Taking Reel Pride in transformation

Reel Pride isn’t entering a mid-life crisis.

At 40, the annual Winnipeg LGBTTQ+ film festival appears as forward-looking as ever — though at the moment, its president, Ray Desautels, is feeling reflective about its arc.

“The festival started at a time when … you didn’t see LGBTQ characters on television, and if you did, they were shown in a very poor light or very stereotypical way,” he says.

“It’s become more, I think, a gathering place for queer people and queer arts … It’s more of an arts festival, not necessarily just strictly the film festival that it used to be. So we’re a gathering place for the queer community and its allies and supporters.”

New documentary revisits Lilith Fair, gives it the overdue kudos it deserves

In the opening moments of Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery, a new documentary about the pioneering all-women touring festival co-founded by Canadian icon Sarah McLachlan in the late 1990s, there’s a series of TikTok videos fronted by gen Z women expressing wonder and astonishment that something like that ever even existed.

“There was an all-female music festival from 1997 to 1999 — and I am shook to my core,” one woman says.

Ally Pankiw, the film’s director, is not surprised younger generations have never heard of Lilith Fair.

“It was not celebrated for how massive it was,” says the Canadian film/TV writer and director (Feel Good, Shrill). “It was so commercially successful. It changed so many artists’ trajectories and careers. It raised so much money for charity.

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg set Emmy record with comedy wins for ‘The Studio’

After making a career of playing lovable underachievers, Seth Rogen is officially an overachiever: his show "The Studio" set a new Emmy record for the most wins by a comedy, racking up top prizes including best series.

The Vancouver comedian and his longtime collaborator Evan Goldberg dominated the comedy categories at Sunday's awards bash, when they also collected directing and writing trophies for their Apple TV Plus cringe comedy.

“It's getting embarrassing. I really appreciate it, in all honesty,” Rogen said with his trademark chuckle while accepting the best comedy series award.

“I’ll do my best attempt at sincerity here – if you watched our show, if you appreciated our show, if you voted for our show, especially, thank you very much. I'm legitimately embarrassed by how happy this makes me.”

Artist explores internal dialogues with a surreal twist

Can you ever truly be alone with your thoughts when your thoughts don’t leave you alone?

In the oil and acrylic paintings that populate Bria Fernandes’ solo show, Things Left Unsaid — on view now at Gallery 1C03 at the University of Winnipeg — feelings and thoughts of self-doubt, anxiety, grief and displacement show up as physical visitors, often in the most banal moments of daily life. Like when you’re brushing your teeth, say. Or making coffee.

In the 2024 work Ain’t Misbehavin’, they arrive when the central figure is pulling on her socks. A melancholy blue figure leans against her thigh as though seeking comfort. Another appears from behind, hands on her shoulders.

“She’s trying to live her life, and she’s having these thoughts, and the thoughts in her mind are coming out into reality and interacting with her,” Fernandes says.

Trump celebrates West Point alumni group canceling award ceremony to honor Tom Hanks

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump celebrated news on Monday that an alumni group from West Point canceled an award ceremony set to honor Tom Hanks, with the president calling the famous actor “destructive” and “WOKE.”

Hanks was scheduled to receive the 2025 Sylvanus Thayer Award on Sept. 25, but the U.S. Military Academy's alumni association canceled the ceremony last week, according to news reports.

“Important move!” Trump said in a post on his social media network Monday. “We don’t need destructive, WOKE recipients getting our cherished American Awards!!! Hopefully the Academy Awards, and other Fake Award Shows, will review their Standards and Practices in the name of Fairness and Justice.”

West Point, its alumni association and a representative for Hanks did not immediately respond to messages and calls seeking comment Monday.

ChatGPT — get away from my em dash

ChatGPT is ruining my life, and I don’t even use it.

Drawn to their unique grain pattern, carver gravitates to trees’ ungainly outgrowths

There’s more to a burl than meets the eye. On the surface the flawed wood is a gnarly, lumpy mess. But beneath the scars hides something rather special.

“Burls are an unappealing wart-like growth on a tree,” artist Gary Foidart, 69, explains.

“They are horrific looking on the outside. Some of them look terrible. You never know what you are going to hit when you cut a burl open but the wood inside is the most beautiful wood there is. Each one is totally unique.”

Bulbous and rough, a wood burl forms when a tree experiences stress or disruption to its growth. Burls can also develop from insect infestation, bacterial or fungi growth, and environmental injuries.

Winnipeg independent music magazine Stylus set to fold

The future of Stylus Magazine, Winnipeg’s flagship indie music publication, is in jeopardy.

The defunded Corporation for Public Broadcasting will get one of TV’s biggest prizes

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting will be honored with one of the television's top prizes even as it winds down its nearly 60-year work after the U.S. government withdrew funding.

The organization, which has helped pay for PBS, NPR, 1,500 local radio and TV stations as well as programs like “Sesame Street” and “Finding Your Roots,” will be awarded the Television Academy's Governors Award, which honors those who have "made a profound, transformational and long-lasting contribution to the arts and/or science of television.”

It will be handed to Patricia de Stacy Harrison, the longest-serving president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony on Sept. 7.

“For more than half a century, CPB has been a steadfast champion of storytelling that informs, educates and unites us and ensures public media remains a vital space where diverse voices are heard and communities are served,” Television Academy Chair Cris Abrego said in a statement Tuesday.

Increasing restrictions could silence culture critics

It’s getting harder to see where reviews and other forms of cultural criticism fit in the current media ecosystem. Arts writing positions are being axed at outlets all over North America — but a landscape of all influencers and no critics means all promotion and no journalism.

A roadtrip through Scotland’s rolling hills, ancient history and the zany spectacle of Fringe

Caravanners, backpackers and daredevil cyclists.

Roadtripping in Scotland is a chance to explore the country’s awe-inspiring landscape on your own schedule, while dodging droves of eclectic travellers doing the exact same.

My partner and I spent eight days in July navigating the Scottish countryside in a rented campervan.

We picked up our home on wheels — a well-appointed Volkswagen van — near Edinburgh and headed north for the highlands. Rolling farmland quickly gave way to rolling hills and tall evergreens. A wee taste of what was to come.

bbno$, the Beaches warn approaching TikTok Canada closure will hurt homegrown artists

Several Canadian artists are worried about losing social media support that can make or break their careers as TikTok prepares to comply with a federal order to shut down its operations in Canada.

‘No safety rules’: Concerns grow as AI-generated videos spread hate online

At first it appears to be a quirky video clip generated by artificial intelligence to make people laugh.

In it, a hairy Bigfoot wearing a cowboy hat and a vest emblazoned with the American flag sits behind the wheel of a pickup truck.

“We are going today to the LGBT parade,” the apelike creature says with a laugh. “You are going to love it.”

Things then take a violent and disturbing turn as Bigfoot drives through a crowd of screaming people, some of them holding rainbow flags.

Not just Big Bird: Things to know about the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and its funding cuts

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps pay for PBS, NPR, 1,500 local radio and television stations as well as programs like “Sesame Street” and “Finding Your Roots,” said Friday that it would close after the U.S. government withdrew funding.

The organization told employees that most staff positions will end with the fiscal year on Sept. 30. A small transition team will stay until January to finish any remaining work.

The private, nonprofit corporation was founded in 1968 shortly after Congress authorized its formation. It now ends nearly six decades of fueling the production of renowned educational programming, cultural content and emergency alerts about natural disasters.

Here's what to know:

Canadian researchers create tool to remove anti-deepfake watermarks from AI content

OTTAWA - University of Waterloo researchers have built a tool that can quickly remove watermarks identifying content as artificially generated — and they say it proves that global efforts to combat deepfakes are most likely on the wrong track.

Academia and industry have focused on watermarking as the best way to fight deepfakes and "basically abandoned all other approaches," said Andre Kassis, a PhD candidate in computer science who led the research.

At a White House event in 2023, the leading AI companies — including OpenAI, Meta, Google and Amazon — pledged to implement mechanisms such as watermarking to clearly identify AI-generated content.

AI companies’ systems embed a watermark, which is a hidden signature or pattern that isn’t visible to a person but can be identified by another system, Kassis explained.

Celebrating cats and the pet parents who love them

The cats have come back to the big screen.

Graham Avenue stretch to get pedestrian, bike-only trial when buses vanish

The city will turn a four-block stretch of Graham Avenue into a living lab when Winnipeg Transit’s network overhaul pulls buses off the downtown street.

It will be cyclists and pedestrians only between Carlton and Garry streets in an indefinite pilot project scheduled to begin after June 29.

“In July 2025, buses will be removed from four blocks, creating a rare opportunity to transform the street into a safer, pedestrian-first space. With a focus on recreation, public gathering areas, and cultural programming, Graham Avenue can become a dynamic hub of activity in the heart of downtown,” a city document states.

Without changes, the area risks becoming a neglected corridor with minimal foot traffic once buses leave, it warns.

Music streaming service Deezer adds AI song tags in fight against fraud

LONDON (AP) — Music streaming service Deezer said Friday that it will start flagging albums with AI-generated songs, part of its fight against streaming fraudsters.

Deezer, based in Paris, is grappling with a surge in music on its platform created using artificial intelligence tools it says are being wielded to earn royalties fraudulently.

The app will display an on-screen label warning about “AI-generated content" and notify listeners that some tracks on an album were created with song generators.

Deezer is a small player in music streaming, which is dominated by Spotify, Amazon and Apple, but the company said AI-generated music is an “industry-wide issue.” It's committed to “safeguarding the rights of artists and songwriters at a time where copyright law is being put into question in favor of training AI models," CEO Alexis Lanternier said in a press release.

‘Elio’ is an intergalactic tale — but for Toronto’s Domee Shi, it hits close to home

TORONTO - For Domee Shi, making a movie about an introverted kid getting abducted by aliens felt oddly familiar.

Not because she’s had any close encounters, but because she remembers being a teenager longing to be taken away to a world where her weirdness was understood.

The Toronto native co-directs “Elio,” a Pixar animated sci-fi film about an 11-year-old orphan who yearns to be snatched by extraterrestrials to escape his loneliness — and gets his wish when an interplanetary organization mistakes him for Earth’s ambassador.

“He's this lonely artsy kid who just wants to belong somewhere. I definitely felt that way growing up,” says the Oscar-winning animator behind 2022’s coming-of-age Toronto-set hit “Turning Red.”

L’impro comme tremplin pour la jeunesse en immersion

Le 5 juin, dix élèves d’écoles d’immersion française ont brillé sur scène lors du tout premier “Match des étoiles” de la FLIIP, une nouvelle ligue d’improvisation scolaire qui allie humour, spontanéité et passion francophone.

Après quelques essais ponctuels dans le passé, le Conseil jeunesse provincial (CJP) a lancé cette année la première ligue officielle d’improvisation destinée aux écoles d’immersion française du Manitoba. La Fabuleuse ligue d’improvisation immersive et passionnante (FLIIP) a couronné cette première saison par un “Match des étoiles” présenté le 5 juin au Centre culturel franco-manitobain.

Mélanie Bédard, responsable de projet au CJP, explique: “Nous voulions relancer l’idée d’une ligue d’improvisation pour les écoles d’immersion. Nous avons donc envoyé un courriel pour dire que nous étions prêts à les soutenir s’ils voulaient créer des clubs d’impro au sein de leur école.”

Le projet FLIIP avait vu le jour il y a plusieurs années, mais la pandémie avait stoppé net son développement. Cette année, il a enfin pu se concrétiser, avec plusieurs activités et formations déjà en place.

Diversified roles in society shape painter Brian Hunter’s work and process

Brian Hunter’s multiple roles within society inform the works in his current exhibition, On Shaky Ground, at 226 Gallery, located at 226 Main St.

It’s his first solo show in seven years.

The 22 oils, created in response to “the current shifting and uncertain atmosphere,” are a departure from the artist’s previous work.

Nine years ago Hunter snagged top spot at the RBC Canadian Painting Competition. He spent a year in an art residency at the Gwangju Museum of Art in South Korea, and has shown in South Korea, Spain, Montreal and Toronto.

Singer-songwriter Kelly Bado’s music imbued with the richness of her culture

Kelly Bado, a keen observer of the world around her, forged a sense of camaraderie with her new city — with its landscape, its history and its people — at The Forks.

Taylor Swift has regained control of her music, buys back first 6 albums

NEW YORK (AP) — Taylor Swift has regained control over her entire body of work.

In a lengthy note posted to her official website on Friday, Swift announced: “All of the music I’ve ever made now belongs to me.”

The pop star said she purchased her catalog of recordings — originally released through Big Machine Records — from their most recent owner, the private equity firm Shamrock Capital. She did not disclose the amount.

In recent years, Swift has been rerecording and releasing her first six albums in an attempt to regain control of her music.

What to Stream: ‘Mountainhead,’ Bono documentary and Elizabeth Banks and Jessica Biel play sisters

NEW YORK (AP) — “Succession” creator Jesse Armstrong’s satirical drama “Mountainhead” and Elizabeth Banks and Jessica Biel playing dysfunctional siblings in the murder thriller series “The Better Sister” are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you.

Also among the streaming offerings worth your time, as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: a new concert special featuring Aretha Franklin, U2's frontman reveals all in the documentary “Bono: Stories of Surrender” and multiplayer gamers get Elden Ring: Nightreign, sending teams of three warriors to battle the flamboyant monsters of a haunted land.

New movies to stream from May 26-June 1

— Armstrong makes his feature debut with the satirical drama “Mountainhead,” streaming on HBO Max on Saturday. The film stars Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman, Ramy Youssef and Cory Michael Smith as tech titans on a boys’ trip whose billionaire shenanigans are interrupted by an international crisis that may have been inflamed by their platforms. The movie was shot earlier this year, in March.