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MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS North of North actors Zorga Qaunaq (left) and Anna Lambe (centre) and show co-creator Alethea Arnaquq-Baril (right) on Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. For AV story. Free Press 2026

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JESSICA LEE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Ben Akoh, curator and organizer of African Movie Festival Manitoba. Akoh founded the festival in 2017.

Film fest showcases Africa’s best

Ben Waldman 5 minute read Preview

Film fest showcases Africa’s best

Ben Waldman 5 minute read Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2026

Winnipeggers are sometimes accused of living within the Perimeter, meaning a visit to Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso, might be out of the question for your weekend travel plans.

But the African Film Festival in Manitoba — which kicked off Monday and runs to Sept. 20 — gives local audiences three feature-length opportunities to embrace stories from a nation that’s widely considered the home of African cinema.

Chief among these is Katanga, a tense re-imagining of Shakespeare’s Scottish play told in the Fulah language. Directed and written by Dani Kouyaté, the film was the winner of the the Etalon D’or — the top prize — at last year’s FESPACO, a biennial celebration of Pan-African film and television held in Ouagadougou.

Starring Mahamadi Nana and Prosper Compaore, the film also features a striking, late-career performance by Rasmané Ouédraogo, who starred in the Palme d’Or winner Tilaï — in which a man returns to his village to find his fiancee has become his father’s second wife — in 1990.

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Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2026

Movies

Bell Media Rapper Jay-Z (left) and producer Rick Rubin chat in Jay-Z in 8.

Rap moguls, rock legends amid slate of fall shows

Denise Duguay 4 minute read Preview

Rap moguls, rock legends amid slate of fall shows

Denise Duguay 4 minute read Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2026

Even in this advanced age of streaming dominance, September still marks a welcome but also overwhelming arrival of new and returning programming. As usual, the focus here remains on brand-new series and movies, but some returns are worth briefly noting.

When Saturday Night Live returns for a 52nd season on Sept. 26 on NBC, hosted by NBA star Jalen Brunson with music by L.A.’s Katseye, the Canadian simulcast moves from Global to CTV/Crave as announced by Bell Media in April.

This TV lover’s heart is also glad to note the return of the feel-goodiest series of the spring, Best Medicine (Season 2 premières Sept. 20/22 on Fox, Sept. 22 on CTV/Crave).

It follows a very grumpy (but soft on the inside) city doctor (Josh Charles, Handmaid’s Tale) returned to family roots and family practice in a coastal fishing village.

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Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2026

Life & Style

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Jenna Priestner, co-owner of Sidestage at 700 Osborne St., and a musician in Mobina Galore. Sidestage doesn’t use AI, and a recent hand-drawn poster Priestner made for a karaoke event got a lot of buzz for its anti-AI caption on social media.

Poster protocol

Sheldon Birnie 7 minute read Preview

Poster protocol

Sheldon Birnie 7 minute read Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2026

Although the days when telephone poles and notice boards across the city were thick with gig posters, either slopped up with wheat paste or wrapped tight with packing tape, are behind us, the art of making an appealing visual ad for live music events is still a vital part of the local creative scene.

However, a widespread backlash against a new kind of slop — the use of generative AI images — has been building, especially among creatives when it comes to promoting live music.

“Live music is and always has been a DIY type of scene, especially locally,” says Evan Simpson, who has been working as a graphic designer for nearly a decade.

“For years people have been making their own flyers, or if they have the budget, hiring a designer or artist to come up with some artwork for their flyers. It’s a whole ecosystem, a scene supporting itself. If you take away the visual side of it, the spark, individuality and uniqueness of each gig poster is lost. What a sad world it would be if all art were made by AI.”

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Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2026

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Free Press reviewers' top-rated picks for the 2019 theatre festival

Fringe storyteller Jem Rolls puts up posters for his show, The Walk in the Snow, at the Tom Hendry Warehouse Theatre in the Exchange District in Winnipeg. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press)

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MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS JP Hoe poes for a portrait in his studio before his 10th annual JP Hoe Hoe Hoe holiday show, which has grown massively over the years, in Winnipeg on Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2018. Winnipeg Free Press 2018.

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Actors Ronnie Rowe (left), Jr. as Zeke and Aml Ameen (second right) as Junior and other cast members are shown in a scene from

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Miss Lonelyhearts

Scare up some social reconnection this fall

Maureen Scurfield 4 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I’m an emotional mess. My lesbian girlfriend and I broke up in August, and now I hold the lease on the apartment we shared. It’s a great big old place with two spacious balconies.

I just got new roommates — two younger friends who really love it here — but secretly I’m still feeling lonely. Every minute of living here reminds me of my girlfriend because we decorated the place together and hung out on the balconies to sunbathe in the summer.

Would it help to move out of my beloved old block with its memory triggers? Maybe, but what if I died of loneliness in a new place? I need people around me, and no one but my ex-girlfriend has really been the right person. Please help. I feel sick about this.

— Love-Nest Sadness, Winnipeg

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