Synopsis
Also known as The Blue Hands, the opening film of Maddin’s fictionalized autobiographical trilogy originated as an audiovisual offering to the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Inspired by classics like The Hands of Orlac, by Wiene, and The Unknown, by Browning, Maddin created a device similar to a peep show, in which ten six-minute chapters, which combined to make the feature, could be seen through the holes. The tale is steeped in this pornographic strategy: an amazing story in which the protagonists are sex, mutilations and ice hockey. The main character, called Guy Maddin, falls in love with a girl at a backstreet abortion clinic, hidden in a hair salon storeroom, where his girlfriend is having an operation. Of course, it all gets complicated. Before he can touch her, Maddin’s new lover demands that he has her father’s hands transplanted onto him. That is just the first of several circumstances that lead to a nightmare.
Filmmaker
Guy Maddin
(Winnipeg, 1956) He studied economics at the University of Winnipeg. Maddin is an installation artist, screenwriter, cinematographer and filmmaker. He has also mounted numerous live performance versions of his films around the world, featuring live music, sound effects, singing and narration. Since 2011 he has collaborated with Galen Johnson and Evan Johnson under the banner of Development Ltd., their Winnipeg-based filmmaking collective.
Filmography: The Green Fog (2017), Accidence (2017), Seances (2016), Bring Me the Head of Tim Horton (2015, D'A 2016), The Forbidden Room (2015, D'A 2015) Keyhole (2011), My Winnipeg (2007, D'A 2011), Brand Upon the Brain! (2006, D'A 2011), The Saddest Music in the World (2003, D'A 2011), Dracula, Pages From a Virgin's Diary (2002, D'A 2011), Twilight of the Ice Nymphs (1997, D'A 2011), Archangel (1990, D'A 2011)
