Artist/Curator: Daniel Barrow
2023, Canada, 113 min
Daniel Barrow’s recently completed, 2023 iteration of the hybrid curatorial/archival/expanded cinema project “Winnipeg Babysitter”, examining Winnipeg’s unique history of public access television, premiered last October at the Vancouver International Film Festival, and now comes to the Dave Barber Cinematheque with a launch of the limited edition Blu-ray. Since 2006, Barrow has been presenting excerpts from this independent archive in a series of international presentations. Since these initial presentations, Barrow has continued researching, collecting footage and has become a touchstone of sorts for community access creators who want their work archived, remembered and reexamined as media artworks.
When SHAW Cable purchased Winnipeg’s local cable station VPW, rumor circulated that they had destroyed the public access television archives and were systematically dismantling the public access services. Shortly thereafter, artist Daniel Barrow began researching, compiling and archiving a history of independently produced television in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
In the late 70s and throughout the 80s, Winnipeg experienced a golden age of public access television. Anyone with a creative dream, concept or politic would be endowed with airtime and professional production services. Winnipeg Babysitter traces unique vignettes from a brief synapse in broadcasting history when Winnipeg cable companies were mandated to provide public access as a condition of their license. Because the archives were destroyed, programs could only be found in the VHS collections of the original producers, television collectors, fans and enthusiasts. Winnipeg Babysitter is an archival project that restores a previously lost history.
Daniel Barrow performs an overhead projected commentary, tracing the histories of public access television in Manitoba, and describing the various biographies of each television producer and personality. The Blu-ray will be available for the very first time at the screening.
