Atelier national du Manitoba

L'Atelier national du Manitoba is a filmmaking and art collective based in Winnipeg, Canada. Founded in February 2005, the club's artistic output often focuses on the history, culture and ephemera of Winnipeg and Manitoba, in general. In collaboration, and individually under the l'Atelier rubric, the group's members have created an array of short and feature-length films, videos, posters, art projects, curatorial showcases and essays. [http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2006/08/16/gimli-film-festival.html]

On August 26-28, 2005, l'Atelier collaborated with Winnipeg artist Daniel Barrow on the screening series, "Garbage Hill: A Showcase of Discarded Winnipeg Film and TV", held at the Winnipeg Film Group's Cinematheque. The series was a compendium of former cable access television shows from VPW and Cablevision, locally-produced television commercials and under appreciated films from thirty years of Manitoba filmmaking. Barrow presented clips from cable TV shows, such as dance free-for-all "The Pollock and Pollock Gossip Show", reperatory musical performance show "The Cosmopolitans", and the white Persian cat fan club TV-newsletter "What's New Pussycat", among others, with his signature overhead projector providing scrolling historical background on each show. L'Atelier national du Manitoba presented the history of locally-produced, low-budget TV commercials in the feature-length video "Kubasa in a Glass: the Fetishised Winnipeg TV Commercial 1976-1992". [http://www.imagesfestival.com/event.php?id=120&year=2006&month=4]

In December 2005, l'Atelier national du Manitoba presented their new video-collage "Death by Popcorn: the Tragedy of the Winnipeg Jets" at the Winnipeg Film Group's Cinematheque for three screenings. [http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/winnipegjets.html] Subsequent to the video's Winnipeg premier, the collective became involved in a highly-publicized public controversy and legal battle with media conglomerate CTV BellGlobeMedia over Fair Use of de-accessioned television footage. [http://www.appropriationart.ca/whos-killing-death-by-popcorn.htm] Throughout 2006 and 2007, "Death By Popcorn" screened extensively across Canada and the United States, on several occasions in tandem with Saskatchewan filmmaker Brett Kashmere's video-essay, "Valery's Ankle," as the program "Winters of Our Discontent." [http://www.artgalleryofnovascotia.ca/en/home/education/Events/exhibitions/arena/default.aspx] [http://www.artengine.ca/programming/2008/04/Winters_Discontent/index-en.php]

In 2008, l'Atelier publicly denounced the City of Winnipeg's downtown development office, Centre Venture, for their alleged plans to raze historically significant portions of the city's Chinatown district. [http://www.uptownmag.com/2008-07-31/page2656.aspx]