Guy Maddin documentary screening celebrates Canadian Film Day

In 1997, Guy Maddin made a film called Twilight of the Ice Nymphs. Its production plan had all the trappings of success: a big budget and big names Shelley Duvall and Tom Waits in starring roles.

But for Maddin — who’s gone on to distinguish himself among Canada’s pre-eminent arthouse filmmakers with such works as My Winnipeg and Rumours — this was not to be his breakout film.

“It was quite traumatizing … I don’t think he was getting along very well with his producer,” recalls local filmmaker Noam Gonick (Hey, Happy), who shot a documentary, Guy Maddin: Waiting for Twilight, about the film’s troubled making.

The film streams Tuesday night — Canadian Film Day — on the Manitoba Documentary Archive channel on YouTube.

New series offer comfort of escapist fare

A new lineup of recommended viewing leans heavily toward escapism. Except for the latest from Baby Reindeer creator and star Richard Gadd, from which some further escapism might be welcome. Onward!

The Walt Disney Co. begins laying off 1,000 employees

NEW YORK (AP) — The Walt Disney Co. on Tuesday began layoffs expected to lead to 1,000 job cuts across the company.

Josh D'Amaro, who in February succeeded Bob Iger as chief executive, announced broader layoffs following a move in January to consolidate Disney's marketing division. The cuts are expected to fall across the Burbank, California-based company's traditional television businesses, including ESPN, as well as its movie studio. Employees in product and technology, and in certain corporate functions will also be affected.

“Over the past several months, we have looked at ways in which we can streamline our operations in various parts of the company to ensure we deliver the world-class creativity and innovation our fans value and expect from Disney,” D'Amaro said in a memo to employees obtained by The Associated Press. “Given the fast-moving pace of our industries, this requires us to constantly assess how to foster a more agile and technologically-enabled workforce to meet tomorrow’s needs.”

Disney last went through a round of layoffs soon after Iger returned for a second spell as chief executive office in 2022. The company cut around 8,000 jobs then. As of late 2025, Disney had about 230,000 employees.

The Kennedy Center wants to show that the building really needs a renovation

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Kennedy Center's new leadership wants to prove to critics that the building is damaged beyond simple repair. It's starting with Congress.

Matt Floca, the performing arts institution's new executive director and chief operating officer, is leading a series of tours this month that show water damage and intrusion to expansion joints, marble slabs and exterior pavers. Participants are guided through the building's water and HVAC systems, as well as the parking garages and loading docks that are said to need repairs.

The sessions began earlier this month while Congress was in recess and included staff for a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrats on Capitol Hill. A representative for Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser was also included on the tour.

Similar access has been provided for several corporate and individual donors and in the coming weeks, Floca is expected to provide tours for the lawmakers themselves and members of the media.

Colm Feore on Canadian Film Day and a Jason Kelce shout-out for his recent short film

Colm Feore has starred in dozens of high-profile screen and stage projects, but when a recent short film he narrated was discussed on a podcast by the Kelce brothers, he says he knew he "made it." 

Former football player Jason Kelce name-dropped "The Girl Who Cried Pearls" as "incredibly artistic and just so well done" while talking about the Oscars on "New Heights" with his brother Travis, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end and Taylor Swift's husband-to-be.

"I know we've made it now because my daughter's boyfriend's mom sent us all the link to the Kelce brothers' podcast," joked Feore during an interview from his home in Stratford, Ont., last week. 

Canada’s national orchestra to honour Indigenous music during Nova Scotia shows

HALIFAX - The last time Canada's national orchestra performed in Eskasoni First Nation, Mi’kmaq singer-songwriter Emma Stevens was a young teenager volunteering at the show. 

Almost nine years later, as the Ottawa-based National Arts Centre Orchestra embarks on its 100th tour, the 23-year-old musician will be performing original music alongside the prestigious ensemble.

“You’re going to be able to see our culture in full light, and see how amazing and beautiful the Mi’kmaq language and Mi’kmaq music is,” Stevens said in an interview Monday, reached at her home in Eskasoni in Cape Breton.

The singer-songwriter gained international attention for her music in 2019, when her Mi’kmaq-language cover of the Beatles’ song "Blackbird" went viral. The song was translated by Katani Julian and Albert Golydada Julian and produced by Stevens’ music teacher Carter Chiasson.

Jury selection starts for Harvey Weinstein’s latest retrial in a New York rape case

NEW YORK (AP) — After years of #MeToo infamy, legal peril and prison, Harvey Weinstein is again going on trial on a rape charge in New York City.

Jury selection started Tuesday in the onetime movie mogul's latest retrial, where jurors will weigh — for the third time — whether he raped hairstylist and Jessica Mann in a Manhattan hotel in 2013.

It's a more streamlined proceeding than the array of allegations that were aired at Weinstein’s previous trials in New York and Los Angeles. The Oscar-winning producer denies all the accusations and declared in court this winter that he had “acted wrongly, but I never assaulted anyone.”

Still, the retrial is expected to last up to six weeks. Questioned about the length of the proceeding and whether they could be fair and impartial about the much-publicized case, more than 80 people asked to be excused during initial screening Tuesday morning. The day ended with no jurors chosen.

A nonprofit lifeline for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as more papers seek nonprofit sector help

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette announced Tuesday it had prevented an imminent shutdown because a nonprofit journalism operation had agreed to buy the struggling newspaper. It's the latest example of a news outlet turning to the nonprofit sector to avoid closing as advertising and circulation revenues continue to drop.

Here's a look at a few other prominent newspapers that have made similar moves.

The Salt Lake Tribune

The Salt Lake Tribune was the first legacy newspaper in the country to directly convert from a for-profit company to a nonprofit in 2019. The newspaper had to get IRS approval to make the precedent-setting conversion, which differed from other papers that were purchased by already-existing nonprofit companies.

Warner Bros. puts on a starry CinemaCon show with Cruise, Kidman, Bullock, Zendaya and Chalamet

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Warner Bros. put on a big show hyping their upcoming films for theater owners Tuesday in Las Vegas, with the help of stars like Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Sandra Bullock and Jason Momoa.

The audience at CinemaCon got previews of J.J. Abrams' original science fiction thriller “The Great Beyond,” with Glen Powell and Jenna Ortega, Cruise with a potbelly in “Digger,” the Owens sisters in “Practical Magic 2,” Milly Alcock’s “Supergirl” in an intergalactic fight and the first seven minutes of Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Three.”

Villeneuve said this third film is a “thriller” that is “more intense and definitely more emotional” than the previous films, while Chalamet spoke about how his character has become his worst vision 17 years after “Part Two.”

The studio saved “Dune: Part Three” for the epic finale, but there were highlights throughout the nearly two and a half hour showcase.

FBI says suspects tried to rob Offset outside a Florida casino when he was shot in the leg

The rapper Offset was ambushed by a “large group” of people who tried to rob him outside a Florida casino last week when he was shot in the leg, the FBI said Tuesday.

Federal investigators said that they are still searching for the suspects who assaulted Offset last Monday night outside of Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, just north of Miami. Throughout the assault, a single shot was fired into Offset's leg before an unsuccessful attempt to remove the rapper's watch, the statement said. Offset, who rose to fame as part of the influential hip-hop trio Migos, was hospitalized for a couple of days, but swiftly returned to the stage at a performance at a music festival at the University of Arkansas on Saturday.

The suspects fled the scene in two Chevrolet SUVs that went in separate directions: A black Suburban that fled towards Hollywood, Florida, and a Tahoe that fled southbound towards Miami.

Following the shooting, officers detained two people, but law enforcement hasn't shared evidence to directly tying either one to the shooting.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette announces it has found a buyer to keep the newspaper open

NEW YORK (AP) — Barely two weeks before it was due to shut down, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said Tuesday it had found a last-minute buyer — a successful nonprofit journalism operation that has agreed to keep the struggling newspaper open.

The resolution to a months-long worry in western Pennsylvania about the paper's shutdown comes at a difficult moment for the American newspaper industry, which has shed jobs, resources and sometimes entire companies due to the upending of the traditional revenue model by the internet at the beginning of this century.

The Post-Gazette dates its ancestry to 1786, the first newspaper to open west of the Allegheny Mountains, and its closure would have left Pittsburgh as the nation’s largest community without a city-based paper.

"For us to be a vibrant, strong city, as we are, it’s imperative that we have a newspaper that demonstrates that,” said Jay Costa, the top-ranking Democrat in the Pennsylvania state Senate, whose district encompasses about half of Pittsburgh.

‘Mormon Wives’ star Taylor Frankie Paul will not face new domestic violence charges

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Taylor Frankie Paul, a star of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives " and a recently scrubbed season of “The Bachelorette,” will not be charged in recent fights with her former partner, the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office said Tuesday.

Police in the Salt Lake City suburbs of Draper City and West Jordan have been investigating claims of domestic violence from 2024 and this February from Paul's ex-partner Dakota Mortensen, the father of her 2-year-old son. Paul has also made allegations against Mortensen, but those were not addressed in the documents.

Any new charges against Paul would have violated her probation, which stemmed from a 2023 assault on Mortensen.

The pair has filed dueling petitions for protective orders against one another that will be the subject of an upcoming hearing.