A Filmmaker's Surreal Journey Into His Own Private Winnipeg
Rankin's latest film, Universal Language, is being released in theaters across the US this week and is Canada's international feature film submission for this year's Academy Awards. The 43-year-old director uses his Winnipeg filming locations to build a surrealist vision of the city based on a mix of his own life, family stories, and dreams he had of his late parents. The absurdist comedy, which landed on Vulture 's roundup of the best movies of 2024, follows several characters, among them a tour guide named Massoud (Pirouz Nemati) whose itineraries feature stops at a dead mall and a surface parking lot known for its historic parallel parking incident. Rankin also includes an exceptionally long moment of silence at the gravesite of Louis Riel, the Indigenous revolutionary figure who founded Manitoba. This is the Winnipeg that Hanukkah on the Rocks and Never Been Chris'd don't want you to see.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
Reputation strategist on why Sydney Sweeney's jeans ad sparked controversy
Reputation and crisis strategist explains why Sydney Sweeney's ad for American Eagle was meant to spark controversy and was a success for both the model and the brand.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
JD Vance Defends Sydney Sweeney Amid American Eagle Ad Backlash: 'Dems Are Calling People Nazis for Finding Her Attractive'
Vice President JD Vance has waded into the controversy surrounding actress Sydney Sweeney's latest campaign for American Eagle, criticizing what he calls a 'Democratic meltdown' over the ad's allegedly coded messaging. Speaking on Friday's episode of the conservative 'Ruthless' podcast, Vance delivered an incendiary rebuke of critics who have accused the campaign of playing into white supremacist aesthetics. 'My political advice to the Democrats is: continue to tell everybody who thinks Sydney Sweeney is attractive that they're a Nazi. That appears to be their actual strategy,' Vance said. 'You have a normal all-American beautiful girl doing a normal jeans ad—and they've managed to unhinge themselves over it.' Vance's comments come amid a swirl of online discourse over a series of American Eagle ads featuring Euphoria star Sweeney. The campaign, which launched last week, features playful wordplay on 'genes' and 'jeans.' In one ad, Sweeney tells viewers, 'Genes are passed down from parents to offspring,' before smiling and clarifying, 'My jeans are blue.' Another features a billboard proclaiming 'Sydney Sweeney has great genes,' with 'genes' humorously scratched out and replaced with 'jeans.' What was intended as a lighthearted back-to-school campaign has instead exploded into a full-blown ideological clash, with critics accusing the brand of peddling a eugenicist subtext and idealizing whiteness. One now-viral MSNBC opinion piece, titled 'Sydney Sweeney's ad shows an unbridled cultural shift toward whiteness,' argued that the ad centers Sweeney's Anglo-Saxon features as a beauty standard in a way that subtly reinforces racial hierarchies. No Democratic Officials Have Actually Commented Despite the online furor, CNN White House producer Alejandra Jaramillo clarified in a report Thursday morning that 'no prominent Democratic Party leaders or officials have commented on the ad.' The backlash, she notes, appears to be coming primarily from progressive commentators on social media and in opinion columns, not from the Democratic establishment. Still, that didn't stop Vance from seizing the moment to score political points. 'So much of the Democrats' identity is oriented around hostility to basic American life,' Vance continued. 'You have a pretty girl doing a jeans ad and they can't help but freak out. It reveals a lot more about them than it does us.' The vice president, who has leaned heavily into culture war issues since taking office alongside President Donald Trump in January, framed the ad uproar as emblematic of a broader 'liberal obsession with policing beauty and tradition.' 'I actually thought one of the lessons [Democrats] might take from the November 2024 election was, 'We're going to be less crazy,'' Vance said. 'But no—the lesson they've apparently taken is, 'We're going to attack people as Nazis for thinking Sydney Sweeney is beautiful.' Great strategy, guys.' White House Spokesman Weighs In Earlier this week, White House spokesman Steve Cheung also slammed the backlash to the Sweeney ads, calling it 'cancel culture run amok.' 'This warped, moronic and dense liberal thinking is a big reason why Americans voted the way they did in 2024,' Cheung posted on X. 'They're tired of this bullshit.' His post included a screenshot of the controversial MSNBC headline and ignited further conservative support for the actress and the brand. Sweeney herself has remained silent amid the uproar, choosing instead to continue posting promotional clips from the campaign across her social platforms. American Eagle has not issued a formal comment on the backlash but continues to run the ads on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, where they have garnered millions of views. The post JD Vance Defends Sydney Sweeney Amid American Eagle Ad Backlash: 'Dems Are Calling People Nazis for Finding Her Attractive' appeared first on Where Is The Buzz | Breaking News, Entertainment, Exclusive Interviews & More.
2 hours ago
New series based on 'The Holiday' is in the works
A new series based on the beloved 2006 romantic comedy "The Holiday" is in the works at Apple TV+. "The Holiday," directed by Nancy Meyers, starred Cameron Diaz as Amanda, a single American woman, and Kate Winslet as Iris, a single British woman. The two women swap homes during the Christmas season and unexpectedly find love after heartbreak with Amanda meeting Graham, played by Jude Law, and Iris connecting with Miles, portrayed by Jack Black. The film quickly became a hit and is now a Christmas classic. The new TV series version of "The Holiday" is expected to keep the storyline but will introduce viewers to new characters. Writer Krissie Ducker is set to executive produce and actor and comedian Rob Delaney is attached to write the new series, which will be produced with Left Bank Pictures.
