Prairie Puppet Underground Film Collection, Vol. 1
curated by Chrystene Ells asks, puppets, monsters, heroes, stilts, and craziness infused my earliest adventures with IFAO curator Xstine Cook back in 198586 during several multi-month winter performance tours to isolated communities in northern Alberta, treks we were both lucky to survive in spite of midnight van breakdowns under February northern lights on isolated back roads through black forests; she’s been an inspiration to me ever since. I have attended the past two IFAOs, which I believe to be one of the world’s top arts festivals. The sheer breadth, depth and quality of the work, not to mention the genius, creativity, and overall camaraderie among the IFAO artists, is astounding. I always return home burning with the urge to bring something big to share at the next festival. n 1986 I left Alberta for San Francisco, where I spent the next 20 years working as a professional director, puppeteer and designer for live theatre and the tv / film industry, and in 2006 moved to Regina for grad school, receiving an MFA in Interdisciplinary Studies, discovering to my surprise that Saskatchewan is a secret gem of storytelling and creativity, and home to an engaged, close-knit, and explorative arts community. I am still in Regina, most recently having the great good fortune to serve as the Artist in Residence at the Saskatchewan Filmpool Cooperative (2011-2012). nspired by IFAO, my residency focused on guiding members of the local arts community through the creation of their own puppetfilms, many of which are having their World Premiere this evening. It is a great honour to be presenting these films, most made by firsttime/emerging filmmakers, or first-time puppet artists, or both! Hailing from backgrounds including writing, painting, filmmaking, intermedia, and library science, these artists have collectively created a uniquely quirky, lovely, funny and odd volume of Saskatchewan films. For many this was a huge feat, as all were newcomers to one or more aspects of the process of making a puppet-film from start to finish: screenwriting, puppet fabrication, shooting, and editing. Vol. 1 is loosely themed around
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Saskatchewan history, with most films being inspired by first-person narratives of personal historical events, including family narratives and stories by homesteaders from the Regina Public Library’s Prairie History Room; still, the collection exhibits a wide array of modes of engagement, and breadth of visions and techniques. he Saskatchewan Filmpool Cooperative hosts the 1st International Puppet Underground Film Festival (IPUFF) in Regina, April 6-7, 2013, celebrating these and other local and international puppet-films, as well as workshops and an exhibition of the puppets themselves. IPUFF dreams of someday growing up to become a bigger puppet festival that can collaborate more extensively with IFAO. million thanks to Xstine Cook for her informal mentorship of IPUFF, and for her generosity in inviting Prairie Puppet Underground Vol. 1 to IFAO 2013. Huge thanks to Berny Hi for his tireless technical support of the artists and the collation of this volume, and to Amber Christenson, IPUFF Coordinator. Thanks to the Filmpool and Executive Director Gordon Pepper for such fervent support of this crazy puppet-film project, and to the Saskatchewan Arts Board for supporting the year-long Artist’s Residency that resulted in this collection. Most of all, thanks to the artists and filmmakers who invested so much time and love in bringing their puppet-film visions to life.
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Raised on an Alberta cattle ranch, Chrystene
Ells worked as an artist in the San Francisco film industry on films such as ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ for 20 years before returning to Saskatchewan to focus on her own work. In January of 2012 Werner Herzog shook her hand and told her that her art film ‘She Had Died’, a hand-processed 16mm film featuring a farm goose and a voice-over about life after death, was ‘very strange’ and that he liked it ‘very much.’
The World Premiere of 17 puppet films from Saskatchewan! Presented by the Saskatchewan Filmpool Cooperative and curated by Chrystene Ells for the Calgary International Festival of Animated Objects, 2013, a celebration of puppets, masks, and all things animated.
The first IPUFF runs April 6 - 7, 2013 in Regina, SK Visit Filmpool.ca for more info
Filmpool.ca 5:30 p.m. Wednesday March 13th, 2013 - Lantern Church Basement screening room - 1401 10th Ave. S.E., Calgary
WE REMAIN LONG AFTER WE’RE GONE (4:00) by Tyler Banadyga. In the process of digging the basement for a new frame house my great-grandfather and his sons uncover human remains. Speculations are made. • Tyler Banadyga has made puppet shows, records, films, paintings and other things too. He lives and works in Regina, Saskatchewan.
MACNUTT: A TALE OF REVENGE (5:00) Eric Kanius. John A. Sawkey rises from a shallow grave to find the man that put him there. He arrives at MacNutt and duels his nemesis for the job of principal. A reimagining of the arrival of the actual Principal Sawkey at MacNutt School in 1960. • Eric is a writer, actor, and filmmaker with a BFA in Film from the University of Regina. He enjoys taking insignificant real life stories and blowing them up into ludicrous tales of whimsy.
IT WAS A CIRCUS (3:30) by Chrystene Ells. Based on the memoires of "Lefty the Sodbuster," this 1907 story exemplifies the lovely weirdness that is historical Saskatchewan. Three men have an unexpected encounter at night on the open prairie near Hanley. • Please see Curator’s Notes (back page) to read about Chrystene’s work.
LOVE IN ANY COLOUR (2:00) by Jessica Reiss. A re-telling of an old folk story about love that surpasses death. • Jessica Riess is a multi-media artist based in Regina, Saskatchewan. Her work has appeared in private collections in both Canada and Australia.
MUSPHOBIA (2:00) by Amber Christenson. A young teacher gets more than she bargained for when she arrives in Flaxcombe, Saskatchewan, in 1941. The children aren't the only ones playing games. • Amber Christensen is a librarian and dabbles in filmmaking of mainly the analog sort in her spare time.
SASKATCHEWAN IS BORING (3:30) by Sylvia Ziemann. Crow and Prairiedog have a discussion about the oddities of local history, exploring through humour what Sylvia finds charming about living in Saskatchewan. • A visual artist with a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Sylvia is currently pursuing an MFA in Intermedia at the University of Regina, currently exploring themes of urban paranoia in miniature installations that incorporate sound and video.
SCOTTY (4:00) by Kelly-Anne Reiss. Follow the comedic life cycle of Scotty the T.rex, from Eastend, Saskatchewan, who hatches from an egg and falls in love. • Kelly-Anne is a writer and filmmaker who divides her time between Winnipeg and Regina. She is the author of three published books, and has worked on tv projects that have aired worldwide on networks such as A&E Biography and History Television.
MIKE AND THE GOOSE (4:00) by Rowan Pantel. Based on real life family events, this film explores what happens to a young boy who wanders out of a Saskatchewan farm house in 1940. • Rowan is a visual artist with a BFA in printmaking from the University of Saskatchewan, and an MFA in Intermedia candidate from the University of Regina. Her work often references childhood memory and family folklore.
SIBERIAN MANEATER (5:50) by Sarah Huber and Noelle Duddridge. A young European family follows their dreams to Saskatchewan, Canada, only to realize that the homesteader life is nothing like they thought it would be. • Sarah Huber is a Saskatchewan filmmaker and cinematographer with a BFA in Film from the University of Regina in 2012. See “A Gentlemen’s Quarrel” (below) for Noelle’s bio.
JOSHUA (2:00) by Janine Windolph. This film is drawn from family history, exploring the experiences of a child who is sent to residential school and the daily terror of running into the ghost of an old priest known as Joshua. • Janine is a interdisciplinary professional artist and filmmaker, with a focus on storytelling and memory. This film marks her first experience with Shadow Puppetry.
MY GREAT GRANDMOTHER’S FLOWERS (6:50) by Kristen Smith. Two women’s lives overlap on a chance event in a place they will both encounter, and with the death of one, a new family is created, illustrating the fragility of existence through happenstance. • Kristen is an interdisciplinary artist with a BFA in Intermedia from the University of Regina. She works in textile, performance, video, sculpture, installation and drawing.
GEORGE BASSLER'S PERPETUAL MOTION MACHINE (3:30) by Berny Hi. As everything around him comes to an untimely stop, George sets out to create a perpetual motion machine. Based on the real-life dream of homesteader George Bassler. • Berny’s performative storytelling accompanied by manipulated celluloid projected through warped glass is an otherworldly technique which earned him the Audience Award at last weekend’s $100 Film Fest. BernyHi.ca
QU'APPELLE (2:00) by Jessica Generoux. A local First Nations legend on longing for the most precious love, lost in the echos of Qu'Appelle Valley using shadow puppetry. • Jessica Generoux is a Cree and Scottish Woman with 3 year old daughter who inspires her to imagine other worlds. She grew up on the pow wow trail, and the drum beat echoing through the Qu'Appelle Valley stills her heart. A PLACE FOR YOU (6:00) by Angela Edmunds. Inspired by midwives of the prairies and the rolling hills of the Qu'Appelle Valley, A Place for You glimpses at an unlikely friendship between Aunty Fox and Ms. Chicken. • Angela is a visual artist and filmmaker living in the Qu'Appelle Valley. Current interests and dreams centre on drawing and the art of herbology.
A GENTLEMEN’S QUARREL (4:00) by Noelle Duddridge. Based on a true story from Regina’s history, an argument over sheet music leads to a quarrel of sorts in Victoria Park. • Noelle is a filmmaker with a BFA in Film from the University of Regina and Programming Coordinator at the Filmpool. Her awardwinning queer cinema documentary, “Coming Out: My Year Time Limit,” is currently enjoying ongoing screenings. KATHLEEN’S DIARY (6:00) by Chrystene Ells. Based on actual diary entries made between 1937 - 1945 by Mrs. Kathleen Clews from Amulet Saskatchewan (now a ghost town), this film explores the bittersweet yearning elicited in the filmmaker by the countless lost stories of the prairies. • Please see Curator’s Notes (back cover) to read about Chrystene.