Winnipeg filmmaker/animator Mike Maryniuk comes to Toronto to present a retrospective screening and a sneak peek at new work on February 28th.
The Toronto Animated Image Society (TAIS) presents:
FISH ARMS & FLYING SQUIRRELS: THE FILMS OF MIKE MARYNIUK
Saturday February 28th – 8:00pm
PIX Film Gallery – 1411 Dufferin St., Unit C (next to TAIS Studio)
$10 / $8 TAIS members
(not a member? Sign up here: http://tais.ca/membership-3/get-involved)
A magician with found footage and scratch animation and an uproarious storyteller, how can you possibly describe Mike Maryniuk’s films and do them justice? First, throw your expectations out the door because most of them are filtered thru some kind of weird FUN-O-METER. A secret lens that he attaches to the camera which ensures each film is imbued with 100 % mirth and irreverence. Reflecting hours of detailed work, all of his films are inspired by a myriad of sources: a love of Norman McLaren scratch animation, Jim Henson puppetry, and Looney tunes cartoons. They are handmade and stitched together fusing elements of collage art, low-fi cablevision and pixilation. No film expresses his skills better than Cattle Call, his masterpiece made with fellow collaborator Matthew Rankin. This eye popping stop-motion documentary about cattle auctioneer Tim Dowler wowed critics and played at over 30 festivals worldwide including Sundance, TIFF, SXSW and the Ottawa International Animation Festival. (adapted from a text by Dave Barber from the INCITE! Journal of Experimental Media and Radical Aesthetics)
For this screening, we asked Mike to select his favourites of his own work, and as an added bonus he’s going to share a sneak peek at two new works in progress! PLUS we’ll be screening the results of our intensive ‘ANIMATED MYTH-MAKING’ commission/workshop with Mike Maryniuk from earlier that day!
The program:
Blotto 649 (2013, 3 min)
Evacuate Manitoba (4 min)
The Yodeling Farmer (2011, 6 min)
Mahaha the Tickler (2007, 3 min)
Fish Arms (2007, 3 min)
Melatonin (3 min)
Stay Positive (1 min)
Cattle Call (w/ Matthew Rankin, 2008, 3 min)
Bomber Blitz (2008, 1 min)
Toot your own horn (4 min)
Two new works in progress (12 min)
About Mike Maryniuk:
Mike Maryniuk was born in Winnipeg, but raised in the rural backcountry of Manitoba. A completely self-taught film virtuoso, Maryniuk’s film world is an inventive hybrid of Jim Henson, Norman McLaren and Stan Brakhage. Maryniuk’s films are a visual stew of hand-made ingredients and are full of home-cooked wonderfulness.
