Sous les eaux islandaises avec Julien Nayet-Pelletier

Avec Julien Looks Under Things: Under Iceland’s Waters, le vulgarisateur scientifique Julien Nayet-Pelletier entraîne le public sous les eaux islandaises. Son documentaire met en lumière une biodiversité fascinante et les personnes qui travaillent à sa préservation.

Devenir cinéaste n’était pas un rêve d’enfance du franco-manitobain Julien Nayet-Pelletier.

Mais bien qu’il ait toujours été fasciné par la nature et le théâtre, et bien qu’il demeure fan des documentaires de David Attenborough, c’est donc sans surprise que la vie l’a finalement mené sur cette voie.

Il est l’animateur de la série numérique Julien Looks Under Things, où il vise à dévoiler les éléments variés de la nature avec humour et un talent pour rendre la nature accessible.

Climate change threatens events we wait for all year

I can’t be the only one feeling some existential dread about our summers, and the things that make them special, in the face of a changing climate.

On eve of Folklorama, Ghana pavilion scrambles to replace stolen outfits

Volunteers from Folklorama’s Ghana pavilion scrambled to replace cultural costumes for about 40 young dancers after the outfits were stolen in Winnipeg days before the annual festival begins.

Two plastic storage bins containing the costumes, to be worn by children and teenagers, were taken from the trunk of a parked car on Banning Street, near Notre Dame Avenue in the West End, likely late Wednesday or early Thursday.

“I felt sad that this has happened. I felt completely devastated for the mother who had them in her car,” said pavilion co-ordinator Abigail Larson. “The initial feeling of sadness changed to, ‘OK, how do we make this a positive?’”

The costumes belong to the Ghana Union of Manitoba Dancers, whose members have rehearsed for months for Folklorama, which begins Sunday.

Cultural consultation gives Indigenous stories strength in Netflix’s new Little House on the Prairie

Through her work as an Indigenous consultant for film and TV, Julie O’Keefe, a citizen of the Osage Nation, has brought accuracy and authenticity to works such as Martin Scorsese’s 2023 crime drama Killers of the Flower Moon, the 2025 western miniseries American Primeval and, most recently, Rebecca Sonnenshine’s new adaptation of Little House on the Prairie.

But she doesn’t work solo.

“One of the things that I always say is, in any of these jobs that I do — whether it’s Shoshone and Paiute and Ute or Osage — I never come alone to this,” says O’Keefe, who grew up in Pawhuska, Okla., the heart of the Osage Nation, and is now based in Santa Fe, N.M. “I engage because those stories are so much richer with our voices added to it, and we know that.

“I’m sitting down with brilliant directors, brilliant writers, and I’m handing over pieces of history that they’re like, ‘How come nobody knows this?’ And the great part is, this is the time in history … people are really starting to get on top of wanting this for their stories, because it really wasn’t of any importance before.”

In an apartment above the Sherbie, famous local artists line the walls

Directly above the West Broadway vendor and noisy bar now known as the Kyoto Kat Club, amid a primly kept wardrobe and dirty coffee mugs, Josh Peterson’s bachelor suite is bursting with coveted Manitoba art.

Giant metal roosters spread autism acceptance in Maine after town zoning spat

OGUNQUIT, Maine (AP) — Giant metal roosters are popping up on lawns in and around a community in southern Maine and as far away as New Zealand in support of a 6-year-old autistic girl and her love of the colorful creations.

David and Sara LeBlanc had a rotating display of the roughly 6-foot-tall (1.8-meter-tall) ornaments decorating their Ogunquit lawn until officials in the small coastal town deemed them to be impermissible advertising for their attached restaurant, The Omelette Factory.

The couple initially resisted the town's removal order, insisting the roosters were meant to comfort their daughter Pyper, not advertise their business.

“Roosters don’t lay eggs,” David LeBlanc told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

New graphic images are rolling out on cigarette packs in Canada. Could more be done?

TORONTO - A baby swarmed by smoke. A toilet of bloody urine. A cancerous colon.

These are among the new series of 13 graphic images that are required to be printed on cigarette packages across Canada by Aug. 1.

This is the fourth set of warnings mandated by Health Canada since 2000, aiming to reduce tobacco use to less than 5 per cent by 2035.

According to the federal health agency’s latest projections, Canada appears on track to reach that goal. Tobacco use was down to an estimated 13 per cent in 2024, compared to 29 per cent in 2001. Approximately 300,000 Canadians who smoked in 2023 quit in 2024.

Sea Bears Dance Crew takes athleticism to the next level

Many grow up believing dance can only be a hobby and never a career. The Sea Bears Dance Crew defies the notion by showing there can be a professional side of dance in Winnipeg.

Tasha Farmer and Kersey Sarao lead a team of 18 dancers from different backgrounds and styles. Together, they create a high-energy game-day experience — one that encourages everyone in the arena to get up and boogie.

Farmer started dancing at a young age, experimenting in all that was offered.

“I trained in ballet, lyrical, hip hop, musical theatre — every single style you can think of,” she said.

Indigenous drum group celebrates sisterhood, solidarity

Aliyah Yellowback wants a seat at the drum circle.

There are differing Indigenous teachings and perspectives on whether women should join in, but the 16 year old has found a spot around a big drum inside a welcoming community at St. John’s High School.

“I automatically get goosebumps and shivers in me — it’s such an empowering feeling,” Aliyah said as she described what it’s like to perform her favourite song with drum group Leading Lynx (Niighani Bezhew in Anishinaabemowin).

“Strong Woman Song really resonates with our drum group because we are strong women. We are resilient, we are powerful and when people hear our voices, I feel like they can feel that, too.”

Winnipeg Beach vinyl boutique helps lake-goers get in the groove

Carlson Teakle is the owner of Beachside Vinyl, a 400-square-foot shop located at 18 Main St., a (Rolling) stone’s throw away from the shores of Lake Winnipeg. The 53-year-old father of four and grandfather of two admits to having fielded the question, “Why Winnipeg Beach?” a number of times since his grand opening earlier this year. His stock reply: why not Winnipeg Beach?

Manitoba documentary focuses lens on environmental defenders, beauty of prairies

Everything We Need Is Here is the latest sumptuously shot Manitoba film rooted in the Prairie landscape.

Though totally unrelated in subject matter, the documentary recalls the 2024 Daughters of the Sun with its saturated and slow-mo sweeps across boreal forests and limestone tinted lakes.

But while Daughters has much murmured narration and arthouse flair, Everything is a plucky film, a can-do sort of doc about the land and its grassroots defenders.

Their voices resonate strong and clear across storylines that weave together the joys of foraging and local environmental protests.

New Folklorama mural rises in Winnipeg’s West End

A Métis sash, Chinese dragon, Japanese lanterns, Scottish bagpipes and an Italian Vespa scooter are just a few of the cultural symbols taking shape on a new Folklorama mural in Winnipeg’s West End, celebrating the annual festival and the communities that have helped define it.

Manitoba firm fills merch tables

Fans of California-based rock band Mammoth who purchase one of the group’s T-shirts tonight at Canada Life Centre will be purchasing clothing that was screenprinted in Manitoba.

Painter honed art of volunteering at Lower Fort Garry historic site

When visitors wandered around Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site in the summer of 2023, they encountered a rather unusual volunteer: artist JD Hawk at his easel, busily working on his live paintings.

Hawk engaged with visitors as he painted, encouraging them to come and ask questions about what he was working on.

The paintings he produced during his tenure were never intended for exhibition, however. They were rough drafts for him to reference later in the year when creating his final paintings.

“There’s no fine detail, they’re not masterpieces. I consider them like a scrapbook, exploring the colours I would need to use for my master paintings,” he explains, adding that when he wasn’t painting he would walk around taking photographs for further reference material.

Quebec municipalities express interest in Samuel de Champlain statue from Ontario

Some Quebec municipalities and organizations are offering to take a controversial statue of Samuel de Champlain from an Ontario city in Simcoe County.

The nearly four-metre-tall bronze monument of the 17th century explorer and founder of Quebec City was removed from a park in Orillia, Ont., and placed in storage in 2017 following debate over its colonial imagery.

Orillia Mayor Don McIsaac said a wave of offers poured in after the city recently raised the possibility of melting the statue down.

“They say it's racist, it's not our history, it is an insult to Indigenous peoples,” McIsaac said in an interview about the controversy over the statue.

Indigenous theatre founder Nova Courchene gets nod for prestigious prize

For her work as the founding artistic director of Oshkagoojin Indigenous Theatre for Youth, Winnipeg’s Nova Courchene has been named the recipient of one of Manitoba theatre’s highest honours for emerging arts leaders.

Since 2023, the Cherry Karpyshin Arts Management Prize has been given out by Prairie Theatre Exchange to early-career or aspiring arts managers. Named for PTE’s longtime general manager, for whom the company’s mainstage is also named, the Cherry Prize is accompanied by professional supports and a $2,500 cash award.

Meaning “new moon” in Anishinaabemowin, Oshkagoojin runs a variety of initiatives in Winnipeg, including the teen-focused Rising Voices, the middle years Growing Voices, and the early years Young Voices programs. Through storytelling, movement, narrative games and guided play, the Young Voices program introduces Indigenous children aged five through nine to the fundamentals of collaborative and co-operative theatre with a curriculum devised through a cultural lens.

“As I continue to grow Oshkagoojin Indigenous Theatre for Youth, I look forward to strengthening the organization’s capacity, sustainability, and national reach so that more Indigenous young people can access theatre, cultural learning, and artistic leadership opportunities in their own communities,” says Courchene in a release. “I believe that when Indigenous youth are empowered to tell their stories, entire communities benefit, and I am excited to continue building these pathways for future generations.

Book review: Spirit of live theatre captured in haunted festival venue

When is a book like a play, or a play like a book — or both? This is the underlying question posed by David Jón Fuller in his debut novel, Venue 13. Considering Fuller’s background as an editor and reviewer for this newspaper, and a longtime part of our city’s theatre community, who better to write a novel that takes place during the Summer Theatre Festival, known locally as Skeeter Fest? (This may sound familiar to any readers who have attended a Winnipeg festival known as the fringe.)

Venue 13 takes the reader behind the scenes of the festival — and not just the actors, directors and sound techs, but the venue owners who mount numerous shows with the hope of attracting large crowds to their BYOV (bring your own venue) location (to use the fringe parlance).

Robert Laliberte has bought an old building that he hopes to resurrect into an arts hub, complete with a fancy fusion restaurant run by his friend, the exotically named Ihor. Winnipeg, and the Exchange District in particular, are well-drawn in the novel, and you can have fun trying to guess which buildings Fuller is referencing.

The novel is a rogue’s gallery of theatre types: the controlling directors, the perfectionist producers, the sensitive actors and even the guy called in to fix the rotting foundation of the theatre.

Colourful folk festival campground a hive of creative activity

The 51st annual Winnipeg Folk Festival had yet to commence, but festivities in the campground were already in full swing.

The festival campground opened early Wednesday morning and provides a temporary home to more than 6,000 residents during the four-day music festival at Birds Hill Provincial Park.

By Thursday afternoon, the area had been transformed into a sea of colourful tents and trailers. A steady stream of campers could be seen hauling wagons from the parking lot loaded with essentials: coolers and tarps, sleeping bags and sunscreen.

Others brought a little more than the basics.

Gem Studio puts new shine on handmade experience

Gem Studio's first franchise location in Western Canada offers an interactive retail concept in which customers design and create personalized jewelry with the help of one of its 14 employees.

Manitoba-shot Netflix series sets beloved Ingalls clan in the actual Prairies

Perhaps it should not have been a significant surprise that Manitoba was chosen as the location for a new iteration of the much-beloved TV series Little House on the Prairie.

Much of the southern part of the province is, after all, authentic Prairie, visually unspoiled by power lines and paved roads.

And there is enough of it to portray a frontier wilderness that matches the source material: a series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, set in and around Independence, Kan., in the 1860s. (Manitoba also famously doubled for Kansas in the movie Capote, the Oscar-winning story of Truman Capote’s investigation of a 1959 quadruple homicide on a Kansas farm, culminating in the publication of his book In Cold Blood.)

Perhaps it was more of a surprise that the material would inspire a new interpretation landing on the streaming service Netflix.

The Bird River offers prime kayaking conditions in late spring

A two-hour drive northeast of Winnipeg, the lower Bird River is a popular draw for whitewater enthusiasts.

The water moves fast and the hazards — rapids, rocks and technical drops — are challenging.

This is not a beginner-friendly run. Paddlers need to keep their wits about them as they roll through Class 1 to 4 rapids.

The Bird River, flowing through the traditional territory of the Sagkeeng First Nation, stretches from the Ontario border, through Nopiming Provincial Park, before reaching the Winnipeg River, east of Lac du Bonnet.

New Kevin Walters Plaza graced by art with heart

Tears fill the eyes of an Ojibwa sculptor from Peguis First Nation as he talks about the spiritual journey and deep friendships that came out of creating his first public art piece.