"When I go out with artists..."

So, I was out with artists Saturday night. There was a fund raiser for the Winnipeg Film Group, as its their 30th anniversary (actually, it's 34 years since the WFG started, but let's never mind that).

My friend Susan's brother did one of the 5 short films that the WFG commissioned for the anniversary and they were screened at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Very nice showing. The 5 shorts were all quite different: a comedy-musical, a black & white arty piece done on 8 mm by Guy Maddin the best known of the WFG film-makers, a compilation of old footage from around the world with new narrative, an animation bit, and the longest short was about 25 min shot in the same couple of rooms with the same couple of actors but in five different styles, including black and white film noir, and a Tarrantino-esque bit.

It was a fun evening. But especially fun was who showed up that I knew. I went with my friend Susan, but I saw a neighbor there, who's friends with the person who did the animated bit. Also, a former neighbor who knew Susan's brother from way back. And then a guy that I met when I went to dinner this past Boxing Day at friend's of my parents.

It's often said that everyone in Winnipeg knows everyone else, or at the very least the six degrees of separation that there's supposed to be between people is much lower if the people in question are Winnipeggers. Saturday night was perhaps proof of that.