters, until Maxwell’s demon finally catches up with him.
Co-producer: David Clark (Calgary, Canada), 1998
Format: Video, Length: 78 minutes

MEN

Working with a cast of seven men from Canmore, Alberta, ages 60–70, and ranging from a high-flying judge to a Polish miner and ex-prisoner of war, MEN looks at the fragile nature of old men. It contrasts nature’s infinite time with the shortness of human life; the lushness of the green landscape against the paleness of their physiques, and sets the physical deterioration of the men’s bodies against their obvious strength of character. This film is a deeply moving narrative, rooted in a specific geography and paralleled by an emotional look at the human experience.
Co-producers: MJW Productions and the BBC (London,
United Kingdom), 1997
Format: Video, Length: 24 minutes

Miasma

Miasma is an impressionist and poetic treatment of theatrical imagery of women. In Miasma, a video production, MacKay sets lyrical images with music under the female gaze, in collaboration with Alberta writer performer Myra Davies. Miasma uses visual footage of a stage spectacle created by Davies exploring female fantasies. The footage is from live performances of Miasma in 2000, from Banff and Winnipeg. The soundtrack was created by Berlin electronica composer and broadcaster, Gundrun Gut.

Co-producers: Myra Davies, Allan Harding MacKay (Banff, Canada), 2001
Format: Video, Length: 32 minutes

Moments of Despondency

This short video, co-produced with the Banff New Media Institute, is based on one’s experience with depression. This series of vignettes takes a comic but poignant look at life’s seemingly endless stream of small disappointments. Thoughtful and poignant, this film looks carefully at the theme of despondency, mirroring our experiences without drama and spectacle, in a sincere and touching fashion. Originally from Calgary, filmmaker Donna Brunsdale has exhibited her artwork and films in galleries and festivals across Canada and internationally, and has taught visual art and film.
Co-producer: Donna Brunsdale (Calgary, Canada), 1996
Format: Video, Length: 8 minutes

My Fifth Amendment Privilege: Amidst the White Noise

Bay Area-based Chris Robbins produces electronic art addressing the culpability of the media in the construction of cultural identity, but with a twist. Robbins’ newest work, My Fifth Amendment Privilege: Amidst the White Noise, is an experimental docu-drama critiquing the characteristic of race as it circulates through the media. Linking the broadcast of the television film Roots to the equally popular televised pursuit of O.J. Simpson, this trajectory is traced invisible in its ironic whiteness.
Co-producer: Christiane Robbins (San Francisco, United States), 1998
Format: Video, Length: 27 minutes, and Website