Guy Maddin’s hometown fantasia, My Winnipeg, is one of my favorite films of the last few years. Night Mayor is a recent short film that explores similar territory. It won a Short Film Jury Award for Experimental Short at this year’s SXSW, and is now available online at the National Film Board of Canada site (and embedded here).

From the press release:

Night Mayor tells the tale of Nihad Ademi, a Bosnian immigrant who serves as Winnipeg’s “night mayor.” Ademi somehow harnesses the multi-coloured waves of the Aurora Borealis and uses its power to broadcast images of his beloved adoptive country to its identity-starved citizens from coast to coast.

It is Maddin’s first film added to an online catalog. Maddin says, “I thought Night Mayor could unspool luminously and infinitely in its own enchanted, and frequently visited, corner of cyberspace. Now, if only I could get my films on radio and Telex I’d really be set!”

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