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This article was published 17/03/2016 (3656 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Gary Shteyngart

Gary Shteyngart gets around. Two years after the release of his memoir Little Failure, the 43-year-old Russian-born, New York-based author continues to travel the globe talking about his last book, while researching his next novel.

He’ll land in Winnipeg Thursday, March 24, as part of the Winnipeg Arts Council’s Art Matters series, which aims to explore connections the arts make for people in their everyday lives. His conversation with broadcaster and author Bill Richardson takes place at 8 p.m. at the Theatre Cercle Molière. (Tickets are $15 and available via winnipegarts.ca).

Shteyngart’s three novels — 2002’s The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, 2006’s Absurdistan and 2010’s Super Sad True Love Story (which has been optioned for TV by Showtime and is being produced by Ben Stiller) — brought him critical acclaim for his satirical, humorous prose and his portrayal of the Russian immigrant experience in America. Little Failure gave Shteyngart the chance to tell his own story of growing up stateside, his tumultuous relationship with his parents and his foray into writing.

He’s now turned back to fiction, albeit in a different vein than his previous novels. “My next book is set in 13 different cities around the world,” he says from his home. “It’s a very complex book — much more so than any of my others. They were usually set in one or maybe two locations. The logistics of this are very tough. But I feel like the rhythm of the book captures the way many of us live these days — always being on the go, never feeling completely at ease anywhere. Being everywhere and nowhere at once.”

In the process of researching his new novel, Shteyngart has been penning travel pieces for publications such as Travel and Leisure. “I’ve always loved travel writing,” says Shteyngart. “I’ve been focused so inwardly for so long — I wrote a memoir at age 39, which is navel-gazing, if you will. Travel writing is the opposite of that; I get to experience civilizations about which I know very little.”

The current American political landscape worries the author on many levels, some of which he explored in Super Sad True Love Story. “When I was writing Super Sad we were living under the (George) W. (Bush) years, and that was lovely for a satirist — evil and stupidity kind of collided in this wonderful thing,” Shteyngart explains.

“But (Donald) Trump brings his own satire to it. Where do you go with a guy who’s celebrating his victory in Michigan by showing off his steaks… that aren’t even his steaks? There’s no way you can improve upon that.

“In terms of satirical fiction, I may have to hang up my hat if he wins.”

— Ben MacPhee-Sigurdson

 

Graham Chittenden

In comedy, keeping it clean means being extra-clever.

Graham Chittenden is funny. Now, he might not be as really (expletive) funny as some raunchy audiences want, but there are lots of other comedy fans who would be inclined to think the fact his act contains virtually no (expletives) actually makes him funnier.

Chittenden, who headlines at Rumor’s Comedy Club March 15-19 (tickets $12 to $17 at Rumor’s), has established himself as one of Canada’s most in-demand comedians, both as a performer and a writer.

In addition to appearing at clubs and festivals across the country, including Just for Laughs, the Ha!ifax Comedy Festival and the Winnipeg Comedy Festival, the Brantford, Ont., native has worked as a writer on CBC Radio’s The Debaters, the Genie Awards and, most recently, the CBC-TV sitcom Mr. D.

His onstage observations range from rants about garage-sale bargain hunters and perplexed ponderings of pet ownership to wistful thoughts about how great it would be to be 70 instead of in his 30s, and the genius of Chittenden’s comedy lies in the fact it’s sharp and confrontational without ever having to rely on profanity or crude references to make his point. Clearly, the end result is worth the extra effort.

 

#LoveLocalMB

Craft fairs and pop-up shops around the city have increasingly been places for local entrepreneurs to peddle their edible wares — from mustards and hot sauces to popsicles and cheese.

But if you don’t want your food perusal diluted with arts and crafts, the third installation of the #LoveLocalMB event is for you. The third edition of the event features 30 vendors of Manitoba-made food and beverages — the offerings include such familiar names as Half Pints beer and Bothwell cheese, as well as newer faces on the scene, such as Smak Dab mustards, Sleepy Owl Bakery and Prairie Quinoa.

The event is the brainchild of Bessie Hatzitrifanos and Peter Fehr, proprietors of Bessie’s Best Foods and Gourmet Inspirations, respectively, who have seen interest in locally produced food explode in recent years, both from consumers and providers.

Fehr, whose company makes a line of finishing sauces, drizzles and glazes, says many food service distributors, who provide food to restaurants, now have a mandate to include a certain percentage of local product.

Fehr says the inspiration for #LoveLocalMB was simple: “We wanted to showcase our love for local cool companies, operated by amazing people who are making great products.”

The public is clearly hungry for those products; the event outgrew its first venue.

Entry to the event includes free samples from all the vendors, as well as a free glass of wine. “People were stuffing themselves last year,” Fehr says with a laugh, and with everything from Rawnata hemp crackers to Cornell Creme ice cream, there’s something for every taste.

#LoveLocalMB takes place at Canad Inns Destination Centre Polo Park on Saturday, March 19, from 5 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $15 at www.lovelocalmb.com, $20 at the door. There’s a cash bar on site. Partial proceeds go to Food Matters Manitoba, which provides education programs for children on making healthy food choices.

— Jill Wilson

 

French Cinema Festival

Offering up a canny selection of old and new films, the second edition of Cinematheque’s annual French Cinema Festival, Dreams, Escapes and Survival, does precisely what a good culturally specific film festival should do. It shows selections of the formative years of stylish French cinema from the ‘30s to the ‘60s. And it suggests where the country’s cinema is going with a couple of well-chosen contemporary films exploring the country’s cultural diversity.

Curated by filmmaker Damien Ferland, this weekend’s films include:

Mustang, Friday, March 18, at 7 p.m.

Nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, this 2015 movie by Deniz Gamze Ergüven follows five orphaned teenage sisters who, after enjoying the summer in their home village in northern Turkey, are virtually imprisoned by their family, who accuse them of sexual licentiousness. In Turkish with English subtitles.

Brooklyn, Friday, March 18, at 9 p.m.

Not to be confused with the Saoirse Ronan drama of the same name, the 2014 film by Pascal Tessaud follows an aspiring young female rapper (KT Gorique) entering the multi-ethnic hip-hop scene of the northern Paris district Seine-Saint-Denis.

The Grand Illusion (La Grande Illusion), Saturday, March 19, at 7 p.m.

Jean Renoir’s classic from 1937, oft cited as one of the greatest films ever made, is a prison escape movie — but so much more — starring Jean Gabin and Pierre Fresnay as French aviators from opposite ends of the class spectrum held in a World War I German prison camp under the command of Captain von Rauffenstein (indelibly played by Austrian film director Erich von Stroheim).

The Young Girls Of Rochefort (Les Demoiselles de Rochefort), Saturday, March 19, at 9:30 p.m.

Director Jacques Demy paid homage to the classic Hollywood musical with this 1967 confection, starring real-life sisters Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac as twins Delphine and Solange, a dance instructor and a music teacher who plan escape from their small-town existence when a fair comes to town.

Zazie dans le Métro, Sunday, March 20, at 3 p.m.

The great director Louis Malle announced his anarchic talent in this 1960 comedy starring Phillippe Noiret (also great) as the bemused uncle of a precocious 10-year-old girl (Catherine Demongeot) intent on some wild fun in the City of Lights.

 

Matt Patershuk

Many artists use their work to help guide them through difficult, and often traumatic, experiences, and Alberta-based country and roots musician Matt Patershuk is no different. After his 26-year-old sister, Clare, died in a head-on collision with a drunk driver, Patershuk turned to song to make sense of the tragedy, ultimately creating his newest record, I Was So Fond of You.

The album is both a tribute to his sister and a catalogue of his feelings during his grieving, evident in the raw, passionate lyrics, teeming with metaphors about death, powerlessness and senseless loss.

He enlisted the help of Nashville-based producer Steve Dawson, who also helmed his debut album, Outside the Lights of Town, as well as folk singer-songwriter Ana Egge, whose delicate vocals provide a necessary balance to Patershuk’s signature gruffness.

Patershuk is also using the album as a way to give back to some of his sister’s favourite causes — proceeds from the record will go to the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton, where his sister worked as a counsellor, the Peace Area Riding for the Disabled Society and the Clare Patershuk Undergraduate Psychology Travel Fund at the University of Alberta.

Patershuk is slated to play the West End Cultural Centre Wednesday, March 23, and will be joined by local roots trio, Red Moon Road. Tickets are $15 at the WECC, Music Trader, Into the Music and online through Ticketfly.com.

— Erin Lebar

 

Over the Top Auction and Cupcake Party

MAWA, or Mentoring Artists for Women’s Art, offers a three-day art extravaganza this weekend (March 18-20) at its studio at 611 Main St.

The Over the Top silent art auction and cupcake party is the organization’s annual fundraiser. The event raised more than $33,000 last year for the registered charity, which has a mission to empower and support women in the arts by fostering their practices and providing professional development.

More than 150 artists donated works last year for the auction and 43 bakers donated over 1,000 cupcakes to provide the sugar rush that helps fuel the bidding. Among the paintings up for grabs this year is French Breakfast by Eleanor Bond, a professor at Montreal’s Concordia University who grew up in Winnipeg, graduated from the University of Manitoba’s School of Art and has been involved with Winnipeg’s Plug In Gallery since its inception.

The opening party and bidding begins Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. Bidding and tours continue Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. The anticipation builds until Sunday, 2-5 p.m., when the auction closes and the winning bids are announced.

Admission is free on Friday and Saturday. Advance tickets for Sunday’s event are $10; $12 at the door. You may only bid on work with the purchase of a ticket.

— Alan Small