“My childhood was full of terror and titillation, as proper childhoods are. There were incredibly horny periods. There were confusing periods, adventurous periods, mildewy periods." —Guy Maddin, on Salon.com

Evoking the silent era as filtered through Guy Maddin’s fertile mind, Brand Upon the Brain! is part German expressionism, part melodrama, and perhaps the directors’ most personal film. lt follows a man (named Guy) who, to fulfill the dying wish of his repressive mother, returns after 30 years to the island of his youth to paint the lighthouse that also housed his parents’ orphanage. Past and present blend, as the painter remembers the traumatic events of his youth and the time when a brother-sister team of teen detectives arrived to investigate the bizarre markings on the heads of the young orphans. (95 mins, 35mm) Manuelle Labor, Marie Losier’s trademark evocation of cinema past, was made in collaboration with Maddin. (13 mins, video)