Dean Murdoch, a.k.a. The Deaner the mullet-haired, hard-rocking headbanger who crashed his way into the Canadian comedy firmament with the cult films Fubar and Fubar 2 returns in spectacular form in Deaner '89, a new origin story for the character invented and played by Paul Spence.

Rarely, if ever, have so many stars descended on Manitoba at the same time, with movies featuring everyone from Bob Odenkirk to Sharon Stone to Mark Hamill shooting here during what is looking like the busiest production calendar the province has ever seen.

As the Manitoba-lensed filmFinality of Duskhad its Canadian premiere at this week's Whistler Film Festival in Vancouver, it's likely no one waspaying closer attention to the movie's soundtrack than its co-writer Katarina Ziervogel. Bear in mind, the 26-year-old Winnipegger Ziervogel is deaf.

The annual Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal has long been a kind of global clearing house for weird and wonderful genre movies from around the world but this year, one of its most unexpected entries is a seven-minute beer commercial from a film collective with Winnipeg roots.

The new feature film Polarized, set and shot in rural Manitoba, tells the story of two women whose relationship takes a surprising turn a story inspired in part by its writer-director, Shamim Sarif, and her own once-forbidden relationship her wife and creative partner.

If a Manitoba film or theatre project requires nudity or contact of a sexual nature including kissing intimacy co-ordinator Sharon Bajer works to make the process more comfortable for everyone involved.

This weekend, Manitoba-raised Tara Westwood will be attending a film festival in Pittsburgh, drawing attention to her directorial debut, an intense and intensely topical 18-minute short film titled Triggered.