this week in lectures, signings, panel discussions, workshops, and Q&As

TALES FROM THE GIMLI HOSPITAL (REDUX)

A trio of nurses deal with a deadly epidemic in early Guy Maddin cult classic, Tales form the Gimli Hospital

TALES FROM THE GIMLI HOSPITAL (REDUX) (Guy Maddin, 1988/2022)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Opens Friday, October 14
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com
zeitgeistfilms.com

In a 2011 twi-ny talk focusing on a “reframed” version of his 1988 debut feature, Tales from the Gimli Hospital, Canadian director Guy Maddin said, “I thought, of all the films of mine that might actually thematically justify a revisiting from the director (something that truly ought not to be done under almost any circumstances!), then this was the title.” Well, Maddin has done it again with a 4K restoration of the film, which he is now calling Tales from the Gimli Hospital (Redux), featuring some trimming as well as the addition of a long-lost scene.

The Canadian DIY master reached into Icelandic sagas for the original, ultra-low-budget version. In many ways a kind of Scandinavian Frankenstein as if directed by Ingmar Bergman and George A. Romero, the mostly black-and-white Expressionist film is a story within a story (at times within another story) that an old woman, Amma (Margaret Anne MacLeod), is telling her grandchildren (Heather and David Neale) in a hospital room where their mother lies very ill. The dark, lurid fairy tale, set in “a Gimli we no longer know,” is about Einar the Lonely (assistant director Kyle McCulloch), a shy fish smoker who does not know how to relate to other people, particularly women. Felled by an epidemic, he is brought to the Gimli Hospital in Manitoba, where other men battle this dread disease, which leaves stitchlike scars on their face and body. Einar is discouraged that the patient in the bed next to him, the portly Gunnar (Michael Gottli), is treated much nicer by the nurses than he is, but he is helpless to do anything about it. Gunnar is soon telling Einar the story of his true love, Snjófridur (Angela Heck), a tragic tale with a surprising twist that brings everything full circle.

A unique visual stylist who regularly pays homage to the early days of cinema, Maddin, who directed and edited the picture (and wrote the script on Post-it Notes), purposely keeps things low-tech, including less-than-perfect sound dubbing and bumpy cuts, incorporating freak-show-like oddities alongside an ominous lo-fi soundtrack with old songs; Maddin (My Winnipeg, Careful) himself plays the weirdo surgeon who operates on Gunnar and Einar in rather strange fashion. The intentionally amateurish nature of the original work led to its being rejected by the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) for ineptitude; it went on to become an instant cult classic, holding the midnight-movie slot at the Quad for nearly a year. In 2011, Maddin, who is part Icelandic, reimagined the film in the special Performa presentation Tales from the Gimli Hospital: Reframed, a reedited version with a live score by Icelandic musicians. Tales from the Gimli Hospital (Redux), a 4K restoration that premiered at TIFF 2022, goes a few steps further.

“The new scene was shot in 1999 as an after-the-fact deleted scene as a way of celebrating a cast reunion after a serious car accident injured the actor Michael Gottli,” Maddin explains. “The act of shooting this scene was intended as a kind of rehab therapy for my dispirited thespian. But it turned out quite well, I think. It is inserted early on in the feature, during the scene in the hospital when a primitive Punch and Judy puppet show is deployed as an anesthetic distraction to a patient (Gottli) having his leg operated on by a man wielding a sickle. Such puppet shows were the only anesthetic available in the pioneer days of Gimli. The new scene suggests to the patient a hallucinated tale of gender transformation and some lusty BDSM involving yet another man with a fish net. I had promised Gottli I would insert this ‘deleted scene’ into the body of the feature if I ever got the chance.”

This stunning new iteration opens theatrically October 14 at IFC, preceded by Maddin’s dazzling six-minute award-winning TIFF short The Heart of the World, about science battling religion and two brothers in love with the same woman as the end of the planet approaches, with the director on hand for Q&As following the 8:10 shows on Friday and Saturday night. Maddin is both fascinating and fun to listen to, so snag your tickets now for what promises to be a special event.

BEING FUTURE BEING: LAND/CELESTIAL and INSIDE/OUTWARDS

Emily Johnson’s Being Future Being comes to New York Live Arts October 20-22

Who: Emily Johnson/Catalyst
What: Being Future Being
Where: New York Live Arts, 219 West 19th St., 212-727-7476
When: Land/Celestial: October 15, $10-$30, 3:00 & 5:00; Inside/Outwards: October 20-23, $15-$40, 7:30
Why: In a July 2021 illustrated lecture to students at the Bates Dance Festival in Maine, where she was presenting the outdoor section of her work in progress Being Future Being, maker, gatherer, and protector Emily Johnson (Yup’ik) said, “We spent a lot of time in class earlier today thinking of the ground lifting up with us and also thinking about how we are always in relationship to the ground and thinking about ways in which we might be in better ongoing relationship with ground, with land, with water, with air, with relations. And from that I want to say that one day, the civil rights and sovereignty of Indigenous peoples will be recognized in relation to land, and that power imbalance and extraction will not be the default relationship in our working lives, and that theft of and abuses on and lack of recognition of Indigenous land and water and peoples will not be tolerated. And that’s the kind of future I look forward to making with all of you; that’s the kind of future I enjoy being in already with all of you.”

In such participatory works as Then a Cunning Voice and a Night We Spend Gazing at Stars, Shore, and The Ways We Love and the Ways We Love Better — Monumental Movement Toward Being Future Being(s) in addition to her Kinstillatory Mappings series outside Abrons Arts Center, Johnson, a Bessie Award-winning dancer, choreographer, curator, writer, and social justice activist, brings people together with the land and its history, taking on power imbalance and extraction by forming communities organized around the local environment.

Emily Johnson gathers people together for The Ways We Love and the Ways We Love Better — Monumental Movement Toward Being Future Being(s) in September 2020 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Johnson’s Being Future Being: Inside/Outwards will hold its Lenapehoking premiere October 20-22 at New York Live Arts, featuring a commissioned score by composer Raven Chacon (Navajo), sound by Chloe Alexandra Thompson (Cree), visual design by Holly Mititquq Nordlum (Iñupiaq), masks and wearables by IV Castellanos (mx Indige Quechua/Guaraní), Quilt-Beings by Korina Emmerich (Coast Salish Territory, Puyallup tribe), quilts by Maggie Thompson (Fond du Lac Ojibwe), costumes by Raphael Regan (Sisseton-Wahpeton Eastern Band of Cherokee and Diné), scenic fabrication by Joseph Silovsky, and lighting by Itohan Edoloyi. The piece will be performed by Ashley Pierre-Louis, Jasmine Shorty (Diné), Stacy Lynn Smith, and Sugar Vendil.

In addition, on October 15 there will be a special offsite performance, Land/Celestial, in Lower Manhattan; ticket holders will be advised of the specific location that day. As a whole, the creation of Being Future Being has involved four groups of collaborators, which Johnson refers to as the Branch of Knowledge, the Branch of Scholarship, the Branch of Making, and the Branch of Action. Johnson will be joined by individuals from the four branches at a Stay Late discussion following the October 21 show.

“The work asks audiences to join in community processes that move from each presentation out into the world in what I call the Speculative Architecture of the Overflow, with actions that directly support local rematriative, protection, and Land Back efforts,” Johnson explains on her website. “The Overflow is resonance, moving in the in-between, in-the-collective, in-the-invitation to GATHER HERE. Can the Overflow become supported, beyond the moment of the performance gathering, a speculative architecture resisting BUILD, but living, ongoing in an otherwise?” Johnson always asks intriguing, important questions, but the ultimate answers will have to come from each one of us.

2022 OHNY WEEKEND LOTTERY

2022 OHNY WEEKEND LOTTERY
Multiple venues in all five boroughs
Lottery begins Thursday, October 13, noon
Sites open October 21-23, free
ohny.org/weekend

For its twentieth anniversary, Open House New York (OHNY) is changing its ticketing system, given the rising demand each year. Beginning at noon on October 13, there will be a twenty-four-hour lottery in which you can sign up for ticketed events. On October 14 and 16, winners will be notified, after which they will have to respond with a confirmation within a given amount of time. Gone are the $5 reservation fees; everything is now free. However, in a major bummer, you can only get one ticket per entry, so in order to go with other people, they will have to win the exact same lottery, which is patently absurd. For example, four of us have been attending OHNY together for years, but in 2022, if we want to go to a specific ticketed location, all four of us will have to be random winners. In addition, there will be no waitlist at the sites if people don’t show for ticketed events.

So why all the fuss? Because for two decades, OHNY has been offering architecture lovers the opportunity to visit unique, lesser-known, famous, and rarely accessible locations over one October weekend. Not all events are ticketed, but the hottest ones are, and often include a guided tour. Over the years, I’ve been to the Highbridge Water Tower, Masonic Hall, the Actors’ Temple, the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, Central Synagogue, the African Burial Ground National Monument, the Federal Hall National Memorial, Roosevelt Island, the Renee & Chaim Gross Foundation, Church of the Transfiguration, the south side of Ellis Island, the Jefferson Market Library, Westbeth, the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Arch, the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New York, the Old Stone House, the New York Marble Cemetery, the New York City Marble Cemetery, Estonian House, Judson Memorial Church, the Chrysler Building, Hindu Temple Society, and many architectural and design firms and green spaces usually not open to the general public. Even the more familiar places, such as museums, theaters, parks, piers, ships, libraries, universities, private clubs, breweries, and historic sites, offer free tours and lectures not usually available.

The Highbridge Water Tower is always a highlight of OHNY (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Not all the places mentioned above are on this year’s list, which is why you have to grab them while you can. The 2022 roster features a wide range of spots across the five boroughs, and not all require ticketing; there are dozens and dozens of self-guided tours and exhibitions that are first-come, first-served. You might have to wait in a line, but it’s always worth it. It’s also best to select a number of locations in the same area so you can see the most you can in whatever time you have.

HULU’s RAMY: RAMY YOUSSEF IN CONVERSATION WITH HASAN MINAJ

Who: Ramy Youssef, Hasan Minhaj
What: Recanati-Kaplan Talks, Ramy screening and discussion
Where: Kaufmann Concert Hall, 92nd St. Y, 1395 Lexington Ave. between Ninety-First & Ninety-Second Sts., and online
When: Friday, October 14, $20-$45 in person at 8:00, $25 online at 9:05
Why: In April 2019, the first season of Hulu’s Ramy began streaming, an unusual semiautobiographical comedy about an Egyptian-American ne’er-do-well and his family, trying to make a life for themselves in New Jersey, balancing tradition with contemporary mores. The very funny, often cringy show was created by Ramy Youssef, who also serves as star, writer, and executive producer. The series, which launched its third season on September 30, features Youssef as Ramy Hassan, who is searching for love and faith, with Hiam Abbass as his mother, Amr Waked as his father, May Calamawy as his sister, Laith Nakli as his uncle, and Mohammed Amer and Dave Merheje as his best friends. On October 14, Youssef will be at the 92nd St. Y to discuss his life and career with Peabody-winning American comedian and political commentator Hasan Minaj (The Daily Show, Patriot Act with Hasan Minaj). In-person tickets are $20-$45 and include a screening beginning at 8:00; online tickets are $25 and start at 9:05.

NYFF60 MAIN SLATE: ALL THAT BREATHES

All That Breathes explores the fate of black kites in India as representative of so much more

ALL THAT BREATHES (Shaunak Sen, 2022)
New York Film Festival, Film at Lincoln Center
Tuesday, October 11, Walter Reade Theater, 6:30
Wednesday, October 12, Howard Gilman Theater, 9:00
www.filmlinc.org
www.allthatbreathes.com

Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes opens with a long shot of rats scurrying about a filthy New Delhi area, then follows a man carrying four boxes with holes in them into a dingy, crowded basement garage. One starts to rock and falls awkwardly to the floor. The man walks over and takes out an injured bird. As Mohammad Saud, Nadeem Shehzad, and Salik Rehman examine the injured creature, they speak of a possible nuclear war between India and Pakistan.

“What’ll happen to the birds if there’s a nuclear war?” Rehman asks. “We’ll all die. Where will they go?”

A moment later, a young boy searches for a bullet, an announcement from the street advises, “We don’t want any harm to any public property,” and a black kite, a bird of prey that migrates to New Delhi every year, grips a small branch and then accusingly stares directly into the camera. Later street announcements declare, “This is a fight for empathy and unity! The Constitution has to be saved!” regarding the treatment of Islamic citizens.

For several decades, Indian Muslim brothers Saud and Shehzad have been rescuing and healing kites that have fallen from the sky, victim to pollution and the cotton threads of kites that slice their wings. “When we got our first kite . . . I’d stay up at night staring at it,” Shehzad says in voiceover as a lone kite soars in the air, the moon at its left. “It looked like a furious reptile from another planet. It’s said that feeding kites earns ‘sawab’ [religious credit]. When they eat the meat you offer, they eat away your difficulties. And their hunger is insatiable.”

When the brothers were teenage bodybuilders, they encountered their first injured kite. A bird hospital refused to help because the species is not vegetarian, so they used their own knowledge of flesh, muscles, and tendons to repair it. They’ve been rescuing and repairing hurt birds in their highly unsanitary quarters ever since.

Amid the social unrest and their legitimate fears of being turned into refugees because of their religion, Saud and Shehzad continue to fix the birds, as if fixing themselves as they worry about losing their freedom. Over one dinner they discuss with their families what they might do if the government kicks them out of the country. Meanwhile, the brothers are desperate to get a grant to keep their Wildlife Rescue operating.

“I’ve devoted my entire life to this. But this doesn’t feel enough to me,” Shehzad explains. “Things are getting from bad to worse here. Birds are plummeting from the sky. Delhi is a gaping wound. And we’re a tiny Band-Aid on it.”

Cinematographer Ben Bernhard focuses in on nature, from an icy river to an owl to dozens and dozens of kites filling the sky, set to a gentle yet ominous score by Roger Goula. Director and producer Sen (Cities of Sleep) is not just making a film about kites in India; he is accusing the world as a whole of misusing resources in ways that threaten the existence of such living creatures as kites and damage the planet’s ecological system.

“Man is the loneliest animal,” Saud says.

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary (World Cinema) at Sundance and the L’OEil d’or for Best Documentary at Cannes, All That Breathes is screening at the New York Film Festival on October 11 and 12, with Sen on hand for Q&As after both shows. The film opens theatrically October 21 at Film Forum, with Sen participating in Q&As following the 7:00 shows on October 21 and 22.

BOOK LAUNCH: TRANSFORMING SPACE OVER TIME

Who: Beowulf Boritt, James Lapine, Susan Stroman, Elliott Forrest
What: Book launch
Where: The Drama Book Shop, 266 West Thirty-Ninth St. between Eighth & Ninth Aves.
When: Tuesday, October 11, $35 (includes copy of book), 7:00
Why: “My goal is to couple thematically evocative visuals with a considered transformation of the physical space as the story plays out. Set design is a kinetic sculpture that is constantly being manipulated to enhance the emotions and narrative of the story: transforming space over time. Thematic evocation and spatial transformation are my tools to create an intellectual concept to guide the scenery and support the story. Once that concept is clear in my mind, I can envision the style of the set: literally, what it will look like. When the process goes well, the frosting really does enhance the cake.”

So writes Tony- and Obie-winning set designer extraordinaire Beowulf Boritt in his new book, Transforming Space Over Time: Set Design and Visual Storytelling with Broadway’s Legendary Directors (Globe Pequot / Applause, August 2022, $34.95). The tome features conversations between Boritt (Act One, The Scottsboro Boys, The Last Five Years) and six theater greats he has worked with either on Broadway or off: James Lapine, Kenny Leon, Hal Prince, Susan Stroman, Jerry Zaks, and Stephen Sondheim. The book is a celebration of the art of creation and collaboration; it will have its launch October 11 at 7:00 at the Drama Book Shop, where Boritt will be joined by Lapine, Stroman, and Peabody-winning moderator Elliott Forrest. Tickets are limited and include a copy of the book.

NYFF60 MAIN SLATE: AFTERSUN

A father (Paul Mescal) and daughter (Francesca Corio) bond in Charlotte Wells’s Aftersun

AFTERSUN (Charlotte Wells, 2022)
New York Film Festival, Film at Lincoln Center
Saturday, October 8, Alice Tully Hall, 12:00
Sunday, October 9, Alice Tully Hall, 9:00
Monday, October 10, BAM Cinemas, 7:00
212-355-6160
www.filmlinc.org

At one point in Charlotte Wells’s hauntingly beautifully debut feature, Aftersun, a divorced father, Calum (Paul Mescal), and his eleven-year-old daughter, Sophie (Francesca Corio), are standing in the mountains, arms stretched to the sky as if the world is limitless for them, but nearby is an old, rotting sign that announces, “We know the perfect place,” once upon a time offering visitors “paradise.” The two are on vacation on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, a bonding trip during which Calum assures Sophie, “You can live wherever you want to live. Be whoever you want to be.”

It is apparent that Calum and Sophie have not spent a lot of time together of late, as Calum has left their home country of Scotland following the divorce. In Turkey, they experience a warm and loving bond, as Calum learns how to be a father again and Sophie begins her transition into adolescence, neither one knowing exactly what comes next. Calum is watching his daughter grow up right in front of him, and he doesn’t always know quite how to react; as Sophie hangs out with a group of older teens as well as a boy her own age who has a crush on her, Calum allows her a freedom that threatens to be too much, sometimes acting more like a big brother or friend than a father. But as we discover, Sophie is an extraordinary capable young girl, coming of age in a world that is not a paradise for everyone.

Aftersun is a captivating adventure in which Scottish NYU grad Wells plays with genre tropes, gently turning them inside out as she makes the audience reevaluate their expectations from both real life and fictional drama. Many of the scenes are set up in a way that you anticipate a certain outcome — usually a dangerous one — but the bad result never happens, and we are disappointed in ourselves for having imagined a different conclusion.

The film is very much an extension of Wells’s early shorts, Blue Christmas, Laps, and Tuesday, in which she deals with such subjects as sexual abuse, the loss of a parent, and mental illness that threatens to tear a family apart. Wells favors a realistic pace, moving at the speed of life, with an expert sense of composition and a knack for avoiding unnecessary dialogue or explication while often using a handheld camera to keep things slightly off balance. We also get to see brief hints of Sophie as an adult (Celia Rowlson-Hall), thinking back on this critically formative vacation.

In Aftersun, Wells and cinematographer Gregory Oke incorporate pixelated digital shots and occasional grainy textures amid gorgeous images of the Turkish coast, lovingly edited by Blair McClendon and accompanied by a wistful score by Oliver Coates. The Irish Mescal (Normal People, The Lost Daughter) fully embodies the role of a father trying to redefine what’s important to him, while Corio, in her first film, having been chosen from a casting call of more than eight hundred actresses, is charming and delightful as Sophie; her eyes light up the screen with their sense of wonder at what awaits her, and us.

Aftersun is screening October 8-10 at the New York Film Festival with Wells participating in Q&As after the noon screening on October 8 (joined by Corio) and the October 9 show at 9:00; Wells will also take part in a free talk with Mia Hansen-Løve (One Fine Morning) on October 8 at 4:00 at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center amphitheater. The film opens at Lincoln Center on October 21.