Trains of Winnipeg – 14 Film Poems

A visually opulent, almost hypnotic film, for which the word poetic really is justified for a change. This hybrid film is made up of fourteen film poems, each of which has the character of an individual short film, but in tone and approach they are all clearly related. Without a doubt, the film fits into the tradition of the experimental film, but it also has an epic quality rare within this genre. Within this tangible unity, the film uses a variety of kinds of images such as home movies, found footage and images processed during development, but also material from more recent visual developments in video and Internet art. The film comprises monumental, calmly recited poems. Poems that have their own autonomy within the film and hence are not literally illustrated by the images. Alongside images and text, music plays an important role. This role is so important that you could rightly call it a musical film. The film stops to look at landscapes and places that have a meaning to the director without any sign of autobiography or nostalgia. The mood and often mysterious and intriguing images unmistakably have a universal element. The film is part of an extensive multimedia project for which a CD, a book and a website have also been released. (GjZ)