Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 9, 2022, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE C1 GO with the snow W EARING a dusty pink snowsuit and a face mask emblazoned with colourful Dala horses, Sonja Lundstrom is excited. “This is going to be my 80th birthday present to myself,” she says, pointing to a nearby wooden kicksled poised for takeoff. “My grandma had one of these and my dad made me one out of hockey sticks for all my children… but these are the new modern ones and I haven’t had one of those.” But today’s frosty jaunt is less of a test drive and more of a diplomatic adventure. Lundstrom is the president of the Swedish Cultural Association of Manitoba and is at The Forks to give Urban Ahlin, the Swedish Ambassador to Canada, a little taste of home. “In my part of Sweden we use the (kicksleds) when we go out on the ice for ice fishing,” says Ahlin, who was in town recently with several other Nordic ambassadors to meet with the premier. “This is a very climate-friend- ly means of transportation and you can use it for lots of different reasons… it’s actually pretty fun to ride as well.” A kicksled is a simple winter vehicle made up of a chair mounted on two long skis. It can be pushed from behind with a kicking motion, like a scooter, or pulled by a dog. It’s been a popular mode of trans- portation in rural Nordic towns for decades and has been gaining traction among Winnipeggers in recent years. Today’s sleds have been provided by the Plain Bicycle Project, a social enterprise of the Winnipeg Trail Asso- ciation. The organization got its start import- ing cargo containers of Dutch bikes to the city and has since opened two retail and repair shops while expanding its vision for multi-modal active transpor- tation into the winter months. For Winnipeg Trails executive direc- tor Anders Swanson, kicksleds are the perfect entry point. “Kicksleds are kind of indicative of a culture that really understands winter, really understands how to plow and maintain their paths,” he says. Swanson first encountered kicksleds during a winter biking conference in Finland. While his personal sled is currently stocking the Plain Bicycle mobile ski library, he has used the apparatus locally for short trips to pick up groceries or grab beer from his neighbourhood brewery. Since the skis are designed for use on ice or packed snow, most people view kicksledding as a recreational activity rather than a viable way to get around Winnipeg. To make it more accessible, Swanson says better winter infrastruc- ture is needed. “What we’re trying to bring here is a respect for snow… we’re a winter city, but we’re terrible at using snow as a building material and we have a very combative approach to snow,” he says, adding that he would like to see the city create a network of packed snow paths that could be used for biking, skiing, kicksledding and everyday active transportation. “There are systemic ways of design- ing this city that could really celebrate the human being in every season.” Working with the snow and prioritiz- ing pedestrians over vehicles is a de- cidedly Scandinavian way of thinking. “The first thing we plow is actually the walkways,” Ahlin says of his home country. “We need to look at other things than the car’s needs.” Kicksledding is having a resurgence in Sweden as a direct result of changes to snow-management policies, says Ah- lin. Many cities have cut down on their salt usage, leaving less bare concrete and more snow for residents to enjoy. “For a period of time it went away,” he says. “But nowadays we’re using less salt and the kicksled is coming back again into the Swedish tradition.” The country may have its winter walkways figured out, but Ahlin says Winnipeggers could teach Swedes a thing or two about dealing with extreme cold. “You have a much colder weather than we have,” he says. “I don’t think Swedes are experts when it comes down to winter, but it’s good to have an exchange of views and see how differ- ent kinds of cultures deal with stuff.” It’s one of those bitterly cold days when the convoy of kicksleds and Swedish flags pushes away from The Forks market and heads down to the Assiniboine for a tour of the river trail warming huts. The Nestaweya River Trail is also a favourite sledding spot for Dan and Viola Prowse, who purchased a kicksled last winter as a way to stay active and get outside amid the pan- demic. The husband and wife duo are both in their 70s and try to take their sled out at least once a week for trips through local parks and winding rivers. “A huge part of it has been discover- ing the city from the vantage point of the river,” Viola says. EVA WASNEY Taking a Nordic-style kicksled out for a spin is a pretty Swede ride MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS From left: Urban Ahlin, the Swedish Ambassador to Canada, Diana King, Honorary Consul for Norway and Sweden, Anders Swanson of Trails Winnipeg, and Marilyn Ekelund, Swedish Association board member, go on a kicksledding jaunt around The Forks. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Sonja Lundstrom, president of the Swedish Cultural Association of Manitoba, is excited to try a modern kicksled. JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Viola and Dan Prowse, local kicksledding enthusiasts, take their Esla T7 sled for a spin. Our (virtual) book is open until Feb 28 thinairkids.ca ARTS ● LIFE ARTS@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 9, 2022 CONNECT WITH THE BEST ARTS AND LIFE COVERAGE IN MANITOBA SECTION C▼ Power of the Dog dominates with dozen Oscar nods NEW YORK — After a pandemic year that hobbled movie theatres and saw streaming services make new inroads into Hollywood, the Academy Awards put its strongest support Tuesday behind two films made with big-screen grandeur that were also streamed into homes: Jane Campion’s gothic western The Power of the Dog and Canadian Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic Dune. Netflix’s The Power of the Dog led nominations to the 94th Academy Awards with 12 nods, including best picture, best director and recogni- tion for all of its top actors: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee. Campion, a nominee for 1993’s The Piano, became the first woman to ever be nominated twice for best director. Last year, Chloé Zhao became just the second woman to ever win the award. Campion’s director of photography, Ari Wegner, also became the second woman ever nominated for best cine- matography. Dune followed closely behind with 10 nominations spread out largely in the technical categories that rewarded the gargantuan craft of Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel, yet unexpectedly bypassed Villeneuve’s direction. The Warner Bros. release debuted simultaneously in theatres and — against the strenu- ous objections of its director — on the U.S.-only streaming service HBO Max. The nominees for best picture were: Belfast, CODA, Don’t Look Up, Drive My Car, Dune, Licorice Pizza, King Richard, Nightmare Alley, The Power of the Dog and West Side Story. No streaming service has ever won best picture, but half of the 10 nomi- nees were released by streamers. This year, the odds may be better than ever that Netflix or another service will finally barrel through one of the last walls of Hollywood tradition. Apple notched its first best-picture nomination with the deaf drama CODA, which also made history as supporting-actor nominee Troy Kotsur became only the second deaf actor ever nominated. (His CODA co-star Marlee Matlin was the first.) Netflix backed The Power of the Dog and Adam McKay’s apocalyptic comedy Don’t Look Up. And both King Richard and Dune launched on HBO Max. Even the academy for the first time ruled out hard-copy DVD screeners for its members, who instead could watch submissions on the academy’s stream- ing platform. In pulling from films released in myriad ways, the Oscar nominations reflected the tumult of a movie year that began with many theatres shut- tered and ended with Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man: No Way Home smashing box-office records. While some had urged the Oscars to embrace its most popular blockbusters and return some populism to the awards, Spidey ulti- mately landed only a single nomination, for visual effects. A largely virtual awards season add- ed some unpredictability to this year’s nominations, which were announced by actors Leslie Jordan and Tracee Ellis Ross. This year’s Oscars will be delayed to make way for the Olympics, the Oscars will be held March 27 and will return to their usual venue, the Dolby Theatre. And there were surprises all around. Lady Gaga, star of House of Gucci, was overlooked in the uber-competitive best actress category. Nominated instead were Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye), Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter), Penélope Cruz (Parallel Mothers), Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos) and Kristen Stewart for Spen- cer — whose hopes for her first Oscar nomination were set back after she was snubbed by the Screen Actors Guild. Drive My Car, Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s masterful three- hour drama, scored major nominations including best picture, best director and best adapted screenplay. The acad- emy, which in 2020 made Bong Joon Ho’s Korean thriller Parasite the best picture winner, has drifted overseas in recent years, as more international members have been added to help diversify the organization. JAKE COYLE ● CONTINUED ON C2 KIRSTY GRIFFIN/NETFLIX/TNS Jane Campion’s Western leads with 12 nom- inations, including for her direction and for Benedict Cumberbatch in the starring role. ● CONTINUED ON C2 And when the awards are handed out March 27, will this be the year streaming wins best picture? C_01_Feb-09-22_FP_01.indd 1 2022-02-08 3:25 PM ;