Astral Projection is a monthly screening series exploring astrology through film curated by our Box Office Manager, Nic Kaneski. Join us in celebrating the beginning of each zodiac season with a screening embodying the qualities of the sign, directed by a filmmaker of the sign. For stargazers and skeptics alike and anyone interested in the intersection of astrology, pop culture, and identity. May is a psychological horror film about a lonely young woman traumatized by a difficult childhood, and her increasingly desperate attempts to connect with the people around her. Generously sponsored by IATSE 856 Manitoba.

Join us for a post-screening discussion with Olivia Norquay and Jillian Groening of Bikini Drive-In, a semi-monthly screening series discussing horror films through an intersectional feminist lens. A disturbed woman is receiving a radical form of psychotherapy at a remote, mysterious institute. Meanwhile, her five-year-old daughter, under the care of her estranged husband, is being terrorized by a group of demonic beings. How these two story lines connect is the shocking and grotesque secret of this bloody tale of monstrous parenthood from David Cronenberg, starring Oliver Reed and Samantha Eggar. With its combination of psychological and body horror, The Brood laid the groundwork for many of the director’s films to come, but it stands on its own as a personal, singularly scary vision. Generously sponsored by IATSE 856 Manitoba.

Cinematic magician, legendary provocateur, author of the infamous Hollywood Babylon books and creator of some of the most striking and beautiful works in the history of film, Kenneth Anger was a singular figure in post-war American culture. The films of Kenneth Anger provided a subversive alternative to mainstream cinema, and contained ironic references to popular culture. The films serve as magical ceremonies of light containing series of occult circuits connecting physical with spiritual dimensions; a celluloid form of astral projection. Anger regarded his work as having the potential to invoke primal forces, which can transcend the audiences’ cinematic experience to new levels of consciousness and achieve an altered state of mind. Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome Dir. Kenneth Anger, 1954, USA, 38 min Historical, biblical, and mythical characters gather in the pleasure dome and become part of a visual feast of superimposed images, hallucinations, and decadence. Scorpio Rising Dir. Kenneth Anger, 1963, USA, 29 min A "high" view of the Myth of the American Motorcyclist. The machine as totem, from toy to terror. Thanatos in chrome and black leather. Invocation of my Demon Brother Dir. Kenneth Anger, 1969, USA, 11 min An experimental short, featuring strobe-like homoerotic imagery with several shots of the Rolling Stones in performance and an original synthesizer score by Mick Jagger. Lucifer Rising Dir. Kenneth Anger, 1972, USA, 29 min Egyptian gods summon the angel Lucifer in order to usher in a new occult age. Filmed at several magic locations, the film depicts a series of ceremonies, movements, and rituals mixed with experimental film editing. This special survey of Anger’s work, curated by Jaimz Asmundson and introduced by Murray Leeder, is presented on 16mm courtesy of Canyon Cinema.  The screening is being held in conjunction with The Undead Archive: 100 Years of Photographing Ghosts, an exhibition curated by Dr. Serena Keshavjee and co-presented by the School of Art Gallery, University of Manitoba, University of Manitoba Archives and Special Collections, and The University of Winnipeg’s Gallery 1C03. The Undead Archive and related programs are presented with the generous support of the Manitoba Arts Council, and draw on research supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

We’ve all heard word of the fantastical and frightening world of Jewish spirits and monsters such as Dybbuks (possessing spirits) and Golems (creatures made of mud or dust brought to life through Hebrew letters and incantations). Though North American horror movies have largely borrowed from Christian and Pagan concepts of the supernatural, there is a growing body of cinema, from arthouse to mainstream, finding inspiration in other traditions, including the fascinating and ancient supernatural world of the Jewish imagination. Presented by The Dave Barber Cinematheque and Winnipeg International Jewish Film Festival. The Vigil 2019, USA, 99 min English, Hebrew and Yiddish with English subtitles The Vigil is a supernatural horror film set over the course of a single evening in Brooklyn's Hasidic Borough Park neighborhood. Low on funds and having recently left his insular religious community, Yakov reluctantly accepts an offer from his former rabbi and confidante to take on the responsibility of an overnight "shomer," fulfilling the Jewish practice of watching over the body of a deceased community member. Shortly after arriving at the recently departed's house to sit the vigil, Yakov begins to realize that something is very, very wrong. Trailer: https://youtu.be/JarbtubycQg “There is an eerie creepiness about The Vigil which is both terrifying and impressive in its treatment of folklore and old superstition.” - Linda Marric , The Jewish Chronical “Keith Thomas' demonic Jewish horror freak-out summons the spectre of The Exorcist.” - Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News Plays with Demon Box, 14 mins, 2023, Canada Tired of constantly getting rejected by film festivals, Toronto filmmaker Sean Wainsteim goes over everything that is wrong about his short film about the Holocaust. Inspired by dark fairytales and Jewish folklore, this brilliant film-within-a-film explores how young Jews today are still being affected by generational trauma.

Join us for McDonald at The Movies, where comedian, star and co-founder of Kids in the Hall, comic Kevin McDonald will present a film handpicked from the archives of comic history. American tourists David and Jack are savaged by an unidentified vicious animal whilst hiking on the Yorkshire Moors. David awakes in a London hospital to find his friend dead and his life in disarray. Retiring to the home of a beautiful nurse to recuperate, he soon experiences disturbing changes to his mind and body, undergoing a full-moon transformation that will unleash terror on the streets of the capital… Generously sponsored by IATSE 856 Manitoba.

Introverted and unqualified, Eva is unexpectedly tasked with foleying the sound for a commercial featuring a horse. As she slowly acclimates to the new job, her obsession with creating the perfect equine sounds grows into something more tangible. Eva harnesses this new physicality, becoming more confident and empowered, and lures an unassuming botanist into an intriguing game of submission. Shot on lush 16mm, PIAFFE is a visceral journey into control, gender, and artifice.

3 Hours of HALLOWEEN-THEMED Retro Cartoons, Commercials and PSAs – and all the cereal you can eat! Hello ghosts and ghouls – are you “freddy” for a spooky Saturday morning? We are fiendishly thrilled to present an all-Halloween themed selection of cartoon fun for the trick or treating season! Kids today may not realize the significance of the Saturday morning ritual, but once upon a time, we had to wait a whole week to get our cartoon fix, and when we got it, we tended to binge. Well – welcome to the Saturday Morning All-You-Can-Eat Cereal Cartoon Party - that special time when kids and kids-at-heart get to relive the exciting Saturday Morning ritual of non-stop retro cartoons, and binge on the multi-colored sugary cereals that used to be a part of every “balanced” breakfast! The cartoon lineup is always a mystery, but expect to see monsters, sci-fi, sleuths, superheroes and all kinds of 2D silliness, both faves and obscurities spanning the ‘40s through the ‘90s, all punctuated with vintage commercials, PSAs and station IDs for a 3-hour trip down memory lane! So get ready for a sugar rush and an explosion of nostalgia all wrapped up in one candy-coated package. Dairy free options available! Curated by David Bertrand

Signe and Thomas are in an unhealthy, competitive relationship that takes a vicious turn when Thomas suddenly breaks through as a contemporary artist. In response, Signe makes a desperate attempt to regain her status by creating a new persona hell-bent on attracting attention and sympathy

Join us for our Staff Picks series, where our Winnipeg Film Group staff will select and introduce new and old favourites. This month’s selection was chosen by Programming Coordinator Olivia Norquay. Johnny Knoxville and his band of maniacs perform a variety of stunts and gross-out gags on the big screen for the first time. Generously sponsored by IATSE 856 Manitoba.

This movie proves that "cyberpunk body horror" is the greatest genre on the planet. Picking up three years after the events in Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Tetsuo II finds Taniguchi Tomoo fully mutating into a grotesque machine-monster to seek revenge on the gang that kidnapped his son. Like Terminator 2, Tetsuo II is an expansive explosion of the themes, electricity, and artistry that came before, as filmmaker Shinya Tsukamoto’s unhinged hot take on humankind’s battle with technology continues. Completely absent from theater screens for decades, this underground whirlwind from Japan has been newly restored.

Virtually absent from theater screens since the 1990s, this underground classic from Japan is now available in a brand new restoration! Tetsuo: The Iron Man is filmmaker Shinya Tsukamoto’s unhinged hot take on humankind’s ongoing battle with technology; literally, as a man mutates into a walking, clanking man-machine that terrorizes himself and everyone around him. Warping elements of early Cronenberg, Lynch, and Raimi into a deliriously-paced cyberpunk cocktail, Tetsuo is a body horror manifesto that’s fueled by techno-erotic adrenaline and wrought iron perversion. Unmissable.