‘Cool, clean, compelling’ film festival moves online for 11th iteration
It may have Manitoba’s capital in its name, but anyone anywhere will be able to attend this year’s Winnipeg Real to Reel Film Festival as it moves online for 2021. The 11th annual festival, which bills itself as cool, clean and compelling, takes place Sunday, Feb. 14 to Sunday, Feb. 28. It will feature more…
The movies that have shaped us
The coronavirus pandemic has shut down concert venues and sports stadiums. Even movie theatres have locked their doors. Over the past several months, many people have found themselves stuck at home with more free time and a new Netflix subscription. Six Mennonites talk about the films that have been formative in their lives: Mackenzie Nicolle…
Watch: Quarantine viewing ideas
Looking for a movie to watch? Sue Sorensen has some suggestions for you. Sorensen, an English professor at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, is featured in a series of five short videos CMU posted to its YouTube channel earlier this month. Each video features a film that Sorensen recommends watching, particularly in light of the…
My favourite films of 2019
For various reasons, I watched fewer films in 2019 than in any of the previous five years. In general, the films listed below are not as strong as films on previous lists. In the end, though, there were enough good films to make a Top 15 list. Here’s my list, counting down—with a reminder that…
A must-see for all Canadians
Only in the last decade has the extent of Canada’s mistreatment of its Indigenous peoples been widely recognized. The most horrific example of this mistreatment was the residential school system that saw 150,000 Indigenous children taken from their families in an attempt to forcibly assimilate them into white Christian culture by driving out Indigenous…
The power of film
“Watching great films is a very spiritual experience for me,” says Paul Plett. “It hits a tuning fork in [my] heart and my whole soul reverberates.” The 30-year-old, who attends Home Street Mennonite Church in Winnipeg, is not only an avid film watcher but makes films himself. He recently completed work on Northern Folk, a…
New book and film focus on conscientious objection
Conrad Stoesz, Mennonite Heritage Centre (MHC) archivist, is passionate about pursuing peace and the history of conscientious objection to war. His long-held convictions inspired him to contribute a chapter to a new book on the subject and to successfully pursue a grant for the production of a video documentary. “The experience of Canada’s conscientious objectors…
