Day-tripping
Films on the beach and all over town
“We screen over 100 features, docs and shorts in indoor
venues and on the beach at night where the huge screen sits offshore in the lake and people gather by the hun- dreds to watch films under the stars and northern lights,” says Janis Johnson. “People now book a year in advance and our hotels and accommodations are booked a year out.” Putting together a major festival is no mean feat. It takes extraordinary organizational skill and hundreds of volunteers, but the townsfolk are up to the task. To ap- preciate this, it is important to understand the citizens of this little town in mid-Manitoba. Gimli was founded in 1875 by Icelanders, heir to the
As the sun begins to set, people grab a spot on the beach. O
nly someone with an acute love for a place would ever think to visualize a film festival in Gimli, so improbably situated as on the edge of a mid-Manitoba lake. Former Senator Janis
Gudrun Johnson, a child of the Interlake with vision and energy, created the largest rural film festival in Canada, second only to the film festival in Toronto. It’s not just any old film festival, either. Tis one has a giant 35-foot screen set in the lake so that people can draw up their blankets and chairs on the sand and watch a movie in comfort, with only the stars to light the sky and reflect off the water. In 2017, the festival will take place July 26 to 30.
20 • Summer 2017
Viking ethic that anything is within your grasp, no mat- ter how challenging, if you have courage, truth, honour, fidelity, discipline, perseverance, industry and self-reli- ance on your side. Tese pioneers were refugees from economic hard- ship and a disastrous volcanic eruption on their northern island home. Today, the Interlake district of Manitoba comprises the largest contingent of Icelanders in the world, outside Iceland. When they came to Manitoba, these hardy individuals brought with them a remarkable story-telling ethos and a unique and sometimes quirky view of the world, informed by the harsh lands they lived in and moved to. Tis creative bent translates into com- pelling intellectual creations, including movies. “Te arts were always my “go to” for balance in my life and I have been a volunteer in this sector for decades,” explains the former senator. “Growing up in Gimli, we were surrounded by books – the world knows that there are more bookstores per capita in Iceland than anywhere else in the world. Tis influenced me tremendously. “As a senator, I wanted to do something very special for the town I grew up in and for this Icelandic community on the shores of one of the largest lakes in the world. I saw an opportunity in Gimli, for it has always been a community with cultural activities that are well known and supported – but never a film festival. “To me, this was a natural place for the festival – films
are stories brought to life on the screen, and Gimli is a community that has many storytellers, beginning with the first settlers.” To stake a claim in the world of film takes a special
sort of courage and optimism, but this is not all that sur- prising in this remarkable place. Over the years, Gimli,
The Hub
All photos by A. Kuusselka unless otherwise noted.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80
