Join us for an exclusive screening of The Hands of Ida, the only known copy of a repudiated TV movie written by Gerry Atwel and directed by the visionary Guy Maddin. Rumoured to have been destroyed in a black magic ceremony, this film aired only once on CKND TV in Winnipeg in 1995. Thanks to Paul Anthony, one of the film’s actors, who taped it off television, we can present it to you in all of its degraded glory.
What can you expect (but not possibly be prepared for)?
A woman named Ida endures a brutal assault where her hands are removed, sparking the rise of a female vigilante group targeting male assailants by cutting off their penises. Portraying a reality where men must be escorted by women to ensure their safety after dark.
“I am the anger of women,
You are the instruments of justice.
We are the hands of Ida.”
Preceded by:
Hollywood (North) Babylon: Paul Anthony Tells All!
Winner of nine Outstanding Actor Awards, Paul Anthony is probably best known for playing The Rainbow Raider on the television series The Flash. He will open the evening with a series of showbiz stories while screening various never-before-seen clips from his diverse career. Highlights include: his awkward first role on James Cameron’s Dark Angel; a challenging death scene in Larry Clark’s Masters of Horror; an embarrassing misunderstanding with Keenen Ivory Wayans that cost him a part in White Chicks; and a deleted (never aired) sex scene with Alan Cumming and Pam Grier on The L Word.
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Presenter
Paul Anthony
Paul Anthony, a recipient of the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame Award, has performed in over 60 film and television projects including iZombie, Riverdale, Blade: Trinity, SUCK, A Gun to the Head, Stargate, the Emmy Award-winning Traffic and, of course, Guy Maddin’s The Hands of Ida. He is also the creator and host of the critically acclaimed Paul Anthony’s Talent Time, a live comedy/variety/talk show and public access TV program. The Globe & Mail’s Mathew Hays hailed it as “the most innovative…and inspired show” he has seen in years. An edited version of Paul Anthony’s Talent Time is available for binge-watching on TalentTime.biz.
Director
Guy Maddin
Guy Maddin has directed thirteen feature-length movies in a career spanning over thirty years. For the past decade, he has worked exclusively in directorial partnership with Evan and Galen Johnson, creating The Forbidden Room (2015), The Green Fog (2017), and the internet interactive Seances (2016). During his solo helming years, Maddin mounted around the world over seventy performances of his films, Cowards Bend The Knee (2002), Brand Upon The Brain (2006), and My Winnipeg (2007) in productions featuring live elements – orchestra, sound effects, song and narration. His screenplay and film-story collaborators include Nobel Laureate Kazuo Ishiguro and poet John Ashbery. In America, his movies Archangel (1990) and The Heart Of The World (2000) won National Society of Film Critics Awards for Best Experimental Film.
Filmography: The Saddest Music in the World (2003); Brand Upon the Brain! (2006); My Winnipeg (2007); The Forbidden Room (2015)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The Only Living Pickpocket in New York
A career thief’s circumstances grow desperate when he fences valuable merchandise stolen from a vengeful crime family. John Turturro is exquisite as a wiseacre who is typically one step ahead of everyone but now finds himself behind the eight ball.
Yo (Love Is a Rebellious Bird)
Winner of the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution at this year's Berlinale, Anna Fitch and Banker White’s exuberant documentary combines vérité interviews with a playful mix of puppetry, collage, and insect actors to memorialize a friend.
Image: © Mirabel Pictures
Ceremony
Powerful and evocative, Ceremony follows the disappearance of the ooligan in Bella Coola, revealing a story of cultural survival, environmental stewardship, and the enduring relationship between the Nuxalk Nation and the land.
No Good Men
Naru, the sole camerawoman at a major Kabul newsroom, is convinced that there are “no good men” left in Afghanistan. But partnered with the station’s star reporter in the leadup to the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, her outlook starts to shift.
The Gymnasts of Fisherman Colony
The Gymnasts of Fisherman Colony follows a group of young female gymnasts in Pakistan's Machar Colony, a highly conservative fishing settlement. Habiba Nosheen's deeply empathetic documentary is a celebration of girlhood, resilience, and self-expression.
Vengeance Is Mine
Michael Roemer’s Vengeance Is Mine follows Jo, a troubled young woman returning to her Rhode Island hometown to confront childhood wounds. An attempt to confront one family's past gradually becomes entangled with another family's dysfunction.