DRACULA: PAGES OF A VIRGIN’S…

Guy Maddin

Canada 73 min Fiction

Synopsis

Only Guy Maddin could bring to the big screen Mark Godden’s adaptation of the legend of Dracula for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. In his first movie since the torture he endured with Twilight of the Ice Nymphs, the Canadian accepted an offer from Canadian Broadcasting Corporation producer Vonnie Von Helmolt for financial reasons, without suspecting that the result would go down so well with the public and the critics, and would win the award for best motion picture at the Sitges Film Festival. The value of this Dracula is not so much the transfer of the language of dance into cinematography, in which the camera acts like one of the dancers, as it is the way the legend itself is treated. Maddin turns the famous vampire into an Asian-looking monster, the personification (if a vampire can be considered a person) of the worst social fears of immigration and a catalyser of female sexuality. Sensuality, irony, leotards and plenty of Vaseline on the Super 8 to mark Maddin’s resurgence on the feature film scene. 

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)

Guy Maddin

Film information

Director: Guy Maddin
Script: Mark Godden
Contact: Cameo
With: Zhang Wei-Qiang, Tara Birtwhistle, David Moroni, CindyMarie Small, Johnny Wright
Country: Canada
Year: 2002
Format: Digital
Length: 73 min
Edition: 2011