Canada is a land of extremes. Our whole nation offers rugged outdoor adventure, but there are many places where merely existing can be a struggle against nature. Eastern Manitoba, in the dead of winter, is one of those places. A stark, beautiful, frozen landscape where knowing how to work with the elements is mandatory just to sustain yourself.
This is the setting for Hair of the Bear, a new survival thriller from co-writers and directors James McLellan and Alexandre Trudeau1. The story opens with Tori (Malia Baker), who is in a troubled phase of her life and refuses to attend school, being delivered to the remote cabin of her Grandfather, Ben (Roy Dupuis). Tori’s single mother, Nicole (Catherine Bérubé), is at her wits’ end and can’t both work and monitor her daughter, so this extended stay is the compromise.
We’re never privy to exactly what Tori is going through, just a few wayward scratches at her wrists and self-disparaging lines of dialogue hint at the extent of it. Ben, the kind of man who may appear to be a gruff, out-of-touch loner, turns out to be a gruff, well-aware-of-the-world teddy bear who is quick to accept Tori for who she is. He begins to do what every great-grandfather does: teach her what he knows and not let her accept the limitations she has imposed on herself.
Link: https://www.northernreel.ca/2026/03/hair-of-the-bear-plays-cat-and-mouse-in-a-manitoba-winter/
‘Hair of the Bear’ Plays Cat and Mouse in a Manitoba Winter | Northern Reel
