Behind the scenes of Guy Maddin’s Night Mayor

We’ve just added 2 short films to NFB.ca about the making of Guy Maddin’s short film, Night Mayor (see below).

The film, about a man who is thwarted in his attempt to harness the power of the Aurora Borealis as a means of projecting images of Canada to all Canadians, was commissioned by the NFB on the occasion of its 70th anniversary.

On what inspired the storyline, Maddin said, “Much like the NFB and the CBC and various other organizations that have tried to show Canada to Canadians for the longest time, as soon as this guy gets going he starts feeling the pinch of cutbacks and finally the government just shuts him down. It seems to be the trajectory of all such things and seems to be the one that I’ve heard of for the longest time about the NFB.”

You can read my full interview with Maddin here.