trains of winnipeg - 14 film poems
Clive Holden | Canada | 90 min. | 35mm | 2004 | Music by John K.
Samson, Jason Tait & Christine Fellows | World Premiere
Arriving from the West like a loaded freight train, trains
of winnipeg - 14 film poems is chock-full of memories and
ruminations on Clive Holden’s nomadic experiences from
across Canada.
His haunting short films and texts are set to music in this exquisite
feature-length film cycle, which explores feelings of transience,
loss and longing for a place to call home. The film’s rhythmic
and oblique approach shifts our focus, requiring us to reexamine
what we thought familiar. The overall effect is of a mystery-shrouded
journey that accumulates emotional impact with locomotive force.
Holden’s ideas are infused with a deep sense of place, and
explore distance and remoteness as both a physical and an emotional
experience. Transportation, searching and movement often become
the focal point of his ideas for either closing that gap or acknowledging
that it has grown even wider. The musical contributions of John
K. Samson and Jason Tait of The Weakerthans and composer Christine
Fellows create a dense, rich soundscape, with ambient sounds that
echo the rhythm of rumbling trains underlining Holden’s economical
use of visual and spoken language. His calm voice thinly veils countless
anxieties. As a first-generation Canadian born of Irish immigrants,
Holden’s past is full of memories of traveling across the
country. “Without even trying to do it I ended up living all
over the country. A sense of place is important to everyone but
for an immigrant the search for place is really important. I think
that’s why the trains work so well. It’s powerful, searching”
(Clive Holden).
Between writing poetry and fiction, touring, recording, and making
films, Clive Holden also finds time to run Cyclops Press, which
specialises in spoken word albums. His books include fury –
fictions & films (1998) and trains of winnipeg (2002), which
was nominated for three Manitoba Book Awards; his CD of the same
name is available in North America and Europe. Holden is a native
of Victoria and now lives in Winnipeg.
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