Based in Winnipeg, Canada, the WNDX Festival of Moving Image is an experimental film festival held yearly in the fall that serves as a meeting ground for experimental film on the prairies.
WNDX has been lovingly cared for by Winnipeg and prairie-region filmmakers and curators since 2005.
MISSION: The WNDX Festival of Moving Image supports a diverse community of experimental moving image artists through an annual festival and year-round activities, contributing to local, national and international exchanges of artists and audiences
VISION: The WNDX Festival of Moving Image will serve as a conduit to new directions and evolutions in international experimental moving image, and will embrace and uplift unique voices in the landscape.
WNDX is a member of IMAA, Canada’s Independent Media Arts Alliance, and is a registered Canadian charity.
A Short History
The WNDX Festival of Moving Image was founded in 2005 by Winnipeg filmmakers Cecilia Araneda and Solomon Nagler as a reaction to the local film establishment at the time. Winnipeg houses one of the most unique film creation cultures in Canada and is internationally recognized for its independent and experimental works. Prior to the first WNDX festival in 2006, however, there was no dedicated forum to provide access and context to this culture. Concurrently, the professional programming landscape in Winnipeg and Canada at the time was dominated by cis white men, creating an artificial hegemony that excluded many. While these sector problems would remain in the decades to come, WNDX served and continues to serve as a meaningful intervention.
Central to WNDX’s early programming framework was working as a curatorial collective, involving as many different voices and perspectives within what has traditionally been a tightly locked programming gate in Canada. Core curatorial collective members over the years have included, among others: Cecilia Araneda, Jaimz Asmundson, Irene Bindi, Jenny Bisch, Divya Mehra, Solomon Nagler, Carole O’Brien, Rhayne Vermette, Jenny Western, and Collin Zipp. Recent past staff members, who have also contributed to the development of the organization, include Scott Fitzpatrick, Hagere Selam “shimby” Zegeye-Gebrehiwot and Heidi Phillips.
Over its past 20 years, WNDX has been predominantly artistically-led by voices traditionally left out of institutional film programming: women, and Indigenous and racialized peoples. While the organization’s structures have started to evolve more recently, this tradition continues. In addition, WNDX regularly works with outside curators as an essential part of broadening the scope of who it engages with and the diversity of ideas it propagates.
Among the visiting and featured artists WNDX has programmed since inception include: Christina Battle, Rebecca Belmore, Scott Benesiinaabandan, Wafaa Bilal, Amanda Dawn Christie, Theo Jean Cuthand, Shawna Dempsey + Lori Millan, Phil Hoffman, John Kneller, George Kuchar, Alexandre Larose, Karl Lemieux, Amy Lockhart, Guy Maddin, Alex MacKenzie, Lindsay McIntyre, Isiah Medina, Kent Monkman, Caroline Monnet, Darryl Nepinak, Nova Paul, John Price, Izabella Pruska-Oldenhof, Tasman Richardson, Malena Szlam, Michael Snow, Barbara Sternberg, Rhayne Vermette and many others.
WNDX has also programmed countless Manitoba and prairie-region filmmakers through the open call programs, including among them: Amalie Atkins, Pat Aylesworth, Kyath Battie, Daniel Barrow, Jaime Black, Winona Bearshield, Alyssa Bornn, Adam Budd, Ian Campbell, Cyril Chen, James Dixon, Erica Eyres, Elvira Finnigan, Anastasia Ferguson, Simon Garez, Rowan Gray, Christina Hajjar, Finlay Harper, Chanelle Lajoie, Brett Kashmere, Divya Mehra, Mike Maryniuk, Sylvia Matas, Eve Mazjels, Doug Melnyk, Sandee Moore, Mariana Muñoz Gomez, Darryl Nepinak, Freya Björg Olafson, Robert Pasternak, Tracy Peters, Heidi Phillips, pluetoe, Scott Portingale, Matthew Rankin, Eden Samson, Esperanza Sanchez Espitia, Nicole Shimonek, Ryan Steel, Leslie Supnet, Murray Toews and Nic Wilson, among others.
Since inception, WNDX has also worked with countless local contractors and volunteers working in operational management, organizational development, grant writing, program coordination, publicity, communications, technical coordination, and event, volunteer and hospitality management. Many hands make light work.