'It's cool to see Winnipeg shine' as a hub of holiday movie industry, actor says

It's the first day of winter in Winnipeg, but you might just find snow here all year round.

The city has become a regular backdrop of popular holiday-themed movies, with local and international actors bundled up in cold-weather gear under Christmas lights at various filming locations around town.

Many of these films are produced for the U.S.-based Hallmark Channel, which produces dozens of holiday-themed features every year for an audience of millions.

Winnipeg-based actor and director Rodrigo Beilfuss, who serves as the artistic director of Shakespeare in the Ruins, has starred in four Hallmark movies in the last five years.

"Winnipeg in the last five years has came up as a centre of this industry of Christmas films," Beilfuss said.

"It puts Winnipeg on the map as a centre of this genre of holiday films. And it's cool to see Winnipeg shine across North America," he said.

When performing arts spaces closed to the public at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Beilfuss said he turned from the stage to the screen and began auditioning for film roles.

Whether it's Hallmark or Hamlet, he said Winnipeg has a "deep pool of talent" for directors to choose from.

"We have world class actors and performers here," said Beilfuss, who is also appearing in the locally-shot action films Nobody 2 and Violent Night 2

Lynne Skromeda, CEO and film commissioner with Manitoba Film and Music, said there is a "thriving industry" for film and television production in the province.

"We've got the talent, we've got the infrastructure — it's just perfect. So people just love coming back and shooting here," Skromeda said, pointing viewers to an online list of Manitoba-made holiday movies from Film Training Manitoba.

According to Manitoba Film and Music, the province has the "most competitive" film and production tax credit in the country. Made-in-Manitoba productions receive a tax credit of up to 65 per cent on salary costs or up to 38 per cent on production costs.

"We have really good incentives here, we have really strong crews here, we've got really experienced people here," Skromeda said.

In Winnipeg, the long winters don't hurt either, Beilfuss said.

"We can shoot Christmas movies in April and we can still get a sense of Christmas because snow is still around," he said.

"The length of winters and the diversity of landscape and architecture, all of that makes Winnipeg really attractive and accessible," he said, adding Winnipeg has a unique ability to pass for different cities on film due to the variety of architecture here.

Beilfuss, who is originally from Brazil, said appearing in Hallmark movies has been a "great connector," allowing him to reach audiences around the world — including his loved ones back home.

"They're just joyful movies," he said.

"People get a lot of joy out of them and if we can infuse a bit of fun and a bit of joy in people's lives, especially in this chaotic, strange world, it's a good feeling."