Skip to main content
The Hands of Ida film image; text on blue screen

The Hands of Ida

This event has passed

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.

Presenter
Director
Country of Origin

Canada

Year

1995

Language

English

18+
60 min

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Presenter

Paul Anthony headshot

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 headshot; Rumours 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)

See More at VIFF

Filtration: The Double Life of Veronique

Dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski. Presented by Devan Scott
140 min

Directly filtering the image that comes into a lens allows cinematographers to vastly alter how a scene looks and feels. We'll analyze the radical ways Kieslowski's closet collaborator, Slawomir Idziak, editorializes in The Double Life of Veronique.

VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre

Singing Back the Buffalo

Dir. Tasha Hubbard
99 min

Driven to the point of extinction in the 19th century, the buffalo is proving more resilient than once feared. Tasha Hubbard's rhapsodic doc weaves personal reflection, animated tales, observational reportage and gorgeous nature footage.

VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Eyes Wide Shut

Dir. Stanley Kubrick
159 min

Loosely based on Arthur Schnitzler's Traumnovelle, Kubrick's last masterpiece explores erotic desire with sly wit and dreamy insouciance. Co-Presented with Vancouver Opera.

VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre

Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision

Dir. John McDermott
90 min

This new angle on the life and times of Jimi Hendrix gives us the story of the studio he created -- a facility where Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, Beyonce, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones would go on to record.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre