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GIFF gold for Matthew Rankin, Noam Gonick
GIFF gold for Matthew Rankin, Noam Gonick

Winnipeg Free Press

timea day ago

  • Entertainment
  • Winnipeg Free Press

GIFF gold for Matthew Rankin, Noam Gonick

After earning six Canadian Screen Awards earlier this year for Universal Language, filmmaker Matthew Rankin's sunlit roadside memorial to communication and community took home top honours from the Gimli International Film Festival this past weekend. Told in complementary tones of voice and within shades of sandstone, Universal Language received Best of Fest honours from the grand jury and also earned Rankin the Alda Award, given to 'honour the cinematic and creative achievements of a filmmaker from Canada and the circumpolar nations.' Rankin, who also acts in the film, was presented the Alda by festival founder Janis Johnson. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES Matthew Rankin's already acclaimed Universal Language took top honours at the Gimli International Film Festival. For her own efforts to usher the festival into existence 25 years ago, Johnson was presented by Gimli MLA Derek Johnson with the King Charles Coronation Medal at the opening reception. Rankin is a longtime festival regular and Winnipeg Film Group student who won short film award honours in 2004 before receiving the fest's On the Rise award for his feature debut The Twentieth Century during a pandemic-altered 2020 festival. This year's best Canadian short comes from writer-director Stéphanie Bélanger, who explores that unshakable era in Lumen, a French-language short with a clickable tagline for anyone who had access to e-tail during COVID-19: 'A 70-year-old with a compulsive lamp-buying problem goes dark when an online seller refuses her offer.' A modern-day victory for queer futures comes via Noam Gonick's doc Parade: Queer Acts of Love and Resistance, which was celebrated as the best Manitoban film. 'An astonishingly cumulative look at Canada's history of queer activism,' wrote Randall King in a Free Press dispatch from the Hot Docs opening in April. Parade was co-produced by Winnipeg's Justine Pimlott, who shared a Peabody Award for best documentary earlier this year for Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story. Two local actors earned ACTRA Manitoba best performance honours for their work in films dealing with loss, both at and of home. In griePH, Winnipeg actor Kris Cahatol stars as an introverted, non-binary Filipinx who returns home for a work trip and struggles to cope with sudden loss upon arrival. Directed by MC de Natividad, the short film had its local première at this year's FascinAsian Film Festival. In Aberdeen, Gail Maurice soars as Kookum Aberdeen in a story of forced climate displacement along the banks of the Red River. Maurice, a Métis filmmaker-producer from Saskatchewan, is the anchor of the debut feature-film directing collaboration between Peguis First Nation filmmaker Ryan Cooper and Walpole Island First Nation's Eva Thomas. Following up 2023's audience choice award-winning positivity doc I Would Like to Thank My Body, writer-director Catherine Dulude returned with Petit Mollusque, which was named best Manitoban short. Narrated by André Vrignon-Tessier, Petite Mollusque tells a story of perinatal grief through vivid animation by Annie Castiblanco and Kaya Schulz, both paid interns through the Sisler Create program. Wednesdays What's next in arts, life and pop culture. Shared worlds torn asunder by shared, translingual trauma are stitched together by a united vernacular of pain in Noam Shuster-Eliassi's Coexistence, My Ass, which won the New Voices Award, sharing a potent message in a one-woman show about Israel-Palestine. Written in English, Farsi, Hebrew and Arabic, the film was written by Rachel Leah Jones and Rabab Haj Yahya. The National Film Board of Canada write-up for Siksikakowan: The Blackfoot Man asks filmmaker Sinakson, Trevor Solway's question in plain English: 'What does it mean to be a (Native) man?' To find the answer, Solway returns to Siksika, not far from Calgary, where he confronts the early pressures to 'cowboy up.' For the answer the artist provides, Solway was presented with the APTN Indigenous Spirit Award. Ande Brown, whose short film Better Late Than Never won the best Manitoban short at 2024's Reel Pride Film Festival, just completed his second short, First Shave. On the strength of those works, Brown won the RBC $15,000 emerging filmmaker pitch competition. The resulting feature, Half Naked, will screen next year in Gimli. 'I want to tell stories that reflect trans experiences with humour and hope,' said Brown. 'If this film helps someone feel seen or brave enough to share their own story, that's a win.' Ben WaldmanReporter Ben Waldman is a National Newspaper Award-nominated reporter on the Arts & Life desk at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Ben completed three internships with the Free Press while earning his degree at Ryerson University's (now Toronto Metropolitan University's) School of Journalism before joining the newsroom full-time in 2019. Read more about Ben. Every piece of reporting Ben produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.

Fire threat triggers mandatory evacuation order for northern community's 300 residents
Fire threat triggers mandatory evacuation order for northern community's 300 residents

Winnipeg Free Press

time2 days ago

  • Climate
  • Winnipeg Free Press

Fire threat triggers mandatory evacuation order for northern community's 300 residents

About 300 residents of a northern Manitoba community were ordered to leave their homes by 1 p.m. Tuesday because of an out-of-control wildfire, while evacuees from a First Nation were relieved to be finally headed home. A mandatory evacuation order was issued for Cormorant, about 70 kilometres northeast of The Pas, after residents were told late Monday night to begin packing a bag. 'It's scary because the fire is so close,' said Marie Lavallee, who was readying her six children before they had to leave. 'We're on the edge of town where there's forest.' MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Alberteen Spence of Tataskweyak Cree Nation is among a group of evacuees told to be ready to return home Thursday. In a social-media post, Cormorant's council said provincial crews were mobilizing to battle the blaze, which was northwest of the unincorporated community. Heavy equipment was being trucked in to create a fire break. 'Your safety is our priority. Please remain calm,' the post said. Cormorant announced a two-hour evacuation notice Monday night, telling residents to prepare and listen for a fire-truck siren and alerts delivered by megaphone if a mandatory evacuation order was necessary. Residents were told to meet at a school before leaving Tuesday afternoon. People who did not have transportation of their own were boarding Winnipeg-bound buses. The fire was detected Monday, following a lightning strike, as per the Manitoba Wildfire Service. The blaze grew to at least 422 hectares the first day. The province's online map displayed 126 active fires at about midday Tuesday. Of those, 26 were classified as out of control. Lavallee had trouble sleeping Monday night after residents were told to prepare to leave within two hours, if necessary. She left her window open in case officials went door-to-door to announce an evacuation. 'I didn't get very much sleep,' she told the Free Press by phone at about 11 a.m. 'It's smoky today. It's just a light haze.' Lavallee has lived in Cormorant since she was six years old. She has never been through a wildfire evacuation. She said she hopes to stay with family or friends in The Pas. She doesn't want her family to stay in a congregate shelter in Winnipeg alongside dozens or hundreds of other evacuees. In May, she ran a sprinkler outside her house as a precaution while a wildfire burned in the Clearwater Lake area nearby. Cormorant was shrouded in heavy smoke at the time. 'That one was scary. The sky just turned black, and it was spooky,' Lavallee said. 'It was like something out of a horror movie.' Meanwhile, Tataskweyak Cree Nation (Split Lake) announced Monday night that evacuees have started returning, about two months after they were forced out. 'It's very good news this week. We're happy to announce today that people are now going home, and I know some people are already at home,' Chief Doreen Spence said in a Facebook Live video Monday night. A mandatory evacuation order was issued May 30, a day after a wildfire was detected near the community, which is home to about 2,400 people. At least seven homes were destroyed July 4 when flames swept into Tataskweyak, northeast of Thompson. At more than 25,000 hectares, the blaze was still classified as out of control Tuesday. The fire was caused by human activity, as per the Manitoba Wildfire Service. SUPPLIED During a wildfire update Tuesday, the Town of Snow Lake said ground and aerial crews contained several flare-ups, and continued to extinguish hot spots near the town and mining areas. Evacuee Alberteen Spence, who has stayed in hotels in Niagara Falls, Ont., and Winnipeg, said she was relieved by news of the repatriation. 'I'm a little bit apprehensive because we don't know what we are going home to,' she said. 'Large sections of the bush have been burned. They told us it doesn't look the same.' Evacuees are returning to Tataskweyak in stages. Alberteen Spence said she is among a group that was told to be ready to return Thursday. Residents were told to throw out food and other contents in their refrigerators and freezers due to multiple power outages. 'That's another thing I've been thinking about,' Alberteen Spence said. '(Food) is going to be rotten.' Doreen Spence said a planeload of evacuees, who stayed in hotels in Niagara Falls, Ont., flew to Thompson on Monday, with a second flight scheduled Tuesday. Tataskweyak attempted a repatriation in mid-June, but it was put on hold because the community's water treatment plant malfunctioned. The fire flared about two weeks later, destroying some homes. Doreen Spence said another round of water-quality testing will take place once another new pump installed. When they return home, residents should run their hot water until it gets cold about three times, she said. Tuesdays A weekly look at politics close to home and around the world. Elsewhere in northern Manitoba, work continues to contain fires in the Thompson area, the city said in a social-media post. Other than hot spots that are being extinguished, 'there is no further fire' in Leaf Rapids, the town said in a separate post. Last week, one normally occupied house was damaged when winds blew flames into the community. The Town of Snow Lake said ground and aerial crews contained several flare-ups, and continued to extinguish hot spots near the town and mining areas. Environment and Climate Change Canada issued a warning for a majority of Manitoba, including Winnipeg, on Tuesday because smoke was causing poor air quality and reduced visibility. Chris KitchingReporter Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris. Every piece of reporting Chris produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.

Katy Perry delivers thunderous performance to adoring Winnipeg fans
Katy Perry delivers thunderous performance to adoring Winnipeg fans

Winnipeg Free Press

time4 days ago

  • Entertainment
  • Winnipeg Free Press

Katy Perry delivers thunderous performance to adoring Winnipeg fans

Katy Perry July 26, 2025 Canada Life Centre MIKE SUDOMA / FREE PRESS Katy Perry brings her theatric The Lifetime's Tour to a sold out Canada Life Centre Saturday evening. Her first world tour in 8 years July 26, 2025 Attendance: approximately 14,000 Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐ ½ Let's get all the headlines out of the way at the top: Yes, Katy Perry went to space for 11 minutes on a Blue Origin space flight in April and was roundly mocked as soon as she kissed the Earth. Yes, her latest album, 2024's 143 — which is how the kids say I Love You (get it?) — was a critical and commercial flop, helped along by Woman's World, a confused mess of an empowHERment anthem that is, tellingly, not performed in full on this tour. Yes, she recently split from her husband, actor Orlando Bloom. But nevertheless, the pop star persists. About 14,000 people came to hear her roar at Canada Life Centre on Saturday night, the Winnipeg stop on her Lifetimes Tour — Perry's answer, one guesses, to Taylor Swift's juggernaut Eras Tour. It's been over a decade since she was last through town on her Prismatic tour and Perry, for her part, was in her pull-out-all-the-stops, galaxy-brain era. MIKE SUDOMA / FREE PRESS Katy Perry brings her theatric The Lifetime's Tour to a sold out Canada Life Centre Saturday evening. Her first world tour in 8 years July 26, 2025 Lifetimes, you see, is a loosely conceptual show, separated into five acts. The premise is set up at the top: Perry has cast herself as a half-human, half-android in a video-game battle against an all-powerful artificial intelligence called Mainframe who has stolen all of Earth's butterflies and our girl's gonna get 'em back. The stage was a catwalk on steroids: a giant infinity symbol set up in the centre of the floor, backed by a towering wall of screens. Perry, dressed in metallic thigh-high boots and a futuristic armoured bodysuit, rose from the centre just before 9 p.m., suspended in rings of LED lights, for the opener Artificial before returning to Earth for a frantic version of Chained to the Rhythm. At some points, as on hits Dark Horse and California Gurls, Perry let them take the lead on the choruses. Many people in the audience — which, like last time, included a solid contingent of kids and tweens — sported notice-me neon wigs, sparkly outfits and flower crowns and costumes. There were plenty of astronauts, and one person on the floor wore a giant inflatable alien. The crowd adored her, and the feeling seemed mutual. 'You wanna hear a coinky-dink? I have two best friends, and one of them was born-and-raised in Winnipeg,' Perry said from the stage. 'And I understand why he is so cool, so smart, so present, so handsome, because you guys are the best audience we've had in Canada so far. You represent the Win in Winnipeg.' MIKE SUDOMA / FREE PRESS Katy Perry brings her theatric The Lifetime's Tour to a sold out Canada Life Centre Saturday evening. Her first world tour in 8 years July 26, 2025 She was a chatty, warm host, taking selfies with fans and engaging in lots of stage banter. For such a slick production, the concert had plenty of loose moments. She even let the crowd dictate the setlist during the Choose Your Own Adventure portion, in which the fans could vote on songs, and invited a bunch of young costumed crowd members onto the stage for The One That Got Away. (That section also featured her wildest costume of the night: a fleshy rubber dress with boots that looked like her legs had been dipped in cotton candy.) Though missing some of the cheesecake camp we've come to expect from Perry — save for a truly unhinged light sabre battle because, oh yeah, she's gotta defeat Mainframe — there was no shortage of big moments throughout the two-hour show. She was suspended upside down, spread eagle, in a globe-like cage for I Kissed A Girl. She flipped through the air for Nirvana. For the final act — which included a thunderous performance of the anthem Roar — she soared through the arena on a giant mechanical butterfly, the same butterfly she almost fell off of when it malfunctioned at a show in San Francisco earlier this month. There were also some beautiful, quieter moments, too, such as a truly affecting performance of Not Like The Movies. MIKE SUDOMA / FREE PRESS Katy Perry brings her theatric The Lifetime's Tour to a sold out Canada Life Centre Saturday evening. Her first world tour in 8 years July 26, 2025 Her live band — which includes powerhouse guitarist Devon Eisenbarger, who also performs with Chappell Roan — and eight backup dancers also deserve huge props for adding dimension to the show. A concert like this is kind of like looking at an impressively decorated cake: it has wow factor, to be sure, but scrape off all the icing and what are you left with? How does it actually taste? Perry's always been about the shiny spectacle, but sometimes all the elaborate setpieces and costume changes and lights and multimedia felt like distractions from some of her shortcomings as a live performer. She is a powerful vocalist, but she doesn't always let us hear her authentic voice. She has impressive physical endurance, but she is notably not a dancer. Wednesdays What's next in arts, life and pop culture. Still, Katy Perry is a showwoman, and what she provides is an experience. No one could leave Saturday night saying they weren't entertained. By the time she was closed with a booming Firework, confetti cannons popping, everyone in the place was on their feet. Rebecca Black — yes, she of viral It's Friday/Friday/Gotta get down on Friday fame — opened the show. Now 28, the American singer/songwriter/DJ, who came out as queer in 2020, has re-emerged as something of a gay icon and a pop star in her own right. A pretty far cry from the middle schooler who was bullied online by adults for singing about her fave day of the week back in 2011. MIKE SUDOMA / FREE PRESS Katy Perry brings her theatric The Lifetime's Tour to a sold out Canada Life Centre Saturday evening. Her first world tour in 8 years July 26, 2025 Flanked by two harness-clad male dancers and dressed in a sliver micro mini, she set the energy high with a quick set of loud, thumping club jams, including the earworm single Sugar Water Cyanide — during which gave a good-humoured wink to Friday. 'Winnipeg, you are by far the loudest city on the tour, so go off,' she cooed to enormous cheers. If you need a hype woman, she's it. She got everyone partyin', partyin', yeah. MIKE SUDOMA / FREE PRESS Katy Perry brings her theatric The Lifetime's Tour to a sold out Canada Life Centre Saturday evening. Her first world tour in 8 years July 26, 2025 MIKE SUDOMA / FREE PRESS Katy Perry brings her theatric The Lifetime's Tour to a sold out Canada Life Centre Saturday evening. Her first world tour in 8 years July 26, 2025 MIKE SUDOMA / FREE PRESS Katy Perry brings her theatric The Lifetime's Tour to a sold out Canada Life Centre Saturday evening. Her first world tour in 8 years July 26, 2025 MIKE SUDOMA / FREE PRESS Katy Perry brings her theatric The Lifetime's Tour to a sold out Canada Life Centre Saturday evening. Her first world tour in 8 years July 26, 2025 MIKE SUDOMA / FREE PRESS Katy Perry brings her theatric The Lifetime's Tour to a sold out Canada Life Centre Saturday evening. Her first world tour in 8 years July 26, 2025 MIKE SUDOMA / FREE PRESS Katy Perry brings her theatric The Lifetime's Tour to a sold out Canada Life Centre Saturday evening. Her first world tour in 8 years July 26, 2025 MIKE SUDOMA / FREE PRESS Katy Perry brings her theatric The Lifetime's Tour to a sold out Canada Life Centre Saturday evening. Her first world tour in 8 years July 26, 2025 MIKE SUDOMA / FREE PRESS Katy Perry brings her theatric The Lifetime's Tour to a sold out Canada Life Centre Saturday evening. Her first world tour in 8 years July 26, 2025 MIKE SUDOMA / FREE PRESS Katy Perry ascends from the stage Saturday evening as she brings her theatric The Lifetime's Tour to over 12,000 fans at Canada Life Centre July 26, 2025 MIKE SUDOMA / FREE PRESS Katy Perry ascends from the stage Saturday evening as she brings her theatric The Lifetime's Tour to over 12,000 fans at Canada Life Centre July 26, 2025 MIKE SUDOMA / FREE PRESS Katy Perry ascends from the stage Saturday evening as she brings her theatric The Lifetime's Tour to over 12,000 fans at Canada Life Centre July 26, 2025 MIKE SUDOMA / FREE PRESS Katy Perry brings her theatric The Lifetime's Tour to a sold out Canada Life Centre Saturday evening. Her first world tour in 8 years July 26, 2025 MIKE SUDOMA / FREE PRESS Katy Perry brings her theatric The Lifetime's Tour to a sold out Canada Life Centre Saturday evening. Her first world tour in 8 years July 26, 2025 Jen ZorattiColumnist Jen Zoratti is a columnist and feature writer working in the Arts & Life department, as well as the author of the weekly newsletter NEXT. A National Newspaper Award finalist for arts and entertainment writing, Jen is a graduate of the Creative Communications program at RRC Polytech and was a music writer before joining the Free Press in 2013. Read more about Jen. Every piece of reporting Jen produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print – part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.

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