The 5th Annual Gimme Some Truth Documentary Festival is back. Packed with film premieres, master classes, panel discussions and networking events, the festival screenings range from the historic Packing up the Wagon: the Last Days of Wagon Wheel Lunch to the hilarious Glow: the Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling and the controversial Chickenhawk: Men Who Love Boys.

Visiting guests include New York filmmaker Jonathan Caouette and his cult breakthrough hit Tarnation (Fri Mar 15 at 7 PM) and the Winnipeg premiere of his new film Walk Away Renee, about a road trip with his mentally ill mother (Sat Mar 16 at 7 PM) as well as a master class on his documentary practice (Mar 16 at 10 AM). Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen and their classic heavy metal docs Metal: A Headbangers Journey (Thur Mar 14 at 7 PM) and Global Metal, (Sat Mar 16 at 9 PM) who will also deliver a master class on music documentary (Sat Mar 16 at 10 AM). Former Winnipeg programmer Kier-La Janisse will present a series of late night doc films Glow: the Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (Fri Mar 15 at 9 PM) and Chickenhawk: Men Who Love Boys (Sat Mar 16 at 11 PM).

Produced by the Winnipeg Film Group, the Gimme Some Truth Documentary Festival features a strong line up of films by Winnipeg filmmakers reflecting the huge growth in the Winnipeg scene: Stéphane Oystryk’s new doc profile of Winnipeg cult band Mahogany Frog, Alors, T’as Soif De Quoi? (avec Mahogany Frog) four new documentaries from Winnipeg filmmakers in a program entitled Stories From New Canadians: reflecting stories from Bosnia, Bhutan, and Zimbabwe, and Dollar Store Dreams a close up look at the amazing documentary films of Mike Maryniuk including the premiere of Packing up the Wagon: The Last Days of Wagon Wheel Lunch. Workshops will include Crowd Powering Your Doc – From Funding to Marketing and Everything in Between featuring the filmmakers behind Indie Game: The Movie and 100 YEN: The Japanese Arcade Experience.

Delegate pass includes admission to all panels and screenings, networking events and master classes. Tickets, passes and class registrations are available in person, by phone, online at gimmesometruth.ca or at the ticket table.

GIMME SOME TRUTH is a unique, four day documentary forum that includes panel discussions, master lectures, workshops and special screenings – all intended to provide filmmakers and audiences alike the opportunity to discuss creative, ethical and technical issues related to the documentary form.

That's right sports fans! We've got playoff action taking over the airwaves THIS SATURDAY, February 16th as the Manitoba Bisons Mens Hockey team hosts the Regina Cougars this weekend and play-by-play man Chris Zuk and color commentator "The Call-Up" Brant Batters will have all the action live with the pre-game show starting at 6:45 pm and the puck drops at 7 pm. Tune in to 101.5 FM to hear the action or stream it online if you can't make it down to the Max Bell Arena to see the game in person.

From GoBisons.ca:

The No. 7 ranked Manitoba Bisons men’s hockey team (17-7-4) finished third in the Canada West regular season standings and now host the Regina Cougars (13-12-3), the sixth seed, in one of the two 2012 Canada Quarter Final best-of-three series. The Bisons play the Cougars at the Max Bell Arena from February 15-17. Game time for all 2013 men’s hockey playoff games is at 7 p.m. CT. Manitoba has a sparkling 10-2-2 record so far this season at home. This season, Manitoba went 3-1 against Regina. They started the 2012-13 season with a home sweep (Nov. 23: W 6-0; Nov. 24: W 7-2) and then split on the road (Feb. 8: W 6-3; Feb. 9: L 4-2) to end the regular season.

Staff & Students United In A Rally For Action

On February 13th, six campus unions (CUPE 3909, UMSU, UMFA, CAW, AESES, and CUPE 1482) will hold an information picket at the Administration Building to voice concerns over actions by the administration supporting corporatization, privatization, contracting-out, diminished collegial governance, and increased workload.

The event will take place from 11:30 to 1:30 with food and drinks available.  Starting at 12:00 p.m., union representatives will talk about how the administration’s actions have affected their members.

Since the commencement of the ROSE / OARS initiatives, students and staff at the University of Manitoba have been under increased strain as working and learning conditions come under attack. Throughout all of these harmful changes to our working and learning environment, the administration at the University of Manitoba has been advertising itself as an “Employer of Choice” and one of “Manitoba’s Top 25 Employers.” The administration touts the employee benefits, physical facilities, and a respectful environment as some of the reasons that people choose to work at U of M.

This information rally is a chance to show the University of Manitoba that a wide swath of the university community finds the direction administration is taking unacceptable and that we are all frustrated and dissatisfied.  We want the administration to know that this campus belongs to the entire university community and to the citizens of Manitoba.
 
CUPE 3909 will be providing signs for members to carry at the rally. You will receive more emails providing further information on pre-printed signs and “open message” signs where you can print your particular concerns.  Transportation to and from the Bannatyne campus will also be arranged.
 
All unions will be advertising this event around campus with posters and through direct member communications. Please come out in a show of solidarity and wear red to show how you feel.  Take a stand against the administration’s lack of regard for the students and for its employees.
 
Help send a strong message, rally for a change in direction because IT'S OUR UNIVERSITY TOO.
 
If you have any questions or feedback, please contact: cupe3909@gmail.com or (204) 453-5493

Big Fun, Winnipeg's preminent independent music festival is back for it's second year, taking place January 24th through the 27th, 2013.  This year's Big Fun features 26 local artists, plus 5 acts from beyond city limits including Canada's top rap ambassador, former Edmonton poet laureate, Cadence Weapon and will take place in 10 different venues throughout Winnipeg's downtown. The festival touches on many genres of music, from rock to hip-hop, folk to electronic and each show has been curated and placed in a specific venue in order to give the audience and artists a unique experience to that of the usual Manitoba music scene.

Festival passes  are available now at Into the Music, Music Trader and  online at ticketworkshop, and will get you into 12 shows for $40 (only $30 with your Friends With Benefits Card!!), or you can pick and choose and pay at the door.

Winnipeg has two reputations across the country, one for having a great  music scene, and the other for having a brutal winter.  Big Fun combines these two elements to create a music festival that our prairie town can be proud of!  Get primed for Big Fun and check out this year's festival sampler here!

 Big Fun Productions is comprised of four Winnipeg musicians and music lovers who are passionate about their city. Inspired by the layout of Pop Montreal and NXNE, Big Fun aims to create the same excitement within the music and art community in Winnipeg by hosting several events throughout the year.

The staff and volunteers at UMFM would like to wish you and yours nothing but the best during the holiday season!  We want to thank you for your support during 2012, a real banner year for the station that saw us execute our first wildly successful Pledge-O-Rama, record and post over a hundred live sessions, open our recording studio to more than a dozen bands and of course produce countless hours of quality radio programming.  We've been given the gift of radio and we have been more than happy to share it with all of you! 

We are currently in holiday programming mode through the end of December, but we'll be back to normal starting January 3rd.  Until then, enjoy the time with family and friends, be safe and we'll see you all in 2013.  We've got some exciting new initiatives developing that we can't wait to bring to you!