What’s up: Beer fest, taco treats and dino-mite adventure

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This article was published 01/06/2023 (886 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Black Film Collective presents Rafiki

Muriel Richardson Auditorium, WAG-Qaumajuq

Friday, 7 p.m.

Admission is free

In time for Pride month, a bold, groundbreaking LGBTTQ+ film from Kenya will kick off a series of free screenings of films by Black artists, curated by Winnipeg’s Black Film Collective, at WAG-Qaumajuq.

Rafiki, the 2018 drama directed and co-written by Wanuri Kahiu, follows the romance that grows between high school students Kena (Samantha Mugatsia) and Ziki (Sheila Munyiva), the daughters of political rivals in Nairobi. The young women are forced to make difficult choices in highly conservative Kenya, where homosexuality is still considered a crime.

Rafiki, which is Swahili for “friend,” was banned by the Kenya Film Classification Board “due to its homosexual theme and clear intent to promote lesbianism in Kenya contrary to the law.” It was also the first Kenyan film to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival.

Established in 2022, the Black Film Collective is a community-building space for Black filmmakers and cinephiles in Winnipeg to connect. This screening is the first in an ongoing partnership between the collective and the art gallery.

— Jen Zoratti

First Fridays focuses on artistic solidarity, Pride Week

Friday

Various venues in the Exchange District

Free admission

Using art as a means to express solidarity and raise awareness is the theme of the First Fridays at the Exchange lecture Voices of Resistance, which takes place Friday at noon at Mentoring Artists for Women’s Art (MAWA) at 611 Main St.

Hamideh Behgar, who works in several different media, including sculpture, installation and screen printing, will join Niki Saghari, a Winnipeg multidisciplinary artist who holds a bachelor’s degree in photography from Tehran University of Art, to discuss artistic responses to the Women, Life, Freedom movement in Iran.

The protest began in September 2022 after the death of Mahsa Zhina Amini, who was arrested for not wearing a proper hijab and later died in hospital.

While the lecture takes place at noon, MAWA is welcoming all to join the discussion on Zoom at wfp.to/mawazoom, which will have ASL translation.

The Edge Gallery and Urban Art Centre, which shares the same Main Street building with MAWA and focuses on ceramics, will celebrate Pride Week in Winnipeg by featuring works by Manitoba LGBTTQ+ ceramic artists, as well as painters, printmakers and sculptors.

The gallery’s doors will be open from 6 to 9 p.m., similar hours to many other galleries, studios and museums in the Exchange District that participate in First Fridays.

— Alan Small

Beer fest the cure for what ales ya

Flatlander’s Beer Festival

Canada Life Centre

Friday, 7-10 p.m. and Saturday, 1-4 p.m. and 7-10 p.m.

Tickets from $44.95 plus fees at ticketmaster.ca

While the beer selection at Canada Life Centre normally leaves a bit to be desired, all manner of lagers, ales and much more will be poured throughout the arena Friday night and all day Saturday as part of the annual Flatlander’s Beer Festival.

More than 300 beers and 150-plus other drinks — ciders, hard seltzers, canned cocktails and the like — are featured at this year’s festival. This includes more than a dozen local producers such as Section 6 Brewing, Trans Canada Brewing Co., Dead Horse Cider Co., Shrugging Doctor Beverage Co. and Farmery, to name a few.

In addition to the beers and other fun drinks, a number of food trucks will be on hand serving up all manner of street eats for purchase, and there will be games and prizes throughout the sessions as well.

Tickets for the Flatlander’s Beer Festival are $44.95 for the Saturday matinee or $49.95 for Friday or Saturday evening, with a VIP option on the Friday night (including early access, complimentary eats, a schwag bag and more) for $79.95, and are available via Ticketmaster. (Designated driver tickets are also available for $25 at the door.) Proceeds from the festival benefit the True North Youth Foundation.

For more information (including a list of products being poured), visit flatlandersbeerfest.com.

— Ben Sigurdson

Tons of tacos and a melange of margs

Friday to June 11

Various locations

Visit tacoweek.ca for a list of participating restaurants

The weather is primed for spicy street food and ice cold beverages — just in time for Taco Week and its sister event, Margarita Madness.

The third annual Mexican-inspired food and drink festival kicks off Friday for 10 days of enjoyable eats. This year, 35 Winnipeg restaurants are taking part in Taco Week, with 13 offering an accompanying specialty margarita.

Brazen Hall, for example, is serving up a trio of barbecue-smoked mole pork belly tacos with grilled pineapple salsa, avocado aioli and fresh napa cabbage. The Pembina Highway beer hall’s cocktail offering is a mix of Aperol, blanco tequila, lime juice and house-made almond strawberry syrup.

Other participants include Carlos and Murphy’s, Sargent Taco Shop, Saddlery on Market, Berto’s Taqueria, Milksmith, La Roca and Merchant Kitchen.

To date, the festival, sponsored by SkiptheDishes and Teremana Tequila, has raised nearly $20,000 for CanU Canada — a local youth leadership program — and Harvest Manitoba. Diners can vote for their favourite tacos and margaritas online.

— Eva Wasney

Get ready for a dino-mite adventure

Friday noon to 8 p.m. Saturday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sunday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

12pm to 8pm on Friday, 9am to 8pm on Sat and 9am to 7pm on Sun

Tickets at http://wfp.to/jurassic

Extinction, what’s that? Go back in time to when mankind had to yet exist and experience life when dinosaurs roamed the earth at North America’s “largest and most realistic” dinosaur exhibit on tour.

Here you’ll get to see true-to-size dinos such as the 60-foot-long Spinosaurus, an 80-foot-long Apatosaurus and a gigantic life-size T-Rex.

A bit too lifelike? Head over to meet and greet baby dinosTyson the T-rex, Cammie the Camarasauras and Trixie the Triceratops for a dose of prehistoric cuteness.

Ever wanted to sit on a dinosaur? You’re in luck: there are both stationary and walking rides for those brave enough to clamber on board.

Kids will enjoy the soft play space, and the dino bounce houses, bungee pulls and variety of inflatables.

With fossil digs, a crafts and colouring station and The Quest, an interactive challenge with a chance to earn a reward, nothing with tricera-top this Jurassic adventure.

— AV Kitching

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