Stump the Guesser

Last updated
Stump the Guesser
Stump the Guesser.jpg
Film poster
Directed by Guy Maddin
Evan Johnson
Galen Johnson
Written byGuy Maddin
Evan Johnson
Galen Johnson
Produced byJuliette Hagopian
StarringAdam Brooks
Brent Neale
Stephanie Berrington
CinematographyRyan Simmons
Edited byEvan Johnson
Galen Johnson
Production
company
Julijette
Release date
Running time
19 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Stump the Guesser is a Canadian short film by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson, which was released in 2020. [1] A silent black-and-white film based on early Soviet cinema tropes, it stars Adam Brooks as a man who works as a guesser at the fair, but whose mindreading tricks suddenly begin to fail him; simultaneously, he meets a long-lost sister he never knew he had and falls in love with her, and sets out to disprove the theory of heredity in hopes of being able to marry her. [2]

The film premiered on February 25, 2020 at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival. [3]

The film was named to the Toronto International Film Festival's year-end Canada's Top Ten list for short films in 2020. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guy Maddin</span> Canadian director, screenwriter and author (born 1956)

Guy Maddin is a Canadian screenwriter, director, author, cinematographer, and film editor of both features and short films, as well as an installation artist, from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Since completing his first film in 1985, Maddin has become one of Canada's most well-known and celebrated filmmakers.

<i>My Winnipeg</i> 2007 Canadian film by Guy Maddin

My Winnipeg is a 2007 Canadian film directed and written by Guy Maddin with dialogue by George Toles. Described by Maddin as a "docu-fantasia", that melds "personal history, civic tragedy, and mystical hypothesizing", the film is a surrealist mockumentary about Winnipeg, Maddin's home town. A New York Times article described the film's unconventional take on the documentary style by noting that it "skates along an icy edge between dreams and lucidity, fact and fiction, cinema and psychotherapy".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010 Toronto International Film Festival</span> 2010 film festival edition

The 35th annual Toronto International Film Festival, (TIFF) was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 9 and September 19, 2010. The opening night gala presented Score: A Hockey Musical, a Canadian comedy-drama musical film. Last Night closed the festival on September 19.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Émond</span> Canadian film director and screenwriter

Anne Émond is a Canadian film director and screenwriter, currently based in Montreal, Quebec.

<i>Seances</i> (film) Canadian film

Seances is a 2016 interactive project by filmmaker and installation artist Guy Maddin, with co-creators Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson, and the National Film Board of Canada, combining Maddin's recreations of lost films with an algorithmic film generator that allows for multiple storytelling permutations. Maddin began the project in 2012 in Paris, France, shooting footage for 18 films at the Centre Georges Pompidou and continued shooting footage for an additional 12 films at the Phi Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Paris and Montreal shoots each took three weeks, with Maddin completing one short film of approximately 15–20 minutes each day. The shoots were also presented as art installation projects, during which Maddin, along with the cast and crew, held a “séance” during which Maddin "invite[d] the spirit of a lost photoplay to possess them."

<i>The Forbidden Room</i> (2015 film) 2015 Canadian film

The Forbidden Room is a 2015 Canadian experimental fantasy drama film co-directed by Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson, and written by Maddin, Johnson, and Robert Kotyk. The film stars Roy Dupuis, Clara Furey, Louis Negin, Jacques Nolot, Charlotte Rampling, Udo Kier, Gregory Hlady, Sparks, Karine Vanasse, Adele Haenel, Mathieu Amalric, Maria de Medeiros and Geraldine Chaplin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 Toronto International Film Festival</span> Film festival

The 40th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 10 to 20 September 2015. On 28 July 2015 the first wave of films to be screened at the Festival was announced. Jean-Marc Vallée's Demolition starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Naomi Watts was the opening night film; Mr. Right by Paco Cabezas was the closing night film.

<i>Sleeping Giant</i> (film) 2015 film

Sleeping Giant is a 2015 Canadian drama film written and directed by Andrew Cividino. The film follows three teenage boys coping with boredom in cottage country on the shores of Lake Superior.

Deco Dawson is the professional name of Darryl Kinaschuk, a Ukrainian Canadian experimental filmmaker. He is most noted as a two-time winner of the Toronto International Film Festival Award for Best Canadian Short Film, winning at the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival for FILM(dzama) and at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival for Keep a Modest Head, and was a shortlisted Canadian Screen Award nominee for Best Short Documentary for the latter film at the 1st Canadian Screen Awards in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Toronto International Film Festival</span> 2018 film festival

The 43rd annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 6 to 16, 2018. In June 2018, the TIFF organizers announced a program to ensure that at least 20 percent of all film critics and journalists given press accreditation to the festival were members of underrepresented groups, such as women and people of color. The People's Choice Award was won by Green Book, directed by Peter Farrelly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sofia Bohdanowicz</span> Canadian film director

Sofia Bohdanowicz is a Canadian filmmaker. She is known for her collaborations with Deragh Campbell and made her feature film directorial debut in 2016 with Never Eat Alone. Her second feature film, Maison du Bonheur, was a finalist for the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award at the 2018 Toronto Film Critics Association Awards. That year, she won the Jay Scott Prize from the Toronto Film Critics Association. Her third feature film, MS Slavic 7, which she co-directed with Campbell, had its world premiere at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival in 2019. She has also directed several short films, such as Veslemøy's Song (2018) and Point and Line to Plane (2020).

<i>Accidence</i> (film) 2018 Canadian short film

Accidence is a Canadian short drama film, directed by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson, and released in 2018. The film, a continuous nine-minute shot, focuses on an apartment block and depicts the diverse events, both major and minor, taking place on balconies.

Bring Me the Head of Tim Horton is a 2015 Canadian short documentary film, directed by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson.

<i>Anne at 13,000 Ft.</i> 2019 Canadian film

Anne at 13,000 Ft. is a 2019 Canadian drama film. Directed and written by Kazik Radwanski, the film stars Deragh Campbell as Anne, a shy, socially awkward daycare worker whose attitude to her life and work is radically transformed after she skydives for the first time. It premiered in the Platform Prize program at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, and received an honourable mention from the Platform Prize jury. In December 2019, the film was named to TIFF's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list. After premiering on the festival circuit in 2019, the film's 2020 theatrical release was postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deragh Campbell</span> Canadian actress

Deragh Campbell is a Canadian actress and filmmaker. She is known for her performances in independent Canadian cinema. Her collaborations with filmmaker Sofia Bohdanowicz—Never Eat Alone (2016), Veslemøy's Song (2018), MS Slavic 7 (2019), and Point and Line to Plane (2020)—have screened at film festivals internationally. Campbell has also starred in three of Kazik Radwanski's feature films; she played a small role in How Heavy This Hammer (2015), the lead role in Anne at 13,000 Ft. (2019), and opposite Matt Johnson in Matt and Mara (2024).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020 Toronto International Film Festival</span> 45th edition of the festival

The 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, the 45th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held from September 10 to 21, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto, the festival took place primarily on an online streaming platform, although limited in-person screenings still took place within the constraints of social distancing restrictions.

<i>Foam</i> (film) 2020 Canadian film

Foam is a Canadian short drama film, directed by Omar Elhamy and released in 2020. The film stars Hakim Loudyi as Hakim, a man whose return to work at a car wash following a stint in jail does not go as expected, when his boss announces that the car wash is closing.

Preludes is a Canadian short film series, which premiered in 2000. Commissioned by the Toronto International Film Festival to mark the event's 25th anniversary in 2000, the series consisted of ten short films by Canadian directors which were inspired in some way by the festival, and each film screened as a prelude to a feature film in the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival program.

Galen Johnson is a Canadian filmmaker from Winnipeg, Manitoba, most noted for his frequent collaborations with Guy Maddin. He was a Canadian Screen Award nominee for Best Art Direction/ Production Design at the 4th Canadian Screen Awards in 2016 for his work on Maddin's The Forbidden Room.

Evan Johnson is a Canadian filmmaker from Winnipeg, Manitoba, most noted for his frequent collaborations with Guy Maddin. He was codirector of Maddin's The Forbidden Room, which was the winner of the Toronto Film Critics Association's Rogers Best Canadian Film Award at the Toronto Film Critics Association Awards 2015.

References