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The last few years have given us nothing if not plenty of fodder for satire, dark comedy, and skewed views on everything from corrupt politicians, to global pandemics, to systemic fractures in the foundations of our supposedly great institutions. Heavy stuff, right? So much so that any comedic takes on these horrors are met with a welcome sigh of relief and an awkward fit of laughter. I experienced both while watching the trailer for indie animator Ben Clarkson's new original title, Justice Warriors,which you can watch for yourself below! In Clarkson's own words, Justice Warriors is "the …...

The 3rd annual Winnipeg Underground Film Festival is a three-day showcase on of experimental short films from all over the globe, plus a screening of a locally produced feature film. The fest runs on June 5-7 at the Frame Arts Warehouse.

The sole feature film of the fest is FM Youth by Stéphane Oystryk, which captures the lives of three young Franco-Manitoban friends as two of them about to embark on a journey outside of their tight knit French community. FM Youth will screen at 11:30 p.m. on the opening night of June 5.

The rest of the fest is crammed full of short films, including two by the amazing analog experimentalist Christine Lucy Latimer; plus work by local filmmaking star Guy Maddin, prolific Winnipeg expat Clint Enns, Underground Film Journal fave Neil Ira Needleman, killer animator Leslie Supnet, Josh Weissbach’s Model Fifty-One Fifty-Six, which garnered an Honorable Mention...

At the beginning of Max Currie’s debut feature “Everything We Loved,” we see a man sharing a few tender moments with his small son. It soon becomes clear that something’s amiss in this twosome however, as Tommy (Ben Clarkson), the boy, inquires after his mommy, and Charlie (Brett Stewart), explains that she’s dead. Tommy’s not buying it though, and so Charlie distracts him with magic tricks and a Christmas celebration. The audience understanding of the situation slowly and continuously evolves as tiny, almost missable bits of information unfold onscreen: a news broadcast about a missing boy; a Christmas book labeled “Hugo”; Charlie telling Tommy, “I’m not the daddy that made you.” The situation becomes crystal clear with the arrival of Charlie’s wife, Angie (Sia Trokenheim). She seems broken and grieving, and horrified that Charlie has a strange boy in the house. A strange boy...