Sean Garrity is the Winnipeg-based director of Inertia, and a bass player. He's currently compiling a DVD of short films from the Winnipeg Film Group.
Current fixations:
New Japanese Cinema, doomed Antarctic exploration missions, kimchi, conspiracy theories, Victor Wooten, Michel Camilo, Soulive, director commentary tracks on DVDs.
Mind-altering work of art:
"Undo" by Shunji Iwai. The definition of a perfect short film.
Most memorable or inspirational gig and why?
Playing bass with the Wyrd Sisters in some small Saskatchewan town. When the singer said that the name "Wyrd Sisters" came from a trio of pre-Christian goddesses, the audience hissed at us and one woman shouted "Shame on you!" We thought we were going to be chased out of town with pitchforks.
What has been your career high and low?
Every new film feels like a career high when I'm making it, and then feels like a career low a week after the first cut.
What should everyone shut up about?
The war on terrorism, the war on drugs, how much we all love America.
I would drop everything to play a benefit for:
I'm an artist in Winnipeg. Everything I do is a benefit!
What trait do you like and dislike most about yourself?
Like: I'm terribly driven.
Dislike: I'm a terrible driver.
What would make you kick someone out of your band and/or bed, and have you?
Someone who votes Alliance - but then, I guess if they voted Alliance, they wouldn't be a musician anyway. And they certainly wouldn't get as far as my bed.
When I think of Canada I think:
Winter. 35 below. A whole bunch of men wearing parkas and sorels, sitting in a donut shop at night speaking Somali, Chinese, Pharsi, Serbian and Spanish.
What is your vital daily ritual?
Espresso and a chapter from a book first thing in the morning.
How do you spoil yourself?
Espresso and a chapter from a book first thing in the morning.
What was your most memorable day job?
Gunner. In pairs, we had to take a dead, frozen duck, and a gun loaded with blanks, and walk out into a soggy March wheat field, and stand there. When the men running the "hunting dog" competition yelled "Gunner!" we threw the duck carcass into the air. When it reached its apex, we fired the gun, and the dogs looked up to see a falling dead duck. They came running out, grabbed it in their mouths and took it back to their masters. By the end of the day, the ducks had thawed, so when we threw them up, it looked like a bazooka had hit them, not a rifle. Their innards trailed out behind them, and they landed with a moist "plop."
If I wasn't directing movies I would be:
The prime minister, or I would clean public lavatories - it's a toss up.
What is your greatest fear?
That all the Mike Harris's and Ralph Kleins would form a national alliance, and hey wait a minute!
If you had a superpower, what would it be?
I'd like to be "cool glasses man" and have the power to change the shape of my glasses at will.
What makes you want to take it off and get it on?
The whispery Korean lady whose voice announces the next stop over the intercom in the Seoul subway.
Music and sex: Is there a difference? Why?
Yes. One is music, and the other is sex. They're even spelled differently so we can tell them apart.
Strangest brush with celebrity:
I met this guy in the subway once, and he looked a lot like R.H. Thompson. So I said "You look a lot like R. H. Thompson." He said "That's because I am R.H. Thompson" then he got off. I wonder if he really was R.H. Thompson. It was strange.
Who would be your ideal dinner guest, living or dead, and what would you serve them?
Sai Baba. I think he only eats lentils.
What does your mom wish you were doing instead?
Anything, just as long as I don't crash her car again.
Current fixations:
New Japanese Cinema, doomed Antarctic exploration missions, kimchi, conspiracy theories, Victor Wooten, Michel Camilo, Soulive, director commentary tracks on DVDs.
Mind-altering work of art:
"Undo" by Shunji Iwai. The definition of a perfect short film.
Most memorable or inspirational gig and why?
Playing bass with the Wyrd Sisters in some small Saskatchewan town. When the singer said that the name "Wyrd Sisters" came from a trio of pre-Christian goddesses, the audience hissed at us and one woman shouted "Shame on you!" We thought we were going to be chased out of town with pitchforks.
What has been your career high and low?
Every new film feels like a career high when I'm making it, and then feels like a career low a week after the first cut.
What should everyone shut up about?
The war on terrorism, the war on drugs, how much we all love America.
I would drop everything to play a benefit for:
I'm an artist in Winnipeg. Everything I do is a benefit!
What trait do you like and dislike most about yourself?
Like: I'm terribly driven.
Dislike: I'm a terrible driver.
What would make you kick someone out of your band and/or bed, and have you?
Someone who votes Alliance - but then, I guess if they voted Alliance, they wouldn't be a musician anyway. And they certainly wouldn't get as far as my bed.
When I think of Canada I think:
Winter. 35 below. A whole bunch of men wearing parkas and sorels, sitting in a donut shop at night speaking Somali, Chinese, Pharsi, Serbian and Spanish.
What is your vital daily ritual?
Espresso and a chapter from a book first thing in the morning.
How do you spoil yourself?
Espresso and a chapter from a book first thing in the morning.
What was your most memorable day job?
Gunner. In pairs, we had to take a dead, frozen duck, and a gun loaded with blanks, and walk out into a soggy March wheat field, and stand there. When the men running the "hunting dog" competition yelled "Gunner!" we threw the duck carcass into the air. When it reached its apex, we fired the gun, and the dogs looked up to see a falling dead duck. They came running out, grabbed it in their mouths and took it back to their masters. By the end of the day, the ducks had thawed, so when we threw them up, it looked like a bazooka had hit them, not a rifle. Their innards trailed out behind them, and they landed with a moist "plop."
If I wasn't directing movies I would be:
The prime minister, or I would clean public lavatories - it's a toss up.
What is your greatest fear?
That all the Mike Harris's and Ralph Kleins would form a national alliance, and hey wait a minute!
If you had a superpower, what would it be?
I'd like to be "cool glasses man" and have the power to change the shape of my glasses at will.
What makes you want to take it off and get it on?
The whispery Korean lady whose voice announces the next stop over the intercom in the Seoul subway.
Music and sex: Is there a difference? Why?
Yes. One is music, and the other is sex. They're even spelled differently so we can tell them apart.
Strangest brush with celebrity:
I met this guy in the subway once, and he looked a lot like R.H. Thompson. So I said "You look a lot like R. H. Thompson." He said "That's because I am R.H. Thompson" then he got off. I wonder if he really was R.H. Thompson. It was strange.
Who would be your ideal dinner guest, living or dead, and what would you serve them?
Sai Baba. I think he only eats lentils.
What does your mom wish you were doing instead?
Anything, just as long as I don't crash her car again.
