The party that The Onion threw for us on Thursday night at Butter was da bomb! And Friday night we got a special treat as well when film director Guy Maddin joined Thrillpeddler playwright Eddie Muller in the center “Shock Box” for the performance of Hypnodrome Head Trips. You need only see Maddin’s The Saddest Music in the World, Tales from the Gimli Hospital or Sissy Boy Slap Party to know why his presence was both an honor and delight for Thrillpeddlers. What a match! He really dug the show… and man, do I dig him.

Maddin is in town as a guest of honor for the 50th Annual San Francisco International Film Festival. On Monday, May 7th his film Brand Upon the Brain! will dominate The Castro Theatre. Check out this blurb from the Castro’s website and see if you can resist it:

May 7, 8:00 PM
Brand Upon the Brain!
Guy Maddin, USA/Canada, 2006, 95 minutes
SFIFF favorite Maddin’s faux-autobiographical masterwork mines the rich territories of his youth and spins them into a fantasy of familial discontent. The film’s original score will be performed live by a 13-piece ensemble, with foley artists, a benshi-like narrator and a “castrato” adding to the fun.