A movie with a local connection is set to open up tonight at the Countryfest Community Cinema.
“Stand!” is a movie musical set against the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, and it was written by Danny Schur, a man who grew up in Ethelbert.
The movie was adapted from Schur’s stage play called “Strike!” and it features a Ukrainian Catholic boy, who falls in love with his neighbour, a Ukrainian Jewish girl, as they deal with the racism and discrimination of the early 20th Century. The Romeo and Juliet tale also navigates the events that led to the historic strike.
The movie was released on November 29th, but the movie now makes its way to Dauphin for the movie’s first screening outside of major urban centres in Canada, and writer Danny Schur, couldn’t be happier about it.
“It’s a dream come true to see a movie come to be anyway, because, how many times can you make a movie in your life, its just a huge thrill,” said Schur. “Then to bring it back to where I come from, and all the people that influenced me, and helped me in my career, it’s just a great feeling of sharing. It just feels fantastic.”
Schur added that many of the people that helped him make the movie were from Dauphin.
“Not only is it from the community, but it was also made possible by it,” said Schur. “To be able to share it in Dauphin is bigger than a dream come true, it’s really a great homecoming for the movie.”
“Stand!” will be showing at the Countryfest Community Cinema for a minimum of a week, starting tonight with screenings at 7:00 and 9:30. Danny Schur will be in attendance at both screenings, where he will introduce the movie, have a Q&A session afterwards, and give away a movie poster signed by the entire cast of “Stand!”.
Be sure to tune into CKDM today at 12:40 this afternoon to hear more from Danny Schur and “Stand!”