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![\"Evan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/4654042_web1_blakedraper.jpg\")
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Evan Johnson photo<\/p>\n
Blake Draper as Rimbaud<\/p>\n
The film ended up being shot in Winnipeg thanks largely to producer Evan Johnson, a filmmaker in his own right with shared directing credits on various films with his brother Galen Johnson and Guy Maddin, including The Green Fog (2017) and Rumours (2024).<\/p>\n
\u201cPatrick reached out to me in late 2023,\u201d Johnson says. \u201cHe was simply looking for an amenable tax credit \u2014 which Manitoba has \u2014 and a production company interested in the kinds of things Patrick gets up to \u2026 someone that would understand what he was trying to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was familiar with his work and was already a big, big fan of his previous film, A Bread Factory in particular,\u201d Johnson says, referring to Wang\u2019s 2018 two-part comedy-drama about a community arts centre.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re enablers \u2014 we want to produce films where we let auteur directors have their way with the form,\u201d Johnson says, referring to himself and producing partner Fritzi Adleman. \u201cThat\u2019s our whole MO.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wang, a second-generation Taiwanese-American raised in Sugar Land, Texas, says in an email interview his interest in Winnipeg ran deeper than tax credits.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was at the New Orleans Film Festival when I first saw one of Guy Maddin\u2019s movies, Dracula, Pages from a Virgin\u2019s Diary,\u201d Wang says. \u201cThat made me a fan of both Guy and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.\u201d<\/p>\n
The film was shot at the Manitoba Production Centre in fall of 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cA studio production tried to buy the soundstage away from us,\u201d Wang recalls, \u201cbut having so much space was crucial to shooting a film like this. The film looks minimal, but we needed a lot of space for the optics of some of the shots, and we needed the space for manoeuvring the many sets. This is the first time I shot entirely on a soundstage, and it was a fantastic experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wang was attracted to the subject of Rimbaud in part because of his contradictions: He blazed a transgressive literary trail in his youth, only to end up a dealer of coffee and arms in Africa.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the distance between the youthful poet and the merchant in Africa is something most people find irreconcilable,\u201d Wang says. \u201cBut reading his letters, I see a similar spirit in different circumstances.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Supplied<\/p>\n Filmmaker Patrick Wang<\/p>\n \u201cThis very extraordinary life offers us an opportunity to understand something about the trajectory of our lives. I think Rimbaud also demonstrated an incredible forward momentum in his life, an ability to move on after loss and failure. That\u2019s a good example to have before us.\u201d<\/p>\n Winnipeg provided the talent Wang needed, including musicians who would play their instruments live opposite Draper in the \u201cdialogue\u201d scenes.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving world-class musicians so game to participate in our nutty adventure was tremendous,\u201d Wang says. \u201cBut one of my favourite things about shooting in Winnipeg is that half our crew were also directors. Our producers are also directors.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen shooting such an unusual project, there would typically be some degree of resistance from parts of the crew, but we didn\u2019t have any of that here. Having people so open and with such a range of abilities to contribute made this a one-of-a-kind production. It couldn\u2019t have happened anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n Patrick Wang will be in Winnipeg to present the Cinematheque screenings of A. Rimbaud on Friday and Saturday.<\/p>\n randall.king.arts@gmail.com<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Randall King Randall King writes about film for the Winnipeg Free Press.<\/p>\n
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