Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould plays as part of our Members' Summer Selection season. It was proposed by Ryan Gilbey, who writes: 'I don’t know if it’s a rights issue but it’s surprising that this film is so rarely screened. It’s a radical and imaginative approach to the biopic, split into (yes, 32) fragments that cumulatively evoke the life and genius of Glenn Gould – and here’s the radical part – *without ever showing him playing the piano*.'

A rare film biography as boldly unconventional as its subject, writer-director François Girard’s visionary portrait of iconoclastic, world-renowned pianist Glenn Gould explodes the conventions of the form to illuminate the brilliant mind and innermost obsessions of a singular artist. Across thirty-two vignettes encompassing everything from dramatic sketches to documentary interviews to avant-garde animation, Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould pieces together the story of Gould’s trajectory from child prodigy to celebrated concert pianist who turned his back on public performance to pursue his all-consuming fascination with recording technology. Led by a tour-de-force performance by Colm Feore and underscored by Gould’s landmark recordings of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, Girard’s film daringly deconstructs the enigma of genius.

Cast:
Colm Feore