The Cinematheque

New Restoration

“Radical and completely uncompromising … The performance by Graham Greene is lethally sarcastic.”

Hal Hinson, The Washington Post

A lost classic of Canadian cinema, Ryszard Bugajski’s criminally underseen 1991 thriller has Canadian liberalism and Indigenous mysticism facing off in an explosive confrontation over logging and land rights. Adapted from a Governor General’s Award-winning novel by M.T. Kelly, the harrowing tale begins as a seemingly routine social-issue drama about a First Nations blockade, then abruptly veers off into mayhem. Graham Greene, fresh off his Oscar-nominated turn in Dances with Wolves, plays mysterious Arthur, an Indigenous avenging angel who kidnaps and brutalizes a hapless activist lawyer (Ron Lea) and a pulp-mill manager (Michael Hogan). Is Arthur a guilty White Liberal’s worst nightmare come to life? The trickster spirit Wisakedjak? Powerful, provocative, and more timely than ever, this visceral work was the first English-language feature by Bugajski, who spent a decade in Canada after his 1982 film Interrogation was banned in his native Poland.

“An intense experience … As unCanadian in tone as it is Canadian in its landscape and subject matter.” Amnon Buchbinder, VIFF

The November 3 screening will be introduced by Allan MacInnis and feature a post-screening Q&A with Clearcut composer Shane Harvey. Severin Films, who restored and re-released Clearcut, will have Blu-ray copies of the film for sale in our lobby.

50% of ticket proceeds will benefit the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources (CIER)