Twilight of the Ice Nymphs Leolo

Two transcendent films by two of Canada's most innovative directors: Guy Maddin and Jean-Claude Lauzon.

Twilight of the Ice Nymphs (1997; 91 mins.) was Maddin's first "big" budget film, featuring such name actors as Frank Gorshin and Shelley Duvall. Described as "A Midsummer's Night Dream as envisioned by Maxfield Parrish," it's set on the island of Mandragora, a timeless land of lost dreams and forbidden passions--"very lush and full of ostriches!" adds Maddin.

Leolo (1992; 107 mins.), by Montreal's enfant terrible Jean-Claude Lauzon, is "better than anything else ever made in Canada" according to Maddin. The film follows young boy who attempts to dream himself out of his grinding day-to-day existence in a Montreal slum. Roger Ebert writes that "I have never seen [a film] like it before....It will remind you that movies can be wonderful."