LISTEN BIG: Manitoba Music Videos Take Over the IMAX for Nuit Blanche

Turn out the lights, sit back, and get ready for a night of Manitoba-made music videos on the big screen… the really big screen.

Manitoba Music is joining forces with IMAX Winnipeg Portage Place and Culture Days Manitoba to present Manitoba Music Videos at IMAX as part of the Nuit Blanche festivities in downtown Winnipeg. Running 6 p.m. to midnight on September 29, the free event features over 40 local music videos in full IMAX sound and vision, plus live music in the licensed lobby bar, and director interviews.

Once an hour, a select music video will be featured with unplugged performance by the artist, a screening on the 22-meter-high IMAX screen, and a Q&A with the artist and video director. Performers include indie rock upstarts Cannon Bros., experimental folk/pop outfit From Giants, singer/songwriter Cat Jahnke, and alt popsters Enjoy Your Pumas. Directors include Nicholas Friesen (Cinematic/Scars), Tyler Funk, Kristian Jordan, Curtis Wiebe, James Rewucki (Absurd Machine), and Josh Benoit.

Videos from a diverse group of artists, including Imaginary Cities, The Weakerthans, Chic Gamine, The Magnificent 7s, Les Jupes, Royal Canoe, Nathan, Romi Mayes, and many more will be screened continuously between the featured performances.

This unique collaboration of music and film offers a behind-the-scenes look at the world of music videos, which has changed dramatically since the heyday of Much Music and MTV. Artists and directors have greater access to tools, resources, and each other, to create exciting mini films and unique music pieces.

Nuit Blanche is an annual all-night arts festival that takes place during the national Culture Days celebration. Culture Days is a collaborative coast-to-coast-to-coast volunteer movement to raise the awareness, accessibility, participation and engagement of Canadians in the arts and cultural life of their communities. The third annual Culture Days weekend will take place September 28-30, 2012, and will feature thousands of free, hands-on, interactive activities that invite the public to participate “behind-the-scenes,” to discover the world of artists, creators, historians, architects, curators, designers and other creative people in their communities.