Face2Face with David Peck (David Peck)

Join us for Rebecca’s take on education, breaking free from the system, why wonder matters and how to maintain an edge as an artist.

Rebecca Zak is an artist/researcher/teacher from Burlington, Ontario. She teaches at the elementary and post-secondary levels, and is a Doctoral Candidate in Education at Brock University. Her research interest lies in how creativity can be nurtured in and outside the classroom, stemming from Rebecca’s own lived experience as an artist and student in and outside the classroom.

Check out more of her work here: www.raisingcreativity.com

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Ed and I talk about building a safe future for all, The Locust Effect, responsibility and compassionate intervention.

To buy a copy of The Locust Effect head here.

Biography

Ed Wilson is IJM Canada's Executive Director. In this role, Ed provides strategic and visionary leadership to the mission and vision of IJM in Canada, in order to rescue victims of violence and protect the poor by strengthening their justice systems. Prior to becoming Executive Director, Ed served as Chief Operating Officer for eight years, during which time he helped lead IJM Canada's dramatic growth in revenue and impact.

Ed's non-profit management skills are shaped by almost 30 years of leadership experience. Prior to joining IJM Canada, he served as a founding Board member and first Executive Director of Heartwood Place in Kitchener, Ontario, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing safe, affordable and adequate housing to individuals and families in need. In 2004, Heartwood Place was honoured by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation with a National Housing Award for Best Practices. Over the course of the previous 17 years, Ed provided leadership to a number of churches in south-central Ontario.

Ed holds a B.A. in English Language and Literature from the University of Western Ontario, and a B.Ed. from Queen's University in Kingston.

Ed's passion in life is building strong, effective teams that are a force for good in the world. His motto is "great ideas with great execution can change the world", a principle that has been proven by the work of IJM.  

Ed and his wife Judy live in London, Ontario and are parents of three adult children and grandparents of two.

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For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Listen in as Sophia talks about her new film Inside The Chinese Closet, LGBTQ rights here at home and in China, trust, transparency and why she’s still optimistic about the future.

Festival Runs from: March 30 - April 7, 2016

For more information about the festival go here.

Watch the Trailer Here.

Synopsis

Andy devotes his days and nights to looking for a lesbian wife of convenience who could possibly bear his child; from online search to underground marriage markets, he is meeting all sorts of girls. Cherry has already married a gay man, but the quest for a baby proves to be a far more complex challenge. Will Andy and Cherry deny their own happiness and sexual orientation to satisfy their parents’ wishes? Inside The Chinese Closet follows Andy and Cherry in their search. Along the way, they clash with their parents’ hopes, their love partners and the partners of convenience. It is through these encounters that the film lays bare the challenges that confront gay people in China today.

Biography

Sophia Luvarà received her MSc with merit in Medical Biotechnology from the University of Turin, where she also studied for a PhD in Cancer Research, but in 2007 she discontinued her studies and moved to London to follow her passion for documentary filmmaking.

In 2008 she attended the Documentary Filmmaking course at the London Film Academy and subsequently directed a number of independent documentaries, including: The Great Mafia Orange Squeeze (2011, UK/Italy), about African immigrants who rioted against ‘Ndrangheta mafia oppression in a small town in the South of Italy. The Road to Fureidis (2011, UK), about Arab Israeli women, who receive training to increase their self-confidence and employability.

In 2013 Sophia spent two weeks embedded with soldiers on duty in Afghanistan for the MTV documentary Soldati – Missione Afganistan. She is currently co-directing and producing the feature length documentary ‘Ishmael’s forgotten children of Israel’ about Arab citizens of Israel, for the Foundation Media EdProject, where she is also a board member.

Inside The Chinese Closet is Sophia first feature length documentary, which she developed at the Documentary Campus Masterschool in 2011 and at the Crossing Borders in 2012 - Eurasia-Pacific documentary training scheme.

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For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anna Jane Edmonds, Karl Janisse and Zach Ramelan and Face2Face host David Peck talk about immersive storytelling, collaboration and inclusion, globalization and how movies can in fact change the world.

More about Blackout Media here on the website.

Biographies

Anna Jane (AJ) Edmonds is an emerging leader in the film industry, working in Toronto and Los Angeles as a producer and idea creator for movies with an edge. After working on set with a number of Toronto based film productions, in 2014 she secured the opportunity to work at Silver Pictures Entertainment and be a part of its management and development team during the production of the films THE NICE GUYS and COLLIDE. 

Zach Ramelan is an award winning independent filmmaker from Ontario, Canada. From the age of 17, Zach has pursued his passion as a full time filmmaker. Since then he has created several award-winning short films, music videos and feature films. His music videos have enabled him to collaborate with international artists such as Sixx AM and FlyLeaf.

After the success and global distribution of his feature film, DEAD RUSH, Zach is looking forward to working on his next big project! Zach runs a popular Youtube channel on filmmaking tips and tricks called "Film Freak" with over 13,000 followers. 

Karl Janisse was born and raised in Burlington, ON. Karl Janisse has been working professionally in film and television from the age of 18. He now works as a Cinematographer and Independent Producer in Toronto. 

He values above all else, the importance of a meaningful story, and the impact it can have on people. He is constantly pursuing how the art of filmmaking can expand our minds; and strives for unique photography that can tell a captivating story. His notable work includes feature films such as Dead Rush and The Hexecutioners and commercial clients like Tesla and Coca-Cola, and is an associate member of the Canadian Society of Cinematographers

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Listen in today as Mark talks about falling in love with journalism, how too often it’s a business and not a calling, what “getting it first” versus “getting it right” is all about and why he’s still hopeful.

Biography

Mark Bulgutch retired from CBC News in 2009 after a career that lasted more than 35 years. But he continued to produce every CBC TV News special event until 2012. In 2012 he wrote a weekly column on the web site of CBC’s chief correspondent, Peter Mansbridge (www.cbc.ca/petermansbridge).

He graduated from Carleton University in 1974 with an honours degree in journalism. He was immediately hired by CBC News as a reporter in his hometown, Montreal. He became a line-up editor there, before moving to Toronto to work as a writer on The National. He soon became the program’s line-up editor, a position he held for 11 years.

He became the senior producer of CBC News Specials, and then the Senior Executive Producer of CBC TV News and CBC NewsWorld (now CBC News Network). He was responsible for all live news programming on both networks. He has produced every federal election night for CBC from 1997 to 2011, and was part of every CBC election night program in every province and territory from 1995 to 2011. He produced the federal election debates for all networks in 2006, 2008, and 2011. He was a writer for CTV at the Olympic Games in London in 2012, and for CBC at the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi in 2014.

Among the many news specials he produced are: The 1995 Quebec Referendum, the funeral of Pierre Trudeau, the Sept 11 attack on the United States, the 50th and 60th anniversaries of D Day and VE Day, the memorial of four RCMP officers killed in Alberta, the war in Iraq, and the National Remembrance Day ceremony from Ottawa between 1995 and 2012. He has also been the executive producer for the host broadcast feed to the world of several events including World Youth Day and the Pope’s visit to Canada in 2002, and the XVI International AIDS conference in 2006.

His work has been recognized with 31 Gemini Award nominations, 14 Gemini Awards, 4 RTNDA Awards, the Canadian Journalism Foundation Award of Excellence, and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Gold Ribbon Award. In addition he was honoured with the Gabriel Award from the Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals for a documentary on the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

He has also had a long career as a journalism educator. He has been teaching at Ryerson University since 1987. He taught at Concordia University from 1979-1982. And he taught at Sheridan College in 2009.

He often lectures for the Department of National Defence at both the Defence Public Affairs Learning Centre, and the Canadian Forces College.

He also serves as an adjudicator for the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council.

His book, That’s Why I’m a Journalist (Douglas & McIntyre, 2015), tells the stories of 44 reporters and their most remarkable days on the job.

He has also co-authored two other books, Canadian By Conviction (Gage Publishing, 2000) and Defining Canada: History, Identity, and Culture (McGraw – Hill Ryerson, 2002).

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Listen in as Doug tells us how seeing the film Lawrence of Arabia, at 9 years old, changed his life. You’ll want to hear about his new project Art Machine, why the energy on a film set can feel like it’s quickly turned to Molasses, how not to trip over your own preparation, and why it’s sometime better to burn crosses without a permit.

Doug Karr has been creating original independent films since 1997. Karr’s credits include narrative shorts Tiny Dancer, Anniversary Present, The Straitjacket Lottery and the award winning documentaries LSD25, The June Bug Symphony, Lifecycles: a story of AIDS in Malawi, and The Face of AIDS.

The writer of 11 feature length screenplays, his script My Thermonuclear Family won the Grand Prize at the 2007 Filmmakers International Screenplay Competition. A feature film version of Tiny Dancer just received development financing from Canadian studio Movie Central/Chorus with Karr attached to pen the screenplay. His films have been seen by audiences around the world and on numerous television channels. Karr’s short Ten For Grandpa premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and has gone on to screen at over 50 international film festivals, winning multiple awards.

Karr’s latest film, Art Machine, stars Joseph Cross (Milk, Flags of Our Fathers, Running with Scissors), Jessica Szohr (Gossip Girl, Piranha 3D) and Joey Lauren Adams (Chasing Amy, Big Daddy).

Karr is director of Pie Face Pictures in NYC, with recent commercial clients that include Aéropostale, Chicos, The Rockefeller Foundation and Juicy Couture. Karr is represented by Epicenter Management.

The trailer for Art Machine is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5Ty06K7GIU

Download it here from iTunes: http://artmachinemovie.com

More info here: http://artmachinemovie.com

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Daniel and Emmanuel talk about their new film Je suis Charlie and about the Charlie Hedbo massacre. We touch on issues of freedom, critique ideologies, the truth and chat a great deal about asking better questions.

Je Suis Charlie

Film Synopsis

Trailer

IMDB

This new documentary by the father-and-son directing team of Daniel and Emmanuel Leconte pays tribute to the 11 journalists of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo who were killed in the January 2015 attack by radical Islamic extremists.

Audio Player

00:00 00:00 Use Up/Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease volume.The January 2015 attacks on the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo were appalling in their brutality. But they were not a singular event. In the next two days, eight more people were killed in four separate incidents, one of them involving a Jewish grocery store. In total, twenty people were killed. Paris, and much of the world, was in shock. But the events galvanized a country and fostered a spontaneous outburst of collective outrage as millions gathered in the streets of French cities (and thousands more in Europe and North and South America), to protest the attacks.

Emmanuel and Daniel Leconte’s film is a document of the social upheaval that followed, as seen through television footage as well as the filmmakers’ own cameras. In this sense, Je suis Charlie is a public record; but its true power lies within the interviews the Lecontes collect from both before and after the assault on the Charlie Hebdo journalists.

Much of the film is devoted to creating a portrait of the magazine and the people behind it. Footage from over the years with key contributors who were later murdered, among them editor Charb and cartoonist Cabu, conveys a direct sense of the magazine’s personality and vision. Other interviews feature those who survived the attack — and watched as the two gunmen killed their friends.

The Lecontes also film writers, philosophers, editors, and politicians discussing their notions of freedom of expression and how France reacted to the crisis. We also see the remaining editorial staff as they work to produce their first post-attack issue, which went on to sell seven million copies. Je suis Charlie is highly moving, yet it will inspire examination of the complex issues that this magazine raises.

Biography

Emmanuel Leconte is a French actor and director. His directorial credits include the documentary series I Love Democracy and the feature Je suis Charlie.

Daniel Leconte was born in Oran, Algeria. He directed the documentary C’est dur d’être aimé par des cons and the series I Love Democracy. Je suis Charlie is his latest film.

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Robert Schwentke, Frederick Lau, Max Hubacher and Face2Face host David Peck talk about their new film The Captain, WW II, misplaced power, violence from a perpetrators perspective, the banality of evil and why this is a story about uniforms.

Biography

Robert Schwentke was born 1968 in Germany. He studied Literature and Philosophy at the Eberhard Karl University in Tuebingen and later earned an MFA in directing from the American Film Institute.

Synopsis

In the last, desperate moments of World War II, a young German soldier fighting for survival finds a Nazi captain’s uniform.

Impersonating an officer, the man quickly takes on the monstrous identity of the perpetrators he is trying to escape from.

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For more information about David Peck's podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here or check out the site of his podcast on film, social change and much more.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Image Copyright: Robert Schwentke and Opus Films. Used with permission.

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Wayne and Face2Face host David Peck talk about “glib patriotism”, community as the way to healing, how talent and bravery are connected, love and the importance of “powerful fiction”.

Biography

Wayne Wapeemukwa is a filmmaker of Métis and settler heritage from Vancouver, BC (Unceded Coast-Salish Territories). Luk’Luk’I is his debut feature film.

His previous short works include Foreclosure (TIFF’13), Luk’Luk’I : Mother (TIFF’14), Balmoral Hotel (TIFF Top 10’15) and Srorrim (VIFF’16, Best Film – Dawson City Film Festival).

He reads philosophy and psychoanalysis.

Synopsis

Nationalism gets a searing reality check in Wayne Wapeemukwa’s uncompromising debut feature Luk’Luk’I.

Following the lives of five Vancouverites living on society’s fringes during the 2010 Olympics, this film takes us into uncharted territory, falling somewhere between a fiction we need to see and a documentary we wish didn’t have to exist.

Trailer

More about the film here.

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For more information about David Peck's podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here or check out the site of his podcast on film, social change and much more.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Image Copyright: Wayne Wapeemukwa and LLI films. Used with permission.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Julie Eng, Daniel Zuckerbot and David Peck talk about their new film The Science of Magic, change blindness, assumptions, subverting reality, free will, doubt and the problems of perception.

Synopsis

Magic has become the latest investigative tool for scientists exploring human cognition, neurobiology, and behaviour. Across Canada, the US and Europe, our film follows researchers who are bringing magicians’ tricks into the laboratory.  With impossible magic, amazing facts, and opportunities for viewers to participate in the magic, this extraordinary exploration peeks behind the curtain into a fascinating world where ancient magic meets modern science. 

Canadian magician and executive director of the arts organization Magicana, Julie Eng not only mystifies us with magic, she also takes us to Montreal’s McGill University to meet Jay Olson. He is one of the scientists spearheading this novel and powerful approach to experimental psychology.  On the streets of Montreal Julie and Jay use card tricks to help us understand how magic can be used to explore human consciousness. But these simple tricks have given way to more elaborate experiments.

We join Jay at the Montreal Neurological Institute for an extraordinary demonstration involving an MRI machine that can apparently not only read minds but can even use its electromagnetic fields to manipulate your most private thoughts. 

Watch the trailer here.

Biography

Julie Eng is best described as a charming and enchanting performer who is passionate about her craft.

Both her peers and her clients consider this award-winning magicienne one of the up-and-coming performers of her generation. Her interest in magic began early; raised in a family of magicians, she has been a stage performer since she was a child. As she earned her Commerce degree, Julie’s true love for the unique art of magic blossomed into a career. And now, for over three decades, Julie has brought her magical expertise to thousands of private functions, festivals, conventions and special events around the globe.

Julie is also the executive director of Magicana – an arts organization and registered charity dedicated to the study, exploration and advancement of magic as a performing art. Inside of her work with Magicana, Julie is one of the founding organizers for two unique community outreach programs, My Magic Hands and Senior Sorcery. Julie was also a part of another one of Magicana’s productions, a theatrical show, Piff Paff Poof which was designed specifically to introduce the experience of the theatre to young families.

Over the years, Julie has developed a refreshing and distinctive style – a mix of elegance, surprise and humour – that has made her a popular entertainment choice. Whether on stage or mingling with her audience, Julie’s magic is distinguished by her dexterous skill, confident presentation and professional manner. Julie has also received accolades from her fellow magicians, who have invited her to perform at magic conventions across North America. She has been featured in, MAGIC, Genii and The Linking Ring, internationally distributed trade magazine.

Julie’s energetic performances are well suited to a multitude of venues: corporate receptions, trade shows and product launches, hospitality suites, conventions and client appreciation and development events. Julie’s style, charm and repertoire have consistently garnered high praise from her clients, including some of the largest and most creative companies in Canada and the United States.

Daniel Zuckerbort’s first experience in the Canadian film industry was in 1974 when, while studying history of science, religion and philosophy at the University of Waterloo, he got a summer job as a researcher for a documentary. Though only 20 at the time this was far from his earliest foray into the Canadian art scene. At the age of 15 he began working as an assistant in the technical crew at Theatre Passe Muraille. This was in 1969 and Passe Muraille was the centre of avante garde theatre.

In recent years Daniel’s specifically theatre related work has been limited to directing actors in some of his productions as well as having made a number of documentaries about performers. A working magician himself for some years, he taught magic privately and for the Toronto Board of Education. He is also one of the founding board member of Magicana a registered charity dedicated to the exploration of magic as a performing art and to increasing the public’s understanding and appreciation of this art. For more information see www.magicana.com

From the early 80s, through much of the 90s he was also involved managing the organization and activities of large groups of volunteers. These activities included helping organize neighborhood newspapers in Canada and abroad (including England, Scotland, Iceland, and Jamaica). Daniel is fluent in Spanish. His interests in the history of technology have come to a happy meeting in his current experiments in textile production, dye chemistry and casting metal (copper, bronze, brass, and iron) using kilns and crucibles that he has built himself.

His creative endeavors are not limited to film or the forge. He is a writer in a range of genres and one of his short writings was published in the Spring 2011 edition of the literary journal Descant.

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Image Copyright: Julie Eng and Daniel Zuckerbot and Reel Time Images. Used with permission.

For more information about his podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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Ron Chapman

Ron and I talk about his beautiful new film The Poet of Havana, the magic of music, the generosity of poets like Carlos Varela and why piracy at one time was seen as a blessing in Cuba.

Film Synopsis

Enter the world of internationally renown Cuban musician Carlos Varela…singer, song-writer, lyricist, one of the most influential and well-loved artists of his time as he celebrates his 30th anniversary in poignant performances.

Discover his cultural, political and social significance. How he was influenced by his country, politics and people, and how he has influenced them in return. His struggle for individual freedoms, and his efforts to build bridges between Cuba, the United States, disenfranchised Cubans, and the people of the world.

Shot in Havana, with unique access, exclusive interviews, stunning concert and insider back-stage moments. Varela is joined by international stars, his friends, Jackson Browne, Benicio del Toro, Ivan Lins, Luis Enrique, Juan and Samuel Formel, Diana Fuentes, X Alfonso, Alexander Abreu and more.

Film Trailer

Biography

Producer, director and entrepreneur, Ron Chapman began his career as a musician, and went on to manage musical artists and produce albums.  His legendary Toronto music club “The Edge” provided a scene for some of the most exciting international artists of the day, and he promoted concerts in the city’s premier venues.   He established a film production company, produced and directed rock videos, and for decades has produced and directed television commercials for some of the world’s leading brands. Chapman founded the successful Canadian advertising agency Brandworks International.

Chapman's successful feature documentary “Who the F**K is Arthur Fogel”, released 2014 and distributed by eOne, features Lady Gaga, U2, The Police, Madonna, Rush, and key music industry insiders, and has been released in over 38 countries worldwide: including HBO in Canada and South America,  EPIX and Netflix USA.

His award-winning documentary film “The Poet of Havana”, released on the festival circuit in 2015 and picked up by HBO USA, documents the life and career of Carlos Varela, one of Cuba’s most influential, beloved artists. Capturing two memorable concerts at Havana’s Teatro National, with exclusive interviews and insider back-stage moments, Varela is joined by international stars, his friends, Jackson Browne, Benicio del Toro, Ivan Lins, Luis Enrique, Juan + Samuel Formel, Diana Fuentes, X Alfonso, Alexander Abreu and more.

Chapman’s latest film,  “The Forbidden Shore”, is an insightful, compelling documentary and definitive exploration of Cuban music: the people, culture and politics, and the effects of the embargo are illuminated through the eyes of Cuba’s musicians, and their incredibly diverse music, from Rhumba to Rap.  With unique access, rare performances and interviews from over 30 top Cuban artists, this is the most important and revealing film to come out of Cuba since the Buena Vista Social Club.  “The Forbidden Shore” had it’s World Premiere at the 2016 MIAMI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, March 2016.

An album of his own original songs, “ As Worlds Collide” recorded in Toronto and Havana with some of Cuba’s top musicians, and mixed by legendary record producer Terry Brown, was released on Current Records February 15, 2016.

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For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound

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Hugh Gibson

Hugh and I talk about his new film The Stairs, “harm reduction care”, addictions, empathy and compassion and “Toronto: The Not So Good.”

PANEL DETAILS

Date/time: Wed Oct 12, after 6:40pm screening.

Guests: Toronto city councillors Joe Cressy and Gord Perks (both head Toronto’s Drug Strategy), plus Roxanne Smith (from the film), and Raffi Balian, South Riverdale CHC Project Coordinator. (FYI: SRCHC is one of 3 approved supervised injection sites in Toronto)

Moderator: Joe Fiorito (Toronto Star columnist)

For more information about TIFF go here.

IMDB

Trailer

More info about the film here.

Synopsis

Hugh Gibson's compassionate and profoundly affecting The Stairs takes us inside Toronto's Regent Park Community Health Centre, whose staff of social workers includes both former and current drug users. These workers understand all too well what their clients are going through.

Shot over five years, Gibson's film focuses on three staff members: the loquacious, seemingly tireless Marty, who was so addicted at one point that, after being shot in a deal that went south, he stopped for a hit before going to the hospital; Roxanne, a former sex worker whose tales of life in the trade are beyond harrowing; and Greg, a biracial child of the 1960s consumed with a long-delayed legal case hinging on a police officer's use of excessive force.

As it draws us closer to Gibson's subjects, The Stairs challenges prejudices and preconceived notions. It also underlines how tentative sobriety and stability can be for people who have lived in addiction for years. In one of the film's rawest moments, Marty, when asked what kind of future he sees for himself, explains that "When you wake up and you're at that next day, you're very happy because it's another day you didn't smoke crack … I didn't do it yesterday, I'm not gonna do it today either. That's our happy ending. Cuz it never ends."

As the film progresses, Gibson subtly builds a wide-ranging portrait of the conditions that can nurture addiction, most notably poverty and homelessness. In its nuance, social conscience, and moving affection for its subjects, The Stairs is a worthy continuation of the tradition set by the NFB's legendary Unit B.

Biography

 A graduate of York University (BFA: Film), Gibson participated in the Berlinale Talent Campus, TIFF’ s Talent Lab and TIFF STUDIO. Selected credits include writing/directing the acclaimed short drama, Hogtown Blues: TIFF, Bilbao: Audience Award), and producing short doc A Tomb with a View: TIFF, VIFF). 

He produced A Place Called Los Pereyra (IDFA, RIDM, BAFICI), which screened extensively in Latin America and Canada. The Stairs is his feature debut as director. He lives in Toronto.

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For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ashley and I talk about her new film Werewolf, choices and addictions, modern existentialism, Albert Camus and about "paying attention."

For more information about TIFF go here.

IMDB

Trailer

Synopsis

Blaise and Nessa are outcast methadone users in a small town that doesn't offer an easy way out. Each day starts in a long lineup at the tiny pharmacy, then it's door ­to­ door begging to cut grass for people who just want them to go away and die.

At dusk they push their rusty lawnmower up a steep hill and crash in a filthy camper at the edge of town. In this bleakness, Nessa plots an escape, while Blaise lingers closer and closer to relapse, arrest, hospitalization, or worse. Tethered to one another, their getaway dreams are kept on a very short leash.

Biography

Ashley McKenzie ​is an emerging writer­/director from Cape Breton Island, Canada. Her 2015 short 4 Quarters screened at TIFF, VIFF, Stockholm IFF, Festival du nouveau cinema, and won Best Short Film at the Atlantic Film Festival. With her previous work, Stray ('13), When You Sleep ('12), and Rhonda's Party ('10).

Ashley has earned a spot on Canada's Top Ten Shorts list by TIFF, been a three-­time recipient of the Shaw Media Fearless Female Director Award from the National Screen Institute of Canada, and won CBC's Short Film Faceoff.

She is an alumnus of the TIFF Talent Lab and co­-owner of grassfire films.

Werewolf is her first feature film.

For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Alan

James and I talk about mathematics, magic and mystery, risk and about how to leverage small secrets, and why it’s not about how smart you are, but it’s about what you know.

Biography

James Alan is a professional magician and sleight of hand artist based in Toronto. James has performed across Ontario for small intimate audiences and on large stages creating performances, which are “thought provoking, funny, astonishing and thoroughly entertaining.”

His one man shows, Lies, Damn Lies & Magic Tricks and The Uncertainty Project have been featured at the Summerworks Performance Festival (Toronto), The Hamilton Fringe Festival and The Wychwood Theatre. His latest project, Magic and Martini (www.magicandmartini.ca), sets out to prove that magic really is for grownups.

Read more about James here.

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For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cameron Mullenneaux and David Peck talk about her brave and brilliant new film Exit Music, regrets and imagination, living and dying well, short-term goals and being guided by love.

Synopsis

Exit Music is a documentary film that travels the intimate and complex path of terminal illness. Ethan Rice was born with cystic fibrosis, an incurable genetic illness that eventually leads to respiratory failure. At their home in a small upstate New York community, Ethan and his family live in constant uncertainty as the disease takes more and more away from them. While medical interventions continue to keep him alive well beyond his prognosis, 28-year-old Ethan questions day-by-day how long he is willing to fight and what his absence will mean to those he leaves behind.

With stunning access, the film closely follows Ethan’s final months, weeks, days and hours and is witness to death’s transformative influence on a family. Home video footage traces the bond between Ethan and his father Ed, a Vietnam veteran with PTSD who withdrew from the world to become a stay-at-home dad. Ed immersed Ethan in a world of art, creativity, and imagination and documented it all on camera, a hobby that provided relief from the fear of his son's prognosis and his own painful past. These archives show the progression of Ethan’s illness over time and reveal Ed’s obsession with preserving his son’s memory. Even during his final days with Ethan, Ed had a camera in hand.

Interweaving home movies with Ethan’s original music and animation, his story is an unflinching meditation on mortality and invites the viewer to experience Ethan’s transition from reality to memory. In a culture that often looks away from death, Exit Music demystifies the dying process, a universal cornerstone of the human experience.

Biography

Cameron Mullenneaux is an independent filmmaker based in San Francisco. Her directorial debut, Exit Music (formerly How Do You Feel About Dying) is a co-production with ITVS and received additional support from LEF Foundation, The Visual Storytelling Consortium, Independent Filmmakers Project, and the San Francisco Film Society.

She directed and produced the short film Angelique for Conde Nast’s digital Glamour brand. She has an MFA in documentary film production from Wake Forest University and a self-designed major in death and dying from Warren Wilson College.

For more info about the film head here.

Image Copyright: Cameron Mullenneaux. Used with permission.

For more information about his podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Maya and I talk about her important new film Forever Pure, racism, religion and hate, Israel, the cost of remaining silent, and politics as sport.

Forever Pure recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. For more information about the festival go here.

Watch the trailer.

Synopsis

Beitar Jerusalem F.C. is the most popular and controversial football team in Israel, the only club in the Premier League never to sign an Arab player. Midway through the 2012-2013 season, a secretive transfer deal by the owner, Russian-Israeli oligarch Arcadi Gaydamak, brought two Muslim players from Chechnya.

The deal inspired the most racist campaign in Israeli sport that sent the club spiralling out of control. One season in a life of this famed club is a story of Israeli society, personal identity, politics, money and a window into how racism is destroying a team and society from within.

Biography

Maya Zinshtein is an Israeli filmmaker and journalist, who emigrated from Russia during her childhood. She now lives in Tel Aviv.

She holds a BA in Cinema and French studies, and an MA in Security and Diplomacy from Tel Aviv University. She has produced documentaries, includingThieves by Law (by Alexander Gentelev, ARTE/ZDF), the inside story of Russian Mafia, and Operation Successor (By Alexander Gentelev, Channel 1, Israel), about the 2008 presidential elections in Russia.

For years as an investigative journalist (Haaretz newspaper) she covered many of the ills of Israeli society and directed investigative stories for Israeli channels.

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For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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Avi and I talked about his brilliant and beautiful new film Past Life, and letting go, about justice, pessimism and why he believes we need to "let life take over."

For more information about Past Life(IMDB) and TIFF.

Synopsis

In the fascinating new film from director Avi Nesher (The Wonders), two Israeli sisters delve into the dark mystery of their father's former life in Poland during World War II.

The newest film by Avi Nesher boldly charts dangerous emotional territory as it tells of two sisters trying to uncover their family's past.

It is 1977, and talented but introspective singer Sephi Milch (Joy Rieger) is singing with her choir in a Berlin concert hall. At the reception afterwards, Sephi is shocked when an older woman, upon hearing Sephi's name, hisses "murderer." The woman is immediately hustled away by her son, but the incident haunts Sephi, and when she returns home to Tel Aviv, she shares the story with her older sister, Nana (Nelly Tagar). A fiery tabloid journalist with a political bent, Nana immediately wants to investigate.

Sephi relates the incident to her parents, too -- and it causes an uproar, with her authoritarian father finally confessing that he had another name and life in Poland during the Second World War. But Nana is unwilling to accept their father's tale of survival and loss at face value. The search for the truth of their family's past raises almost-unbearable questions for the sisters: is our father who he says he is? If he's not, who is the man who raised us? And will we bear the spiritual weight of his troubled past?

The story is fascinating right up to its last revelations, and the performances keep us engaged from the first frame. A familial detective story about family, secrets, and identity, Past Life will occupy thoughts and conversations long after the credits roll.

Biography

Avi Nesher studied international relations at Columbia University. His films include The Troupe (1979), She (1982), Timebomb (1991), Turn Left at the End of the World (2004), The Secrets (07), The Matchmaker (2010), and The Wonders (2013), the latter three of which screened at TIFF.

For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Listen as Jay covers a whole lot of ground talking philosophy, creativity and how magicians have lost their way. Find out why he believes sleight of hand magic is about Bending The Real.

www.jaysankey.com

Jay was born in 1963, in Montreal, Canada and moved to Toronto with his family shortly thereafter. He was given a magic set for his 11th birthday and soon began experimenting with sleight of hand at the age of 14. In 1980, he launched “Sankey Magic” and at the rebellious age of 17 invented his very first marketed trick, entitled “Smash.” Jay has worked as a consultant for many of today’s most popular magicians, including David Copperfield,Criss Angel and David Blaine.

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Prof. Alexander Hinton of Rutgers University and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new book Man or Monster: The Trial of a Khmer Rouge Torturer, genocide, evil and the “sin of not seeing.”

You can get his new book and others here below.

Man or Monster

Why Did They Kill

Colonial Genocide

Hidden Genocide

Biography

Alexander Hinton is Director of the Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights and Professor of Anthropology and Global Affairs at Rutgers University, Newark. He is also a past President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (2011-13) and holds the UNESCO Chair in Genocide Prevention.

He serves as an Academic Advisor to the Documentation Center of Cambodia, on the International Advisory Boards of journals such as the Genocide Studies and Prevention, Journal of Genocide Research, and Journal of Perpretrator Research, and as co-editor of the CGHR-Rutgers University Press book series, "Genocide, Political Violence, Human Rights". 

In 2009, Alex Hinton received the Robert B. Textor and Family Prize for Excellence in Anticipatory Anthropology "for his ground-breaking 2005 ethnography Why Did They Kill? Cambodia in the Shadow of Genocide, for path-breaking work in the anthropology of genocide, and for developing a distinctively anthropological approach to genocide."

Professor Hinton was a Member (2011-12) and Visitor (2012-13) at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Professor Hinton served as an expert witness at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in 2016. He has lectured across the globe about genocide, atrocity crimes, justice, and the aftermaths of mass violence.

He is the author of the award winning: Why Did They Kill? Cambodia in the Shadow of Genocide and nine edited or co-edited collections, Colonial Genocide in Indigenous North America, Mass Violence: Memory, Symptom, and Response, Hidden Genocide: Power, Knowledge, Memory, Transitional Justice: Global Mechanisms and Local Realities after Genocide and Mass Violence, Genocide: Truth, Memory, and Representation, Night of the Khmer Rouge: Genocide and Democracy in Cambodia, Annihilating Difference: The Anthropology of Genocide, Genocide: An Anthropological Reader, and Bio Cultural Approaches to the Emotions.

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For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Image Copyright: Alexander Hinton. Used with permission.

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Sherwin Haji and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new film The Other Side of Hope, immigration, voice and identity, fear of the other, history, memory and the extreme right wing.

Biography

Sherwan Haji (born 1985) plays the role of Khaled, a Syrian refugee. Haji, who came to Finland from Syria in 2010, graduated from Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus in 2008.

Haji acted in several TV series in Syria and continued his studies in Cambridge School of Art – Anglia Ruskin University in 2015, graduating last year with a Master of Arts degree.

Since 2012 Haji has, in addition to acting, also written and directed several short films and video installations for Lion’s Line, his production company. This is Haji’s first main role in a feature film. The film’s soundtrack also includes music performed by Haji on saz, a traditional stringed instrument.

Synopsis

The film consists of two stories that by chance intersect at the forty-minute mark. The first one is about Khaled, a young Syrian refugee who has lost virtually all of his family. Almost by accident, he drifts to Helsinki as a stowaway passenger on a collier to seek asylum without great hopes for his future life. Wikström, the other protagonist, is a travelling salesman of about fifty (representing mainly men’s shirts and ties). In the beginning of the film he leaves his alcoholic wife and his profession and turns momentarily into a poker shark. With the small amount of money he thus gains he then buys an unprofitable restaurant at the far end of an inner court along a back street in Helsinki.

When the authorities decide to return Khaled to the ruins of Aleppo he, just like many others, decides to stay illegally in the country and disappears into the streets of Helsinki. There he meets, besides various types of racism, also pure kindness. Finally Wikström finds our fellow sleeping in the inner yard of his restaurant. Perhaps he sees something of himself in the battered man because he hires Khaled as a cleaner and a dishwasher. For a moment life shows us its sunnier side, but fate soon intervenes and the film concludes with an open ending leading either to a respectable life or to the cemetery. For a person driven into a corner, both have their merits.

Trailer

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For more information about David Peck's podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here or check out the site of his podcast on film, social change and much more.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Image Copyright: Sputnik Oy and Aki Kaurismäki. Used with permission.

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Join Jason as he tells us why he acts, what’s important in his life and why stories make all the difference.

Part storyteller, part creative catalyst—Jason works extensively as an actor, producer, filmmaker and communication coach.

For the past 15 years, Jason has partnered with theatre and film companies, organizations and educational institutions as an artist/coach around the world. He is most recognized for his acclaimed solo performances: BLUE LIKE JAZZ // LIVE (based on Donald Miller’s New York Times best-selling book of the same name), THE PRODIGAL TRILOGY, LIFE OF DAVID and KINGDOM OF HEROD.

Along with touring his solo repertoire, Jason is currently acting in a Canadian touring production of the hilarious and poignant two-man show FISH EYES. FE is produced under the umbrella of the newly formed Canadian national theatre company The Arts Engine.

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Chandler, Jesse and Face2Face host David Peck talk about their new film We Forgot to Break Up, identity, memory and sexuality, anger, selfishness, relationships, and the messiness of intimate friendships.

Biography

Chandler Levack is an award-winning writer and director. After being selected for a screenwriting seminar at the University of Toronto taught by Semi Chellas (Mad Men) and Patricia Rozema (Grey Gardens, Into the Forest), she wrote the coming-of-age comedy Felt Up, based on an article written for her college newspaper where she investigated the world of professional pickup artists. A music journalist for SPIN and The Village Voice whose writing has been nominated for multiple National Magazine Awards, Chandler transitioned into filmmaking after graduating from the CFC Writer’s Lab in 2012, where she wrote the short film Lunchbox Loser, which has screened at festivals world-wide including the Portland Women’s Festival, Cannes Short Film Corner, Canadian Film Festival, and the Lahore International Children’s Festival.

Jesse Todd “Evan” is a new actor whose first lead role was as Evan Strocker in the short film We Forgot to Break Up. Jesse also appeared in the film Cave Small Cave Big by Joele Walinga. He has done a number of live comedy performances including Feminist Live Reads Presents: Mean Girls, and Toronto Pride 2016 Stand Up Comedy programming.

Synopsis

We Forgot to Break Up reflects the heartache in encountering the people from your past, while the song remains the same. In this backstage drama, directed by Chandler Levack, written by Levack and Steven McCarthy, and produced by Nicole Hilliard-Forde and Matt Hilliard-Forde of Motel Pictures, Evan Strocker (Jesse Todd) returns to see the band he used to manage after a painful three-year hiatus.

Times have changed and the band members of Heidegger have gravitated towards lives in Los Angeles and as new parents. Evan has also undergone a radical change, now proudly living as a trans man. As he encounters each members of the band moments before their sold out show, he'll find a way forward towards self acceptance and love, especially as he encounters his ex boyfriend Lugh.

Adapted from Kayt Burgess' novel Heidegger Stairwell (winner of the 3-Day Writing contest), the film makes new myths out of Canada's indie rock heritage with raw humour and a landmark performance from trans newcomer Jesse Todd.

Trailer

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For more information about David Peck's podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here or check out the site of his podcast on film, social change and much more.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Image Copyright: Motel Pictures Inc and Chandler Levack. Used with permission.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matthew Shoycet, Ricki Gurwitz and David Peck talk about their new film The Accountant of Auschwitz, guilt, complicity, brainwashing and where one draws moral versus legal lines.

Synopsis

In the sleepy town of Luneberg, Germany, most days are quiet and uneventful. But one morning in September 2014, a 93 year-old man was charged with accessory to murder...of 300,000 people.

Seventy years earlier, Oskar Gröning was an accountant at Auschwitz, the infamous concentration camp where more than 1 million people were murdered by the Nazis. As men, women and children spilled out from overcrowded trains, Gröning’s job was to catalogue their valuables – belongings, he said, “they no longer needed”.

After the war, Germany had little interest in prosecuting its own and the vast majority of perpetrators went unpunished. With a shift in legal thinking, Germany is now using a wider net to go after SS guards, complicit cogs in Hitler’s killing machine. But by now, most have either died or are too sick to face prosecution. Oskar Gröning, however, is alive and healthy and deemed fit to stand trial.

The Accountant of Auschwitz is a compelling look at the race against time to prosecute the last living Nazi war criminals. The film features interviews with key players from the post-war trials and with Auschwitz survivors, sent to the camp as children, who testified at Gröning’s trial. As we witness this final chapter of the Nazi war trials, The Accountant of Auschwitz asks if it’s too little, too late or if it sends a powerful message to future generations. Is Oskar Gröning an accomplice to the biggest mass murder in history, or is Germany going after him to make up for the mistakes of its past?

Biography

Matthew Shoychet is a Toronto-based filmmaker.  He has worked in the narrative and documentary world of short films for many years.  As a co-founder of the production company Shoy Pictures, he has been able to explore various genres and projects in storytelling, advertising, charity work, and most recently Holocaust education. He is a graduate of York University's Film Production BFA, as well as Sheridan College's post-graduate in Advanced Television and Film.  

In 2013, he worked with acclaimed Canadian director Bruce McDonald on the video instalments for the musical concert Tumbling Into Light,  by The Flying Bulgars.  Shorts directed by Matthew include, Red Ether, (2011), Faker Chaser, (2012), Patrick: Evil Awakens, (2014) and Anne Frank: 70 Years Later, (2015). His newest project, The Accountant of Auschwitz, is his feature film debut. 

Ricki Gurwitz is a former producer at CTV News Channel. She started her career in New York, where she was a producer at WABC News Talk Radio. She moved back to Toronto in 2009 where she took over the production of the The Bill Carroll Show and The Jerry Agar Show on Newstalk 1010.

In 2011, Ricki made the switch to television, joining CTV News Channel as a segment and associate producer, working with reporters in the field to package news stories, and in the newsroom to cover the headlines of the day.

In 2015 Ricki left CTV to produce The Accountant of Auschwitz, her first feature documentary.

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Image Copyright: Matthew Shoycet and Ricki Gurwitz. Used with permission.

For more information about David Peck's podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michèle Hozer and Carlyn Moulton and Face2Face host David Peck talk about their new film Sponsorland, Syria, new Canadians, the power of community, banding together, having a can do attitude and why a family should be able to fit into a mini-van. 

Biography

With two films on the Oscar shortlist (Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould, Promise to The Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman), Emmy-nominated (Promise to The Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman) and Gemini-winning (Genius Within) Michèle Hozer has been working as a filmmaker and editor in Canada since 1987. 

To date, she has worked on more than 50 documentaries that have received accolades from the world’s most prestigious film festivals, including the Sundance Film festival (Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire) and IDFA (West Wind The Vision of Tom Thompson) in Amsterdam. 

In 2015 Michele completed Sugar Coated, her first solo feature length documentary as director, editor, and producer. 

The doc was honoured with The Donald Brittain Award for Best Social and Political Documentary at the 2016 CSA’s and is presently available on Netflix.

Synopsis

Directed by award-winning filmmaker Michèle Hozer (Sugar Coated), SponsorLand follows the day to day lives of a Syrian refugee family brought to Canada in the fall of 2015 by PEC Syria, a private sponsor group in Prince Edward County.

SponsorLand is a thoughtful, intimate take on the dynamic between newcomers to Canada and their sponsors who commit money, emotional and sweat equity to support resettlement and the family who while grateful, wonder what they have to sacrifice to fit in.

Trailer

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For more information about David Peck's podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here or check out the site of his podcast on film, social change and much more.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Image Copyright: TVO and The Cutting Factory. Used with permission.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wendy talks about shame, guilt, principled pluralism and the walking wounded. She considers how many of us have been socialized to feel disgust for the other and touch on how secrets breed toxicity and ultimately cover up truth and justice.

Biography

Wendy Gritter, M.Div, D.Min cand. is the author of, “Generous Spaciousness: Responding to Gay Christians in the Church.” She has served as executive director of New Direction Ministries since 2002 and is committed to cultivating generous spaces in Christian community where LGBTQ+ people can explore and grow in faith in Christ.

Wendy is married 20 years, a proud mom to three teens and three puppies, enjoys playing strategic board games, and talking films with other movie buffs.

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Gerry Flahive and Face2Face host David Peck talk about secrets, story, the “D” word, why he’s a 2001 fanatic and how a “real life” can be intimidating.

Biography

Gerry Flahive is a Toronto-based writer, producer and creative consultant at his media arts company, Modern Story. Until May 2014, Flahive was Senior Producer at the National Film Board of Canada, which he joined in 1981. He has done creative and storytelling consulting, strategic planning, course development and speechwriting for clients, including the Toronto Maple Leafs, Cirque de Soleil, Telefilm Canada, MaRS, TVOntario, Humber College and Giants of Africa. His productions have won many international awards including 2 Emmy Awards, a World Press Photo Award and a Peabody Award for HIGHRISE (highrise.nfb.ca), a global interactive documentary. He produced & co-produced more than 80 documentary projects on a wide range of subjects. Major projects include the international co-production PARIS 1919, the ground-breaking Filmmaker-in-Residence multi-media project at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, the NFB-Canadian Film Centre Feature Documentary Program, and short films for the Governor-General’s Performing Arts Awards, working with such recipients as Bryan Adams and Rush. In the early 1990's, as Senior Communications Manager, he managed NFB involvement in the Oscars and the Sundance Film Festival, as well as corporate communications and corporate branding. Flahive is a frequent contributor to the Globe and Mail and has been published in Time, The New York Times and The Walrus, and many media industry publications, and is a National Magazine Award nominee for humour. He is a member of the boards of the Pages Unbound literary festival, the Toronto Irish Film Festival and the Seneca College Documentary Film Institute, and was on the Advisory Board for the MIT Open Documentary Lab report "Interactive Documentary and Digital Journalism".  He has been a guest speaker, presenter and mentor at many international events and institutions, including MIT, the I-Docs Lab in Switzerland, the MEDIMED Documentary conference in Barcelona, and the New York Film Festival.

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For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Erika and Face2Face host David Peck talk about Shari’a law, gender justice, and life for women in the Middle East, education, power, politics and storytelling.

Biography

Erika Cohn has received numerous accolades for her work, including a Director’s Guild of America award for her film, When the Voices Fade, a narrative profile of the Lebanese-Israeli war of 2006. Erika co-directed/produced, In Football We Trust, an Emmy nominated, feature documentary about the unique faith and culture that ultimately drives young Pacific Islander men into the NFL, which premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and was broadcast on PBS’ 2016 Independent Lens series. Most recently, Erika completed The Judge, a film about the first woman judge to be appointed to the Middle East’s Shari’a courts, which will premiere at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival and broadcast on PBS’ 2018 Independent Lens series. Her work has been supported by IFP, the Sundance Institute, Tribeca Institute, Hot Docs, Sheffield, ITVS, Women in Film, BAVC and the CPB Producer’s Academy among others.

Erika grew up attending the Sundance Film Festival as a native Utahn, where she first began her career. In 2008, Erika traveled to Cambodia where she shot Giant Steps, a documentary about the restitution of art after the Khmer Rouge rule, which aired on PBS. Later that year she directed La Guerrera, a narrative short about a young girl in Mexico pursuing her dreams to become a professional soccer player, which premiered at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival. In 2010, Erika associate produced the six-part Frontline/American Experience historical series, God in America, which explored the intersection of religion and public life in America. Erika has been a featured panelist/speaker at various film festivals and university conferences and mentors youth filmmakers across the globe. She studied at Chapman University (California) and Hebrew University (Jerusalem) and has degrees in Film Production, Middle Eastern Studies, and Acting Performance. In 2013, Erika founded Idle Wild Films, Inc., which has released three feature documentaries and produced numerous branded content and commercial spots, including Gatorade’s Win from Within series, for which she received a 2016 Webby award nomination. Erika is also an avid photographer and served as a U.S. Ambassadorial Film Scholar to Israel/Palestine.

Synopsis

The Judge provides rare insight into Shari’a law, an often misunderstood legal framework for Muslims, told through the eyes of the first woman judge to be appointed to the Middle East’s religious courts. When she was a young lawyer, Kholoud Al-Faqih walked into the office of Palestine’s Chief Justice and announced she wanted to join the bench.

He laughed at her. But just a few years later, Kholoud became the first woman judge in the Shari’a courts. THE JUDGE offers a unique portrait of Kholoud—her brave journey as a lawyer, her tireless fight for justice for women, and her drop-in visits with clients, friends, and family. In the process, the film illuminates some of the universal conflicts in the domestic life of Palestine—custody of children, divorce, abuse—while offering an unvarnished look at life for women under Shari’a law.

Trailer

More about the film here.

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For more information about David Peck's podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here or check out the site of his podcast on film, social change and much more.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Image Copyright: Erika Cohn and Three Judges LLC. Used with permission.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join us for a lively chat about leadership, community wellbeing and why we should care, why democracy matters and why we need to leave the planet in a better place than how we found it.

Biography

David Miller is President and CEO of World Wildlife Fund – Canada, Canada’s foremost conservation organization. The WWF creates solutions to the most serious conservation challenges facing our planet, helping people and nature thrive.

David Miller was Mayor of Toronto from 2003 to 2010 and Chair of the influential C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group from 2008 – 2010. Under his leadership, Toronto became widely admired internationally for its environmental leadership, economic strength and social integration. He is a leading advocate for the creation of sustainable urban economies, and a strong and forceful champion for the next generation of jobs through sustainability.

Mr. Miller has held a variety of public and private positions and university affiliations. He is currently an adjunct Professor at York University and a member of the Board of Directors for Centennial College. In his former capacity as Counsel, International Business & Sustainability at Aird & Berlis LLP, Mr. Miller advised companies and international organizations on issues surrounding the creation of sustainable urban economies.

David Miller is a Harvard trained economist and professionally a lawyer. He and his wife, lawyer Jill Arthur, are the parents of two children.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shasha and I talk about her new film Take Light, the power crisis in Nigeria, poverty, corruption, Illegal electricians, suffering and smiling, hope and the legacy of colonialism.

Watch the Trailer here.

Synopsis

Over 50 per cent of Nigeria's nearly 200 million citizens don't have access to electricity. For Africa's largest energy producer and most populous nation, that number is shocking. Those dependent on the unreliable grid are limited to a few hours of power a day at best. Taking matters into their own hands, many households illegally and dangerously wire their homes by tampering with transformers.

While a bungling bureaucracy attempts to privatize the electrical system, an electrician risks his life on power poles, trying to provide for his daughter's education. His colleague in customer service has the more difficult task of going door to door collecting fees from disgruntled customers.

The problems are complex and systemic, but director Shasha Nakhai delicately balances the big picture of a country trying to advance its development with the compelling stories of blue-collar workers attempting to make better lives for their families. 

Biography

Shasha Nakhai is a filmmaker based out of Toronto with Compy Films and Storyline Entertainment. Her award-winning films have screened at festivals and aired on TV worldwide, been released on iTunes, gone viral and been awarded Vimeo Staff Pick and Short of the Week. Her last film with partner Rich Williamson, Frame 394, was shortlisted for the 2017 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short and was part of the CBC’s new Digital Doc Shorts initiative. It had its world premiere at the 2016 Hot Docs Film Festival, and went on to win Best Canadian Short at NorthwestFest, Best Documentary Short at the Rhode Island Int’l Film Festival, Best Documentary Short at the Sidewalk Film Festival, the Audience Award for Best Documentary Short at the New Orleans Film Festival, and Best Documentary at the Charleston Film Festival. It was named one of TIFF’s Top 10 Films of 2016, and was nominated for 2 Canadian Screen Awards.

Shasha was 1 of 8 emerging producers selected for the DOC Institute’s Breakthrough Program in 2015, and was awarded Telefilm Canada’s Pay It Forward Prize as part of the Hot Docs Film Festival’s Don Haig Award.

Take Light is her first feature documentary. She also has a deep love for interactive storytelling, working as a brand ambassador for PlayStation for 8 years, and having been selected as the inaugural recipient of WIFT's Ubisoft Toronto Producer Mentorship program. She recently collaborated with DimensionGate on her first virtual reality project, Take Light VR.

Having graduated from Ryerson University's Broadcast Journalism program, Shasha was born in the Philippines, grew up in Nigeria and came to Canada as an international student in 2003

To learn more about the film visit the site here.

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Image Copyright: Storyline and Shasha Nakhai. Used with permission.

For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mor Loushy, Daniel Sivan and David Peck talk about The Oslo Diaries, secret meetings, common languages, enemies as friends, land disputes and what we’re leaving behind for our children.

Synopsis

In 1992, with Israeli-Palestinian relations at an all-time low and any communication punishable with jail time, a small group of Israelis and Palestinians gathered in Oslo – secretly and against the law. Although the meetings that came to be known as The Oslo Accords changed the Middle East forever, they were never officially sanctioned and were chronicled only by the negotiators' diaries.

In The Oslo Diaries, directors Mor Loushy and Daniel Sivan (Censored Voices, Sundance 2015) bring us a riveting account of 1100 days of secret talks as told by the people who were there at the table.  The participants’ detailed and often emotional entries recount the political intrigue, fiery rhetoric, unlikely friendships, and overwhelming desire for peace that were the heart of the negotiations.

Featuring never-before-seen footage and exclusive interviews with key players - including the last on-camera conversation with former Israeli president Shimon Peres - the film recounts a geopolitical story, with a narrative voice that is personal and philosophical. Although politics ultimately doomed The Oslo Accords, the story’s end for the people of Israel and Palestine remains unwritten.

Watch the trailer here.

Biography

Mor Loushy is an award-winning Israeli director. Her debut film, Israel Ltd (2009), premiered at IDFA and was broadcast worldwide. Her latest documentary, Censored Voices (2015), won an Ophir Award for best documentary. Censored Voices premiered at Sundance Film Festival and screened at BFI London and IDFA and released theatrically worldwide.

Daniel Sivan is an award-winning Israeli director/producer known for his critical social-political documentaries. His works include Censored Voices (Sundance, Berlinale, BFI), Offside (Tribeca, IDFA), and The Patriot. He recently edited Death in the Terminal (executive produced by Mark Boal and Megan Ellison)—winner of an Ophir Award and a Hot Docs best mid-length documentary award.

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Image Copyright: Mor Loushy and Daniel Sivan. Used with permission.

For more information about David Peck's podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Erin speaks passionately today about landmines, cluster munitions and why Canadians have played such a significant role in the campaign against these “indiscriminate inhumane weapons”, why

she thinks this problem is 100% solvable and a new kind of diplomacy.

Biography

Since 2003, Erin has been involved in Canadian efforts to ban landmines and cluster munitions and to raise awareness of the rights of survivors to meet their needs while working as a volunteer, an intern, a youth campaigner and a Program Officer.

Originally from Victoria, BC, she holds an M.A. in Human Security from Royal Roads University and has been involved in campaigns to ban landmines and cluster munitions since 2003. 

She is currently the Program Coordinator for Mines Action Canada and a member of the Monitor Victim Assistance team.

Previously, she worked on victim assistance programs in Uganda, youth peace building projects and in child welfare services. Erin has a master’s degree in Human Security and Peace building from Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia. 

You can follow her on Twitter @erinlynnhunt

Read more from Erin here about Cluster munitions and the work she does here.

Read more about explosive landmines and investment.

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For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck talk about their fascinating and important new film The Cleaners, censorship, the new digital public, content moderators, and what it means to outsource responsibility.

Watch the Trailer here.

Synopsis

Enter a hidden third world shadow industry of digital cleaning, where the Internet rids itself of what it doesn't like. Here we meet five “digital scavengers” among thousands of people outsourced from Silicon Valley whose job is to delete “inappropriate” content off the net. In a parallel struggle, we meet people around the globe whose lives are dramatically affected by online censorship. A typical “cleaner” must observe and rate thousands of often deeply disturbing images and videos every day, leading to lasting psychological impacts.

Yet underneath their work lies profound questions around what makes an image art or propaganda and what defines journalism. Where exactly is the point of balance for social media to be neither an unlegislated space nor a forum rife with censorship?

The Cleaners struggles to come to terms with this new and disconcerting paradigm. Evolving from a shared social vision of a global village to a web of fake news and radicalization, the film charts the rise and fall of social media’s utopian ideology.

Biography

HANS BLOCK - Director Hans Block is a German theater director, filmmaker and musician. He studied music at the University of Arts in Berlin and theater directing at Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin. In 2014, Block became resident director and member of the Artistic Direction of the Box at Schauspiel Frankfurt. Productions there included “Mysterien – Unberechenbar werden” by Knut Hamsun, “Aufzeichnungen aus dem Kellerloch” by Fjodor Dostojewski and “Flankufuroto” by Bonn Park.

In 2014, he was invited to the festival “Radikal Jung“ at the Münchner Volkstheater with his production “Austrian Psycho,” which was awarded the Best Production Prize of the festival. His radio drama production “Don Don Don Quijote - Attackéee“ was awarded as best production of Prix Marulić 2015.

MORITZ RIESEWIECK – Director Moritz Riesewieck is a German essay author, scriptwriter, theater- and film director. He studied theater directing at Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin. Before he studied some semesters of Economics as a fellow of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation and worked as assistant director at Schaubuehne am Lehniner Platz in Berlin.

In 2014 he staged the piece “Woyzeck” by Georg Buechner in Mexico City. His Spanish/ German graduation production was invited to renowned Heidelberg Play Market. In 2016 Moritz Riesewieck was granted the state of Berlin’s Elsa Neumann Scholarship for his innovative theater works which were shown at festivals in Berlin and Hamburg and most recently at Theater Dortmund.

In the same year Riesewieck presented a lecture performance about digital cleansing at re:publica Berlin and at Berliner Theatertreffen. His essay “Digital Dirt Work” was published by German publishing house dtv in September 2017. Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck work collaboratively under the label “Laokoon,” named after the legendary Trojan seer who revealed the Trojan Horse as a dangerous fraud.

In their works Riesewieck and Block aim to reveal the Trojan horses of our time. Their projects, which they develop in various media forms, start with investigations and end up as striking, complex narrations.

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Image Copyright: Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion and Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck. Used with permission.

For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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Brian O’Malley and Face2Face host David Peck talk about ghosts, fear, love, freedom, choice and responsibility, Gothic overtones in life, art, sculpture and psychological horror.

Biography

Before moving into Directing, Brian studied Sculpture in the DIT School of Fine Art. Whilst there his fascination with the exploration of three-dimensional space inevitably led to him picking up a video camera and creating his first experimental short films. Through these experiments, he discovered visual directors like Sergio Leone and Martin Scorsese, and his desire to be a highly visual commercial film director was born.

His video work in college got the attention of his fellow students and before long he was making no-budget music videos for college bands. He considered abandoning art school in favour of film school, however, he felt compelled to complete his studies. After leaving college Brian worked internationally as a snow, ice and sand sculptor, taking part in many international competitions and creating sculptures on a corporate level. By this stage, cinema had bitten Brian hard, and he returned to making music videos in order to develop his skills further as a director.

After winning national awards for his work, he began to direct music videos with bigger budgets for EMI records. From here Brian turned his attention to world of TV commercials, where he has enjoyed a successful career since 2001, directing several Golden Lion, Shark and ICAD award-winning TV campaigns. Despite this commercial success, Brian’s love of music, design, art, sculpture, and storytelling - and how all of these art forms could be explored in parallel through cinema - meant that Brian’s focus remained on directing feature films.

In 2004 Brian’s short film Screwback won a BAFTA certificate at the Aspen Film Festival, and in 2005 he was awarded the Hartley Merrill screenwriting Award at Cannes for his unproduced feature film screenplay Sisk. After a number of false starts, Brian’s persistence meant he got the opportunity to direct his debut feature film with Let Us Prey winning the Méliès d’Argent award for its world premiere at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival in 2014.

Synopsis

A gothic ghost story about orphaned twins Edward and Rachel who share a crumbling manor in 1920s rural Ireland - but they are not alone. They share the house with unseen entities who control them with three absolute rules. As separate fates draw them apart, the twins must face the terrible truth about their family’s ghostly tormentors.

Trailer

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For more information about David Peck's podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here or check out the site of his podcast on film, social change and much more.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Image Copyright: Brian O’Malley and Tailored Films. Used with permission.

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Chris and Face2Face host David Peck talk about engaged Buddhism, Cambodia, power and politics, photographs as symbols and hope.

Trailer

Synopsis

Fading from black, the frame fills with the image of a rice field, leaves of grass billow in the wind. Cut to construction along the Mekong river in the capital Phnom Penh. On the soundtrack the metronome of steel girders being pushed deep into the ground keeps time. In the foreground a young man prepares to cast his fishing net into the river as an old sampan fishing boat chugs by.

In the background a new bridge is under construction, the sound of which marks the unsteady pace of progress in Cambodia. The film is an intimate portrait of three Cambodian’s involved in forced evictions. We meet the characters at the very beginning of their journey, unsure of themselves and unaware of where they will end up after years of protests against their government.

Biography

Chris is an award-winning video journalist and documentary filmmaker and the founder of Little Ease Films. He has spent the last nine years making his first feature documentary ‘A Cambodian Spring’.

He is a regular contributor to the Guardian newspaper and in 2014 produced an award-winning undercover investigation into slavery in the Thai fishing industry.

His work has taken him as far afield as South Sudan, Burma, the Philippines, Laos and Thailand.

He is currently developing an animated feature film about slavery in the Thai fishing industry, a feature documentary about a young Irish man who went to fight Assad in Syria and a Virtual Reality computer game about slavery and migration.

More about Chris Kelly here.

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For more information about David Peck's podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here or check out the site of his podcast on film, social change and much more.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Image Copyright: Eye Steel Films and Chris Kelly. Used with permission.

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International wine judge, oenophile and self-confessed foodie, Steven Elphick, expresses his lifelong passions through the photographic lens. As the exclusive photographer for Spectacular Wineries of Ontario, published by Panache, Steven takes you on a captivating photographic journey through Ontario Wine Country, where vineyards flourish in picturesque settings and winemaker’s dreams are born.

Steve’s images are widely published in books, magazines and advertisements worldwide. A contributor to shows at the Royal Ontario Museum and the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, he was also the sole photographer for The Wine Atlas of Canada, Random House, a collaboration with one of the world’s most recognized wine authorities, Tony Aspler.

Listen in as Steven waxes poetic on a number of topics and reminds us how the simple act of developing a keen palate and a sense of curiosity is essential to living well.

stevenelphick.com

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Listen in as these two ground breaking film makers talk about their experience making this touching, compelling, poetic and deeply tragic film. It’s a story about Syria made by 1001 images says Ossama. Check out the trailer.

Biographies Ossama Mohammed was born in Latakia, Syria – his debut short film, Khutwa Khutwa, screened in Berlin. His narrative features include Stars in Broad Daylight and The Box of Life. Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait is his Festival debut.

Wiam Simav Bedirxan is a Kurdish documentary filmmaker based in Homs, Syria. Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait is her debut film.

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Baxter and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new book Patmos, burned out suicidal theologians, the Incarnation, lies about ourselves and the “reconstruction of our fallen minds.”

Biography

Dr. C. Baxter Kruger, theologian, writer [and fishing lure designer] is the Director of Perichoresis Ministries. Baxter is a native of Prentiss, Mississippi.

He and his wife Beth have been married for 30 years and have 4 children. A life long student of psychology, Baxter has degrees in political science, divinity, and earned his PhD.from Kings College, Aberdeen University in Aberdeen, Scotland under Professor James B. Torrance.

He is the author of 8 books, including The Great Dance, Jesus and the Undoing of Adam and Across All Worlds, and recently the international bestseller, The Shack Revisited. He teaches around the world.

He is an avid outdoorsman and holds two United States patents for his fishing lure designs. He is also the founder and President of Mediator Lures.

Find out more about him here.

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For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join Kalyanee and I today as she talks about her love for Cambodia and the environment, about “us” as the centre of the ripple, the universal nature to stories and why as a film director she feels that we need to “touch and feel” to get a better understanding of the world we live in.

Biography

KALYANEE MAM (DIRECTOR, PRODUCER, & CINEMATOGRAPHER) Award-winning filmmaker, lawyer, and born storyteller, Kalyanee Mam, is committed to combining her passion for art and advocacy to tell compelling and universal stories. Born in Battambang, Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge Regime, she and her family fled to the refugee camps at the Thai-Cambodian border and eventually immigrated to the United States in 1981. Even to this day her mother recounts stories of their flight through jungles laden with land mines. These stories and many others inspired Kalyanee to return to her native homeland and to make films about atrocities occurring in Cambodia even today.

Most recently, Kalyanee directed, produced and shot A River Changes Course, winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and the Golden Gate Award for Best Feature Documentary at the San Francisco International Film Festival, and which charts the radical changes in Cambodia today that are transforming not only the country’s landscape – but also the dreams of its people. Kalyanee has also worked on 2011 Oscar-winning documentary, Inside Job (Cinematographer, Associate Producer, and Researcher) about the global financial crisis and documentary short Between Earth & Sky (Director, Producer, Cinematographer) about three young Iraqi refugee artists living in Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. A graduate of Yale University and UCLA Law School, Kalyanee has also worked as a legal consultant in Mozambique and Iraq.

Read more about her work here at: The Pulitzer Center, The New York Times, ariverchangescourse.com and her new Facebook site, Fight for Areng Valley.

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Zehra is a passionate about what she does. Listen in as she talks about how she didn’t go to school to learn about her take on local and global change, how she launched her entrepreneurial and socially innovativeStudio 89, and what she’s doing to bring together the for profit and not for profit business models.

Biography

Zehra Abbas is the Founder and Executive Director of YTGA (Youth Troopers for Global Awareness), a youth led non-profit organization mobilizing and empowering young people for domestic and international social justice through campaigns, workshops and the arts.

Zehra and the YTGA team have recently launched a social enterprise in Mississauga called Studio.89, part fair-trade cafe and part artademic resource centre. The cafe encourages ethical and healthy consumerism while hosting numerous community events and initiatives. The artademic centre offers arts, academic and lifestyle workshops as well as free resources and entrepreneurial opportunities.

Zehra and her team have combined their multi-faceted talents to create the unique and dynamic Studio.89 model which facilitates both local and global action. As an experienced member of the non- profit sector, Zehra has campaigned to Stop the Sexual Exploitation of Children in Canada, volunteered for the War Against Rape in Pakistan, and worked with the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture.

For more information about Studio 89.

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Tarique Qayumi and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new film Black Kite, Afghanistan, the Taliban, anarchism and freedom, hope and how kite flying is a lot like playing a video game.

Biography

Tarique Qayumi was born in Afghanistan and came to Canada as a refugee in 1983.

He attended the Creative Writing Program at the University of British Columbia and graduate school at UCLA, where he completed his Screenwriting MFA and developed a strong interest in directing.

 After graduating in 2010, Qayumi was approached by TOLO TV, the largest television station in Afghanistan, to direct a docudrama series. Driven by two objectives-- to get in touch with his roots and to create Afghan-centered stories--Qayumi made the difficult decision to return to Afghanistan.

 While in Afghanistan from 2011 to 2015 he wrote, directed and produced Truth Unveiled, a sixteen part half-hour docudrama series; The Defenders, a six-hour drama miniseries; as well as Afghan Sesame Street, fifty half-hour episodes. During

this time, he also directed his first feature film, Targeting in Los Angeles, a psychological-thriller about a female American soldier who returns home from war. Upon returning to Vancouver, Tarique was one of five chosen from across Canada for the NSI Corus Diverse TV Directing Program.

Synopsis

Most Westerners’ knowledge of Afghanistan begins and ends with the Taliban. Tarique Qayumi’s Black Kite masterfully and succinctly recognizes a far richer and vastly more complicated history. Far from focusing on men on horseback or the privileged, Black Kite examines the impact of history on one family: how they quietly defy it and get swept up in it.

Steve Gravestock, TIFF Programmer

Trailer

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For more information about David Peck's podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here or check out the site of his podcast on film, social change and much more.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Image Copyright: . Used with permission.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Listen today to the interview with one of my favourite people in the field of social justice, innovation and change. Hear what he has to say about perseverance, measuring the little things and structural violence and why he believes money can be dangerous.

Biography

Veteran civil society organization executive director skilled in CSO capacity building. Retired Executive Director of the John Howard Society of Ontario. Currently active in international development and global justice issues.

Instructor: Post Graduate Certificate Program, International Project Management Humber College: Member Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers. Certified Member AAETS in Acute Traumatic Stress Management. Traumatology Institute trained Compassion Fatigue Educator and Treatment Specialist.

Livingworks Institute Certified SafeTALK Trainer by Wallis Balog and graduate of Certificate in Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST), Suicide early intervention, safety plan and referrals.

Guest lecturer in international development, social work, criminal justice and human service administration to various school boards, colleges and universities.

Past President of the Ontario Council for International Cooperation, Past President and current Board Member of Defense for Children International – Canada, Current Deputy Chair of the Zimbabwe Inter Agency Reference Group. Current Board Member of Canadian Feed The Children Canada.

Past Board Treasurer of CUSO. Volunteer with Girl Child Network of Zimbabwe and GCN Worldwide Past Interim Manager of Communications for CUSO.

His areas of expertise include:

1. Organizational -voluntary sector board governance, policy development, strategic and annual planning, participatory program development, monitoring and evaluation, public engagement and sustainable funding.
2. Clinical -secondary traumatic stress identification, prevention, treatment.
3. International -structural violence analysis and reduction. He is the Part Time Program Coordinator for Management Advisory Service (Masadvise.org) in Toronto. Bill’s continuing interest is the integration of the clinical, organizational and political as holistic human development.

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Sam and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new film premiering at TIFF race relations in America, courage and why Sammy Davis Junior was the greatest entertainer of the 20th century.

Biography

Sam Pollard is an accomplished feature film and television video editor, and documentary producer/director whose work spans almost 30 years. His first assignment as a documentary producer came in 1989 for Henry Hampton's Blackside production Eyes On The Prize II: America at the Racial Crossroads. For one of his episodes in this series, he received an Emmy. Eight years later, he returned to Blackside as co-executive producer/producer of Hampton’s last documentary series, I'll Make Me A World: Stories of African-American Artists and Community. For the series, Pollard received a Peabody Award.

Between 1990 and 2010, Pollard edited a number of Spike Lee’s films: Mo' Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Girl 6, Clockers and Bamboozled. Pollard and Lee also co-produced a number of documentary productions for the small and big screen: Spike Lee Presents Mike Tyson, a biographical sketch for HBO for which Pollard received an Emmy; Four Little Girls, a feature-length documentary about the 1963 Birmingham church bombings that was nominated for an Academy Award; and When The Levees Broke, a four-part documentary that won numerous awards, including a Peabody and three Emmy Awards. Five years later, he co-produced and supervised the edit on the follow up to Levees, If God Is Willing And Da Creek Don’t Rise.

Since 2012, Pollard has produced and directed Slavery By Another Name (2012), a 90-minute documentary for PBS that was in competition at the Sundance Film Festival; August Wilson: The Ground On Which I Stand (2015), a 90-minute documentary for American Masters; Two Trains Runnin, (2016), a feature-length documentary that premiered at the Full Frame Film Festival; and The Talk: Race in America (2017) for PBS.

Synopsis

Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me is the first major film documentary to examine Davis’ vast talent and his journey for identity through the shifting tides of civil rights and racial progress during 20th-century America. Sammy Davis, Jr. had the kind of career that was indisputably legendary, so vast and multi-faceted that it was dizzying in its scope and scale. And yet, his life was complex, complicated and contradictory.

Davis strove to achieve the American Dream in a time of racial prejudice and shifting political territory. He was the veteran of increasingly out-dated show business traditions trying to stay relevant; he frequently found himself bracketed by the bigotry of white America and the distaste of black America; he was the most public black figure to embrace Judaism, thereby yoking his identity to another persecuted minority.

Featuring new interviews with such luminaries as Billy Crystal, Norman Lear, Jerry Lewis, Whoopi Goldberg and Kim Novak, with never-before-seen photographs from Davis’ vast personal collection and excerpts from his electric performances in television, film and concert, Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me explores the life and art of a uniquely gifted entertainer whose trajectory blazed across the major flashpoints of American society from the Depression through the 1980s.

Trailer

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For more information about David Peck's podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here or check out the site of his podcast on film, social change and much more.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Image Copyright: Sam Pollard and Thirteen Productions. Used with permission.

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Deepa and Face2Face host David Peck talk about systemic violence, choice and responsibility, inequality, gender disparity, power dynamics and why good parenting matters.

For more information about TIFF go here.

For more information about Deepa’s work here.

IMDB

Synopsis

Anatomy of Violence mixes fiction and fact in an improvised exploration of the events leading up to, and following, the notorious gang rape of a young woman by six men in a moving bus in New Delhi, December 16, 2012.

Twelve actors collaborated with filmmaker Deepa Mehta to imagine what might have driven these men towards such a savage assault. The film also imagines the nature of the young woman’s life, her family, her friends and her hopes and dreams before the fatal attack. “What makes monsters?” is a question that this film stares directly at. It probes and explores where these young men could have come from and what might have motivated them.

They have been called “monsters” but is this a simplistic labeling that relieves society and leaders from the responsibility of looking more deeply?

The film offers no clear answers but opens doors of inquiry which may stimulate further examination into the root causes and complexity of this particular and all too pervasive brutality against women.

Biography

Deepa Mehta is an Oscar-nominated filmmaker whose work is celebrated on an international scale. Her emotionally resonating, award-winning films have played every major film festival, and been sold and distributed around the globe.

She is best known for her Elemental Trilogy: Earth, Fire, Water, the final film of which received an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film. Other films include, Bollywood/Hollywood, Heaven on Earth, and the epic adaptation of Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie’s three-time Booker Prize winning novel.

Her work challenges traditions and stereotypes and is always daring, fearless and provocative. It’s this spirit that saturated her last film, Beeba Boys, and now her latest work, Anatomy of Violence

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For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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Drolkar and I talk about finding happiness in all the wrong places, discipline, meditation, Buddhism and how it’s possible to bike from Toronto to Thailand.

Biography

Drolkar McCallum is the North American regional coordinator for the FPMT, the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition - an international non-profit Buddhist organization. She also works with the ordained Sangha of the FPMT and is a volunteer with the Liberation Prison Project.

Born and raised in Toronto, Drolkar earned a BA from the University of Western Ontario. She has traveled extensively and lived in India, France, Australia, Taiwan and Israel.

A Buddhist since 1995, Drolkar spent seven years as a nun, attended many meditation retreats, and received teachings from many of the great masters including Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the spiritual director of the FPMT, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

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For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Leslea Mair and Face2Face host David Peck talk about her new film Losing Our Religion, trauma, atheism and non-belief, the power of community and preachers who have no faith.

Biography

Leslea Mair is a writer and producer based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She has been the President and CEO of Zoot Pictures Inc. since 1998.

Following completion of her BFA at the University of Regina, Leslea spent a number of years honing her skills as a writer, participating in the PRAXIS writers' workshop in 1992. She joined the Saskatchewan Filmpool Cooperative, serving as president twice. Leslea produced several experimental shorts and directed the experimental documentary Jigsaw, receiving nomination in the Experimental category at the Yorkton International Short Film Festival. She has also written multi-threaded educational multimedia products.

In the field of documentary, Leslea researched and wrote the treatment for Two Gun Cohen in 1999, and wrote A Count's Colony for White Pine Pictures in 2000. In 2001 she produced, researched and wrote Edible Shorts, a series pilot and was the writer/producer on Black Tuesday, an hour-long documentary, in 2003. Leslea wrote and produced Big Business, Big Union, Small Town for Canwest Global in 2007 and The Path to Shaolin, which Leslea co-directed in 2009.

For 2010 she produced and wrote Operation Extreme Green for CBC's Passionate Eye. Leslea also produced and co-wrote the three part pilot for Weekend Wonder, the award-winning one hour documentary Remote Control War for CBC's Doc Zone, MS Wars for The Nature of Things, Shattered Ground for The Nature of Things, Age of the Drone for Doc Zone, and The Prairie Diner series for CityTV Saskatchewan, finishing its third season.

Leslea co-directed, wrote and produced the feature length documentary "Losing Our Religion", and is now producing and writing the one hour documentary "Something in the Air".

Synopsis

Brendan is a pastor in a small, evangelical church, and he has a secret. He doesn't believe in God anymore. His life and career revolve around his church and faith, and now that's all on the line. His wife is still a true believer. He is incredibly isolated and alone, but he’s not the only one. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of clergy are in the same position. Stan is a preacher in the Deep South where the lines of religion and society blur. He lives in a manse, if anyone knew he is an atheist he would be out on the street. Andy hasn't believed for a long time, but only three people in the world know his secret – except for The Clergy Project.

Losing Our Religion is a feature length documentary about community, acceptance and a view inside the lives of clergy who are joining the rising tide of non-believers.

Trailer

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For more information about David Peck's podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here or check out the site of his podcast on film, social change and much more.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Image Copyright: Leslea Mair and Zoot Pictures. Used with permission.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jonas and I talked about refugees and memory, about ambient noise, poetry, the new film I Had Nowhere To Go, and why he's spent a lifetime ignoring Hollywood.

For more information on I Had Nowhere To Go (IMDB) and TIFF.

Synopsis

Internationally acclaimed multimedia artist Douglas Gordon (24 Hour Psycho, Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait) returns to the Festival with this intimate portrait of avant-garde cinema legend Jonas Mekas.

"An adventurer can always return home; an exile cannot. So I decided that culture would be my home." Jonas Mekas

Internationally acclaimed multimedia artist Douglas Gordon returns to the Festival with an intimate portrait of Jonas Mekas, the legendary poet, film critic, risk-taking curator, "the godfather of the American avant-garde cinema" -- and, at 93 years old, among the remaining few to have escaped and survived Nazi persecution.

I Had Nowhere to Go plunges us into both a collective and individual space of memory via long, imageless stretches over which Mekas narrates, in his inimitable voice, excerpts from his memoir (which lends the film its title).

An extraordinary life story emerges as the film zigzags between Mekas' early years in a forced labour camp and a Displaced Person centre during WWII and his arrival in New York as a young Lithuanian émigré. With an immersive sound environment and intermittent, fleeting images that stand in evocative juxtaposition to Mekas' anecdotes, Gordon's film reveals in its subject a puckish humour that outweighs despair, and an unabated zest for life that both illuminates and softens the sadness.

A deeply moving tribute from one great artist to another and a singular work in its own right, I Had Nowhere to Go has timely resonance today as mass migratory movements are displacing millions of people throughout the world as refugees, exiles, and stateless persons. While Mekas is certainly no ordinary person, the story he tells is a profoundly humble one, as much about daily survival as it is about aspiring to accomplish so much more. Gordon, who is ingenious at activating memory and the cinematic imaginary, compellingly presents quotidian moments outside of Mekas' famous film-related activities in order to reveal the desires, impulses, melancholy, and perseverance that inform Mekas' filmmaking and infectious love of cinema.

Even when truly having nowhere to go, Mekas always saw brief glimpses of beauty as he was moving ahead.

Biography

Jonas Mekas - Writer

Jonas Mekas born December 24, 1922, is a Lithuanian-born American filmmaker, writer, and curator who has often been called "the godfather of American avant-garde cinema." His work has been exhibited in museums and festivals across Europe and America. In 1944, Mekas left Lithuania because of war. En route, his train was stopped in Germany and he and his brother, Adolfas Mekas, were imprisoned in a labor camp in Elmshorn, a suburb of Hamburg, for eight months. The brothers escaped and were detained near the Danish border where they hid on a farm for two months until the end of the war. After the war, Mekas lived in displaced person camps in Wiesbaden and Kassel.

From 1946-48, he studied philosophy at the University of Mainz and at the end of 1949, he emigrated with his brother to the U.S., settling in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York.

After his arrival, he borrowed the money to buy his first Bolex 16-mm camera and began to record moments of his life. He discovered avant-garde film at venues such as Amos Vogel's pioneering Cinema 16, and he began screening his own films in 1953 at Gallery East on Avenue A and Houston Street, and a Film Forum series at Carl Fisher Auditorium on 57th Street.

In 1954, he became editor of Film Culture, and in 1958, began writing his "Movie Journal" column for The Village Voice. In 1962, he co-founded Film-Makers' Cooperative (FMC) and the Filmmaker's Cinematheque in 1964, which eventually grew into Anthology Film Archives, one of the world’s largest and most important repositories of avant-garde films. The films and the voluminous collection of photographs and paper documents (mostly from or about avant garde film makers of the 1950-1980 period) were moved from time to time based on Mekas' ability to raise grant money to pay to house the massive collection.

He was part of the New American Cinema, with, in particular, fellow film-maker Lionel Rogosin. He was heavily involved with artists such as Andy Warhol, Nico, Allen Ginsberg, Yoko Ono, John Lennon, Salvador Dalí, and fellow Lithuanian George Maciunas.

In 1970, Anthology Film Archives opened on 425 Lafayette Street as a film museum, screening space, and a library, with Mekas as its director. Mekas, along with Stan Brakhage, Ken Kelman, Peter Kubelka, James Broughton, and P. Adams Sitney, begin the ambitious Essential Cinema project at Anthology Film Archives to establish a canon of important cinematic works. Mekas' own output ranging from narrative films (Guns of the Trees, 1961) to documentaries (The Brig, 1963) and to "diaries" such as Walden (1969); Lost, Lost, Lost (1975);Reminiscences of a Voyage to Lithuania (1972) and Zefiro torna (1992) have been screened extensively at festivals and museums around the world.

In 2001, he released a five-hour long diary film entitled As I Was Moving Ahead.

Martin Scorsese said once: "Jonas Mekas is the one that gave me the desire and strength to be a director."

Douglas Gordon - Director

Douglas Gordon's practice encompasses video and film, installation, sculpture, photography, and text. Through his work, Gordon investigates human conditions like memory and the passage of time, as well as universal dualities such as life and death, good and evil, right and wrong. Gordon's oeuvre has been exhibited globally and his film works have been presented at many competitions, including the Festival de Cannes, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the International Venice Film Festival. Gordon received the 1996 Turner Prize, the Premio 2000 prize for best young artist at the 1997 Venice Biennale, and the 1998 Hugo Boss Prize.

Most recently, in May 2008 he was awarded the Roswitha Haftmann Prize by the Kunsthaus Zurich and, in 2012 the KätheKollwitz Prize from the Akademie der Künste, Berlin. Gordon was the International Juror at the 65th International Venice Film Festival, and in 2012 he was the Jury president of CinemaXXI at the 7th International Rome Film Festival. In December 2014 Douglas Gordon and pianist Hélène Grimaud have joined forces to explore the beauty of water in an extraordinary performance at Armory on Park, New York.

The collaboration continued when Gordon directed the theatre performance Neck of the Woods starring Charlotte Rampling and Hélène Grimuaud at the 2015 MIF - Manchester International Festival, Manchester. Born in Scotland, Gordon lives and works in Berlin and Glasgow and teaches film at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main. He is represented internationally by Gagosian Gallery, as well as Untilthen in Paris, Galerie Eva Presenhuber in Zürich, and Dvir Gallery in Tel Aviv

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Marie and Face2Face host David Peck talk about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Canada, victimhood, calls to action, blindness to others, hope and empathy.

Read more about the commission here.

Biography

Marie Wilson served as one of three Commissioners of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada following decades of experience as an award-winning journalist, trainer, and senior executive manager, including many years as the Regional Director for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in the CBC North region responsible for three northern territories and northern Quebec. Fluently bilingual in French and English, she has been a university professor, a high school teacher in Africa, a senior executive manager in both federal and territorial Crown Corporations, and an independent consultant in journalism, program evaluation, and project management.  Dr. Wilson was appointed the 2016 Professor of Practice in Global Governance at the Institute for Study of International Development, McGill University, and a 2016-2017 Mentor for the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation. In addition to awards for writing and journalism excellence, she is the recipient of a CBC North Award for Lifetime Achievement, Northerner of the Year, the Calgary Peace Prize, the Toronto Heart and Vision Award, and the Pepin Award for Access to Information. She has received Honorary Doctorates from St. Thomas University, the University of Manitoba and the Atlantic School of Theology, and has been awarded both the Order of the Northwest Territories and the Order of Canada.

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Dr. Lang and I talk about redundancies in the brain, the tendency towards addiction, bio-markers and neurological disorders and vaccines, neuro-plasticity and diagnosis.

Get a copy of his book: “Parkinson’s Disease: A Complete Guide for Patients and Families” here.

Biography

Dr. Lang directs a large multifaceted clinical research program in the field of Parkinson’s disease and related movement disorders. Dr. Lang’s research includes clinical studies of poorly recognized neurological disorders.

Dr. Lang is Director of the Edmond J. Safra Program in Parkinson’s Disease at the University Health Network and the University of Toronto and Director of the Movement Disorders Centre at the Krembil Neuroscience Centre. Lancet Neurology, the world's leading medical journal, has referred to Dr. Lang as “a master of movement disorders.”

In addition to leading Canada’s busiest Parkinson’s clinic, Dr. Lang is dedicated to advancing research, including studies of poorly recognized neurological disorders; clinical trials of new therapies; and basic and clinical studies involving molecular biology, neurophysiology, neuropsychology and imaging.

In 2010, Dr. Lang was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada and in 2011 he was elected a Fellow of both the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and the Royal Society of Canada. Also in 2011, he was recognized as the most highly cited investigator in the field of Parkinson’s disease in the world for the decade, 2001-2009.

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For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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Pamela and I talk about volunteerism, “your story”, social entrepreneurship, Universal Giving and why she’s not a pessimist.

Biography

Pamela Hawley is the founder and CEO of UniversalGiving™ an award-winning nonprofit that helps people give and volunteer with vetted, quality opportunities all over the world. Opportunities range from giving $25 to provide a month of meals to a child in Haiti, to volunteering with migrant children in Beijing, China.

Pamela started in community service at age twelve, after experiencing life-changing poverty on a family vacation. She and her father were in a marketplace and looked down a side cul-de-sac where she saw a whole line of half-clothed, begging, unwashed, starving children. The word UNACCEPTABLE came across her mind, and led her to volunteer all over the world (Read more here). Some of Pamela’s many volunteer experiences include working with microfinance in rural India, sustainable farming in Guatemala, earthquake relief work in El Salvador, and computer training in Cambodia.

She has a Political Science degree cum laude from Duke University and a Masters in International Communication from the Annenberg School of Communications, USC. Pamela is on the Duke Northern California Board and Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship; part of Duke Angel Network (DAN); and most recently received the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award for the Political Science Department at Duke University. She is a guest lecturer at Stanford, Harvard, Berkeley and USC. Pamela speaks on leadership, Corporate Social Responsibility, social entrepreneurship, volunteerism, world economics/cultures, and how these affect business and global philanthropy.   

Pamela is a winner of the Jefferson Award (the Nobel Prize in Community Service), and has been invited to three events at the White House. UniversalGiving has been featured on the homepage of BusinessWeek, Oprah.com, CBS, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. Pamela was a finalist for Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award and is an Expert Blogger for Fast Company and CSRWire. She also writes Living and Giving, a daily blog with the mission of “Inspiring Leaders to Live with Excellence and Love.”

Pamela is an actress, improviser, dancer and singer with over 100 performances in San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles. She is and improviser trained by The Groundlings and Second City Chicago, a graduate of the Upright Citizens Brigade, and a BATS improv player. Her experience includes solo and group singing, voiceovers, sketch, theatre and television. 

In 2015, she opened at the San Francisco Improv Festival with Leela’s Armando Company and its founder, Armando Diaz. Also, in 2015, she performed with Leela’s Armando Company at the SF Sketchfest. Pamela has created two improv groups: The Hills Are Alive with the Sound of Improv!, a fully improvised musical inspired by The Sound of Music; and Jackson Soup, a dynamic duo improv team. Pamela performed with Opening People's Minds (OPM), which won the award for Best Sketch Comedy in 2009 at the San Francisco Fringe Fest and garnered praise from reviewers such as LA Weekly. As part of the improv group Fosse Posse (based on choreographer Bob Fosse), she performed 40-minute improvised musicals, winning 9 out of 10 competitive shows (Watch a video here). Pamela donates a portion of every show’s proceeds to UniversalGiving™.

Most important to Pamela Hawley is her family. Her parents Wally and Alex have been married more than 50 years; they are two of her best friends. She also loves being an aunt to Will, Connor, and Lindsey.  Every Sunday is family day.

Read more about the foundation here.

For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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Mark talks about Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age, post-secularism, why he loves movies, the political and the religious sphere and how we’re all to some degree still children of the enlightenment.

Biography

Dr. Mark Bowald is Associate Professor of Religion and Theology at Redeemer University in Ancaster, Ontario and serves on the Board of Directors of Langham Canada and is the Theology Editor for Christian Scholar’s Review. He writes, researches and speaks on topics related to the Hermeneutics of Scripture, Philosophy, Theology, and Film Studies.

You can find his book Rendering the Word in Theological Hermeneutics here for sale online.

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Petr and I talk about his new film Never Alone and about choice, fascism, ideological issues that concern us all and why he’s still an optimist.

TIFF Runs from: September 8th – September 18th, 2016

For more information about the festival go here. 

Trailer

IMDB

Biography

Petr Vaclav graduated from Prague Film Academy FAMU. His short documentary MADAME LE MURIE (1993) was nominated for Student Academy Award.

Vaclav ́s first feature film, MARIAN (1996) - the story of a Romani child - won the Silver Leopard and the FIPRESCI Award in Locarno and other prizes at Angers, Thessaloniki, Belfort, Cottbus, Bratislava and Tehran film festivals, and had theatrical release in France, the Netherlands, the USA and South Korea.

His second feature, PARALLEL WORLD, (2001) was selected for the San Sebastian Official Competition.

His recent feature THE WAY OUT about a young Romani woman fighting for an ordinary life was screened at Cannes (ACID Selection 2014) and released in France under the name ZANETA.

Petr is currently finishing his latest feature SKOKAN. His documentary CONFESSION OF THE VANISHED, portraying Czech composer Josef Myslivecek (1734-1781) was released in April 2015 and is the part of the work on Vaclav ́s ambitious project, Il BOEMO

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For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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Lawrence Scanlan and Face2Face host David Peck talk about sharing the wealth, listening compassionately, generosity and social justice of various kinds.

You can learn more about Lawrence here.  

Biography

Lawrence Scanlan was born in Toronto and spent the first six years of his life in the northern Ontario railway town of Nakina. He has lived and worked in Toronto, Nelson, B.C. and, for the past thirty-five years, the Kingston area in southeastern Ontario.

Scanlan has worked in newspapers (literary editor of The Whig-Standard, editor of The Nelson Daily News), magazines (managing editor of Harrowsmith) and radio (producer with CBC Radio’s Morningside as well as Writers & Company). He has won three National Magazine Awards and, as a freelancer, written scores of articles on many subjects, including science, sports, literature, travel and medicine.

In 1989, Scanlan’s first book was published — a biography co-authored with Ian Millar called Riding High. It was a Globe and Mail bestseller and would pave the way for many of his other equestrian books. Big Ben, about Millar’s world champion show jumper, has sold more than 90,000 copies since coming out in 1994. The Man Who Listens to Horses, co-authored with horseman Monty Roberts and published in 1997, spent more than a year on North American bestseller lists and sold in excess of one million copies.

Scanlan’s book on the history of the horse-human bond, Wild About Horses, is considered a classic in its field and continues to sell today after coming out in 1998. The book was translated and sold in Germany, Spain and throughout Latin America. A children’s version of that book, Horses Forever, was also hugely successful.

Little Horse of Iron told the history of the Canadian horse and Scanlan’s own horse, Dali – acquired in 1999 when the horse was five and his new owner was fifty. The Horse God Built examined the special kinship between the champion racehorse, Secretariat, and his groom, Eddie Sweat. The Big Red Horse was the children’s version of that book. Healed by Horses tells the remarkable story of Carole Fletcher who became a trick horse trainer after almost dying in a fire.

Scanlan’s novel aimed at young adults, The Horse’s Shadow (about a young habitant girl caught up in the American Civil War), won a 2007 Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award and was selected as a “choice” title by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre.

An eclectic and prolific writer, he has written about violence in hockey (Grace Under Fire), life in the country (Heading Home) and the cabin as sanctuary (Harvest of a Quiet Eye). Reviews of all these books have been (mostly) enthusiastic.

The reviews of A Year of Living Generously – a book about compassion that chronicles Scanlan’s twelve months of volunteering with twelve different charities – were especially and almost universally warm. The Globe and Mail selected it as a Best 100 Book of 2010, and The National Post called it “an ingenious, richly executed book.”\

Working as either co-author or ghostwriter, Scanlan continues to help other people tell their stories. He worked with Melissa Hawach on her 2008 bestseller, Flight of the Dragonfly – about a Canadian mother going into war-torn Lebanon to gain back her kidnapped daughters. Scanlan worked closely with Margaret Trudeau on her hugely successful memoir, Changing My Mind, published in 2010. That same year came The Rescue of Belle and Sundance – about a community’s extraordinary campaign to save two abandoned horses trapped on a B.C. mountain in mid-winter. The book was sold to Canadian, American and Australian publishers and was made into a film.

The Woman Who Changed Her Brain was two years in the making. Scanlan worked with Barbara Arrowsmith Young to chronicle the life and pioneering work of this remarkable woman who overcame crippling learning disabilities using the principles of neuroplasticity. The book was published in 2012 in Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and Australia. An updated version of that book will be published in 2017.

Scanlan has worked behind the scenes on four other collaborations — bringing to 24 the number of books on his list. The most recent titles include these: Richard Peddie’s memoir, Dream Job: My Wild Ride on the Corporate Side with the Leafs, the Raptors and TFC, published in 2013. Olivia Chow’s memoir — My Journey, published in 2014. Deanna Lennox’s book — Damage Done: A Mountie’s Memoir, From Hurt to Hopeful, from  Horses to Healing, published in the spring of 2015. And Robert Bateman’s book, Life Sketches: A Memoir, published in November of 2015. Scanlan’s book on the history of the Order of Canada — They Desired a Better Country — will be published in February of 2017.

Scanlan has taught classes in writing and journalism in primary and high schools as well as prisons and lectured on philanthropy at Queen’s University, McMaster, Brock, McGill, Dalhousie and Mount Royal in Calgary. He continues to write freelance journalism and contributes a regular column on sports to Kingston Life magazine.

Scanlan lives in Kingston with Ulrike Bender, who taught English to francophone cadets at Royal Military College before retiring in 2016. They also enjoy their 19th-century square-timbered cabin on a small acreage in Prince Edward County.

Their son, Kurt, is an award-winning industrial designer in Toronto.

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For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Image Copyright: Lawrence Scanlan. Used with permission.

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Listen is as producer Mark Terry talks about the Paris climate summit, adaptation versus mitigation, hopeless data and how we need to cultivate courage with regard to the crisis we find ourselves in.

Film Synopsis

The Youth Climate Report film project includes a 45-minute linear documentary film and a multi-linear documentary film project. The multi-linear documentary is represented by a Geographic Information System (GIS) map of the world and created in a beta program developed by Google called Fusion.

The map shows pinpoints around the world that when clicked (or touched on a tablet or mobile device) opens up various media related to information on climate research being conducted at those coordinates.

The media includes a video of the researcher and their work, a link to their organization or institution for additional reference and a link to the online profile of the researcher or climate change maker.

The map is part of the PhD research being conducted by York University grad student Mark Terry.

It was introduced in Paris this year at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21).

It can currently be accessed on two UN websites: UNEP & UNFCCC

Trailer

Link to Film Here

IMDB

Biography

After graduating from York University’s Glendon College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1980, Mark Terry embarked on 25-year career as a journalist and documentary filmmaker. His science and nature films have made a significant impact with the policymakers of the United Nations. His work with the UN and the world’s scientific community has been recognized on many fronts. He has been decorated with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Stefansson Medal, the Gemini Humanitarian Award and in August this year was named one of Canada’s greatest explorers by Canadian Geographic Magazine.

In 2014, he returned to York to pursue his Master of Arts degree in Humanities with a research focus of how documentary film can be mobilized as an instrument of social change. He continues this research today as a PhD candidate at York University in Toronto working closely with the United Nations Environment Programme.

His innovative work with a new beta program developed by Google called Fusion is being presented to delegates and policymakers attending the 21st Convention of Parties in Paris this December at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The interactive geographic information system map is a multi-linear documentary project that showcases climate research from around the world.

For more info about the UN initiative please look here.

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Listen in as Drew waxes poetic on the “Tribe”, atheism, why God might be dead and what he’s learned from 100’s of celebrity interviews.

Drew Marshall grew up in a funeral home, was kicked out of four schools, and finally dropped out after completing grade nine. Not wanting to wait around for life to give him a shot, he ran away to California at the age of seventeen and became a wrangler at a ranch-camp in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. After returning to Canada four years later, having never played a game of football in his life, he became a punter at the semi-pro level, which eventually led to NFL & CFL tryouts. After leaving his football dreams behind, Drew then began training for a career as a Fire Fighter. Had he decided to settle into any one of these ambitious pursuits, this wandering autodidactic iconoclast would never have ended up taking an unbelievable step of faith. In 1997, he moved his family to Australia with nine bags of clothes, two children, no place to live, and no job!

“I intentionally wanted to put my life into the hands of God and make a personal investment in this thing called ‘faith.’ Trusting anyone was tough, let alone God. The next thing I knew I was an Associate Pastor at a church wondering how I ever got the job!”Then, after five years in Australia, he moved his family back to Canada and in 2003 and with absolutely zero broadcasting experience, walked into the studios of JOY 1250 and pitched the idea of hosting a talk show that was different. Drew now hosts Canada’s Most Listened To Spiritual Talk Show – listened to by an estimated 100,000 people around Southern Ontario and online by listeners from over 100 Countries!

Not bad for an autodidac . . . whatever that was.

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Martin speaks passionately about tacit knowledge, mentorship, the Master/Disciple relationship, the relief found in realizing that we don’t have to “prove” everything and why the thought of Michael Polanyi matters.

Biography

Martin is a Jesuit priest and a Professor at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York. He teaches introduction to world religions (“Lose Your Faith 101″) and various topics in Catholic Theology in the Department of Religious Studies and Theology.

He was born in 1952, Allegany, New York, which makes him a “mountain boy.” Allegany county and Cattaraugus county are the two northernmost counties of Appalachia, according to the federal government.

He has written Personal Catholicism, published by The Catholic University of America Press, 2000. Michael Polanyi: Scientist and Philosopher, by Oxford University Press, 2005 and Judging Religion Justly: A Catholic Introduction to Religious Studies, published with Cognella University Readers, 2011.

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Today’s conversation covered a lot of ground. Listen in as Atom speaks about his approach to understanding the human condition, remorse and reconciliation, national self-determination and the stories he tells.

Biography

With fifteen features and related projects, Egoyan has won numerous prizes at international film festivals including the Grand Prix and International Critics Awards from the Cannes Film Festival, two Academy Award® nominations, and numerous other honours. His films have won twenty-five Genies – including three Best Film Awards – and a prize for Best International Film Adaptation from The Frankfurt Book Fair. Egoyan’s films have been presented in numerous retrospectives across the world, including a complete career overview at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, followed by similar events at the Filmoteca Espagnol in Madrid, the Museum of The Moving Image in New York and the Royal CINEMATEK in Brussels.

His body of work – which includes theatre, music, and art installations – delves into issues of memory, displacement, and the impact of technology and media in modern life. His latest feature, REMEMBER, stars Christopher Plummer.

Egoyan’s art projects have been presented around the world including The Venice Biennale and Artangel in London. Steenbeckett became part of The Artangel Collection, an innovative alliance with the Tate. His installation, Auroras, was recently on view at the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin, in a program commemorating the centennial of the Armenian Genocide.

Egoyan directed the North American premiere of Martin Crimp’s Cruel and Tenderfor the Canadian Stage theatre company in early 2012. His adaptation of Samuel Beckett’s Eh Joe was presented by The Gate Theatre in Dublin, where it won The Irish Times/ESB Award for Best Direction before transferring to London’s West End and The Lincoln Center Festival in New York.

Egoyan directed the contemporary Chinese opera Feng Yi Teng for the 2012 Spoleto Festival in Charleston and the Lincoln Center Festival, New York. It was performed at the Luminato Festival in 2013, following the remount of Richard Strauss’s Salome with the Canadian Opera Company. Egoyan directed a new production Mozart’s Così fan tutte for the COC in 2014. His award-winning production of Wagner’s Die Walküre was performed in early 2015.

Egoyan is a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Directors Guild of Canada, the Directors Guild of America, the Writers Guild of Canada, the Writers Guild of America, and the Royal Canadian Academy of Art. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Egoyan is honoured with a 2015 Governor General’s Performing Arts Award.

Ego Film Arts

National past article.

Trailer for Remember

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Ajay Parasram and I talked about redemption songs and protest music, solidarity as a verb, inspiration, cosmopolitanism, Bob Marley and why some of the best activists are in the hard sciences.

Biography

Ajay Parasram is a transnational, multi-generational by-product of British empire living and working in K’jipuktuk, unceded Mi’kma’qi.

He is Assistant Professor in the departments of International Development Studies and History at Dalhousie University, where he researches and teaches on the broad significance of the colonial encounter and the colonial present, as well as a third year course in International Development Activism.

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Image Copyright: Ajay Parasram. Used with permission.

For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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“That Canadian Guy” has plenty to say – funny, relevant, likable and always engaging. Check out this podcast as Glen talks about our police state, the legalization of pot, and the difference within politics of leaders of leaders who are incompetent versus being evil.

Biography

Glen Foster has been one of the top comedians in Canada for nearly thirty years.   He didn’t just work the road; he’s one of the guys who helped to build it. Glen appeared in his first one-hour comedy special, “That Canadian Guy” in 2000 and, since then, the moniker has stuck. Many of his fans don’t even know his actual name, but they do know one thing: “That Canadian Guy” is one of the funniest comedians anywhere.

Glen’s comedy appeals to those people who appreciate a more intelligent, but slightly “edgy” brand of humour.   His material is mostly clean and always clever, topical and timely, reflecting his own experiences, current events and popular culture. He’s also not afraid to inject his own political and sometimes “politically incorrect” social commentary from time to time.

Glen recently appeared in his second one hour Comedy Network special and has also performed on numerous other television shows including seven appearances with CBC’s, “Just for Laughs”, as well as “The Winnipeg Comedy Festival“, “Halifax Comedy Festival”, and “The Mike Bullard Show”.   He is a weekly guest contributor on the Sun News Network and he can also be heard frequently on CBC Radio’s “The Debaters”.

Glen has recently released his third concert CD, “Prickly: Live at The Rose” and check out some of his video clips here: 1 and 2.

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Please do catch this rare opportunity as I interview the man behind the Oscar nominated The Act of Killing and the soon to be released The Look of Silence.

Werner Herzog says, “I have not seen a film as powerful, surreal, and frightening in at least a decade… It is unprecedented in the history of cinema.” Join me as Joshua and I talk about what art is all about, why we have a responsibility not to despair, how he is trying to address the “most urgent questions” and about why he is still hopeful.

Biography

Born 1974, Texas, USA. Joshua Oppenheimer has worked for over a decade with militias, death squads and their victims to explore the relationship between political violence and the public imagination. Educated at Harvard and Central St Martins, London, his award-winning films include The Globalization Tapes (2003, co-directed with Christine Cynn), The Entire History of the Louisiana Purchase (1998, Gold Hugo, Chicago Film Festival), These Places We’ve Learned To Call Home (1996, Gold Spire, San Francisco Film Festival) and numerous shorts. Oppenheimer is Senior Researcher on the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Genocide and Genre project and has published widely on these themes.

Filmography (Forthcoming)

THE LOOK OF SILENCE

Filmography (as Director)

SHOW OF FORCE (short, 2007)

THE GLOBALIZATION TAPES (documentary, co-directed with Christine Cynn, 2003)

LAND OF ENCHANTMENT (short, co-directed with Christine Cynn, 2001)

THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE (50 mins, 1997; Gold Hugo, Chicago Film Festival, 1998; Telluride Film Festival, 1997; Best Experimental Film, New England, 1998)

THESE PLACES WE’VE LEARNED TO CALL HOME (short, 1997; Gold Spire, San Francisco FilmFestival, 1997)

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Adam and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new book Cotton, its empire, commodities and politics, “clothing poverty” and anti-globalization and why we need to be concerned about how the world works.

Biography

Adam Sneyd conducts research on the political economy of commodities and development. He is particularly interested in learning more about the dynamic politics of commodities across Africa south of the Sahara. His research aims to better understand the new challenges that various commodity dependent African countries face in the areas of sustainability and development.

Adam is currently studying the 'commodity politics' associated with corporate 'responsibility' in Cameroon. 

He has written two solely authored academic books on the politics of cotton. The first –Governing Cotton - focused on the challenges associated with cotton and poverty reduction across Sub-Saharan Africa. The second – Cotton, focuses on the global politics of this important commodity. His academic articles have been published in journals including Third World Quarterly, Development and Change, and the Journal of Contemporary African Studies.

Adam has contributed analyses linked to his research program to the Financial Times magazine This is Africa, and to Think Africa Press and African Arguments.

He has moderated a high-level panel at the World Trade Organization (WTO) on cotton in Africa, and is a member of the Academic and Scientific Advisory Council of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS). 

A detailed list of his papers, op-eds, analyses, policy briefs, book reviews and glossary articles can be found here.

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Miranda Bailey and Face2Face host David Peck talk about her new film The Pathological Optimist, truth versus fiction, culpability and the media, hero worship, the Anti-Vax movement, family life and why she’s sometimes not so hopeful.

Biography

Miranda's first cinematic directorial debut was GREENLIT, a comedic documentary looking at the inherent hypocrisies surrounding Hollywood when trying to "green" a film set which debuted at SXSW in 2010. IFC International and Virgil Films picked it up for distribution.

Since then, she directed the award winning narrative short ANOTHER HAPPY ANNIVERSARY which after a successful festival run premiered on Shorts TV and is hosted at Jill Soloway's website Wifey. TV promoting female film makers.

Miranda also shot and directed The Behind the Scenes of James Gunn's SUPER and an episode of the web TV series FIRSTS.

Miranda's second documentary feature, THE PATHOLOGICAL OPTIMIST, is an intimate portrait of the controversial and discredited Dr. Andrew Wakefield. The documentary premiered on April 20, 2017 at the Manhattan Film Festival as the opening night film and won Best Documentary Feature. It played at the 2017 Downtown LA Film Festival and Bailey won Best Director - Documentary Feature. The film opened in theaters September 2017.

Over the last 14 years, Miranda Bailey has produced over 20 films including the Oscar nominated THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, James Gunn's SUPER and the Gotham Award Award-winning THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL. Miranda has been nominated twice for the Best First Feature Spirit Award - once in 2017 for Swiss Army Man and once in 2016 for The Diary of a Teenage Girl which she won.

As the CEO of Cold Iron Pictures, Miranda recently produced 2016 Sundance U.S. Dramatic Directing Award-winner SWISS ARMY MAN starring Daniel Radcliffe and Paul Dano, Oscar nominated director Joseph Ceder's first English language film NORMAN: THE MODERATE RISE AND TRAGIC FALL OF A NEW YORK FIXER, starring Richard Gere, Michael Sheen, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Dan Stevens, Steve Buscemi and Josh Charles, and Mike Birbiglia's DON'T THINK TWICE, starring Keegan-Michael Key, Gillian Jacobs, Birbiglia, Kate Micucci, Tami Sagher and Chris Gethard.

Bailey starred in and produced many other films in a variety of genres including the cult hit DEAD & BREAKFAST, with Jeremy Sisto, Portia de Rossi, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan; the comedy THE OH IN OHIO, with Paul Rudd, Danny DeVito, and Parker Posey; WONDERFUL WORLD, starring Matthew Broderick; AGAINST THE CURRENT, starring Joseph Fiennes and Mary Tyler Moore; SUPER, starring Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page; EVERY DAY, starring Liev Schreiber and Helen Hunt; the 3D horror film HELLBENDERS; the documentary SPINNING PLATES, which was released by her distribution company The Film Arcade, which she cofounded in 2012.

Synopsis

Who is the man behind the most highly controversial, intensely debated topics in modern medicine? In The Pathological Optimist, director Miranda Bailey brings us a character study of Dr. Andrew Wakefield, one of 13 co-authors of a notorious 1998 paper in the UK medical Journal The Lancet, but who became the very public face of what has come to be known as “The Anti-Vax Movement.” An expat from Britain who currently resides in Austin, Texas, Wakefield allowed Bailey and her team to follow him and his family for five years beginning in 2011 as he fought a defamation battle in the courts against the British Medical Journal and journalist Brian Deer.

The results of that case – and the self-reflection, pronouncements, and observations of Wakefield, his legal team, wife, and his children – create a complex and incisive look at one of our era’s most fear-provoking and continuously provocative figures.

The Pathological Optimist takes no sides, instead letting Wakefield and the battles he fought speak for themselves.

Trailer

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For more information about David Peck's podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here or check out the site of his podcast on film, social change and much more.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Image Copyright: Miranda Bailey and The Film Arcade. Used with permission.

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Amr Salama and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new film Sheikh Jackson, pop music, cinematic language, identity, Islam, father figures, inclusion, imagination, and. Michael Jackson.

Biography

Amr Salama is a prominent young Egyptian writer and director whose credits include the prize-winning AIDS drama Asmaa and the coming-of-age comedy Excuse My French, which swept the board at Egypt’s equivalent of the Oscars.

Says Amr, I never felt as vulnerable making a film, it was half writing a memoir and half fictionalizing a universal story that can transcend above stereotyping and prejudice, a story about fear of death and loving life, identity, temptation and self love.

Synopsis

The sudden death of Michael Jackson sends a former King of Pop devotee — now a young imam — into a tailspin. But, what does an imam have in common with the King of Pop?

More importantly, can he now go back to his normal life, or will his memories and relationships with his loved ones raise the most prominent question in his mind: is he the Sheikh, Jackson, or both?

Trailer

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For more information about David Peck's podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here or check out the site of his podcast on film, social change and much more.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Image Copyright: Amr Salama and the Film Clinic. Used with permission.

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Rob has temporarily moved on as ED of Basic Income Canada Network to work as interim ED with the Green Party. Listen in today as he gets a little more political, talks about social justice, why people on welfare are so not lazy and why dealing with poverty matters.

Read more by Rob here.

Biography

Rob has 20 years of experience in not-for-profit leadership, primarily in environmental conservation and sustainable development and more recently concerning poverty in Canada. He has been described as a mentor who is “light on my feet” with respect to his capacity to initiate and make decisions.

Through his new consultancy, CauseWorth Mission Impact, he is applying his experience, knowledge, skills and contacts in support of organizations involved in social justice, social service, personal development, conservation and environmental protection.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stephen Campanelli and I talk about his new film Indian Horse based on the Richard Wagamese novel of the same name. We cover residential schools, honesty, bravery and authenticity, why words can be visual, and how stories were meant to heal.

Find out more info about the movie here.

Synopsis:

In late 1950s Ontario, seven-year-old Saul Indian Horse is torn from his Ojibway family and committed to one of  Canada’s notorious Catholic residential schools. In this oppressive environment, Saul is denied the freedom to speak his language or embrace his indigenous heritage and he witnesses all kinds of abuse at the hands of the very people who were entrusted with his care. Despite this, Saul finds salvation in the unlikeliest of places and favourite Canadian pastimes — hockey.

Fascinated by the game, he secretly teaches himself how to not only play but develops a unique and rare skill. It’s as if he has eyes in the back of his head and can see the game in a way no other player can. His talent leads him away from the misery of the school to a Northern Ontario native league and eventually the pros. But the ghosts of Saul’s past will always haunt him. Forced to confront painful memories and revelations, Saul draws on the spirit of his ancestors and the understanding of his friends to gain the compassion he so sorely needs in order to begin healing.

Indian Horse is a survivors’ tale that foregrounds the indomitable spirit of North America’s indigenous peoples in the face of aggressive assimilation policies and racism. Saul Indian Horse’s story can be a tool to help foster further compassion and understanding, and in the process, become universal.

Biography

Stephen Campanelli, started his career as a steadicam operator, when it was quite a rarity in Canada, and quickly became the most sought-after operator in the country. He was the first to combine “A” Camera operating and steadicam, and in doing so unlocked an entirely new filmmaking perspective that quickly peaked the interests of some of Hollywood's top directors including Stephen's boyhood idol: Clint Eastwood. Stephen first joined Clint on the Oscar and Golden Globe nominated Bridges of Madison County and has remained Clint's most trusted "camera eye" ever since.

They have collaborated on the Oscar winning films, Million Dollar Baby and Mystic River, the Oscar nominated Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, and their successful films Gran Torino, Sully and American Sniper. They have just finished their latest, 21st collaboration,15:17 to Paris. Clint, and numerous other prominent directors, have entrusted Stephen with crucial on-set directorial decisions, and have relied on his expertise and guidance for many years now. After over 23 years by Clint's side, Stephen jokingly confesses to being a graduate of the "University of Clint Eastwood", having learned all of the maestro's directing secrets.

Stephen is following in the footsteps of a great story-telling director, who has shared with him his vast knowledge, not only of directing, but of acting, and what it is like to be an actor before a daunting camera.

Now, with Clint’s blessing and the admiration of every cast and crew he has worked with, on the over 65 motion pictures listed in his resume, Stephen Campanelli has made the natural leap to the director's chair, having helmed two motion pictures, Momentum (2015), starring Olga Kurylenko, James Purefoy and Morgan Freeman. He is proud and honoured to present to you, his latest feature film, Indian Horse.

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Image Copyright: Stephen Campanelli and Indian Horse Productions. Used with permission.

For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bobby Motta

Bobby and I talk about magic, deception, mentalism, entrepreneurship and building a business from the ground up and about why perspective is everything.

Biography

Experience Bobby Motta, the mentalist and mind reader who gives a performance you have to see to believe. Canada’s own master of the unknown earns props from celebrities here and abroad, astounding stars like Russell Crowe and Nelly Furtado.

His incredible ingenuity and stage effects have also made him one of the industries most sought-out consultants behind the scenes, loaning out his secrets to names like David Blaine, and Criss Angel, and consulting on some of Stage and TVʼs biggest production spectaculars to date.

His ultra-thrilling style and mesmerizing technique grabs hold and won’t let go, blurring lines between reality and the paranormal realms as he pulls you in. Bobby is the epitome of his craft with international appearances that set the bar.

He’s been featured on almost every major television network and starred in exclusive engagements for a VIP clientele list including the likes of Google, Nike and the Bank of America to name a few. His jaw dropping performances leave even the biggest skeptics as wide-eyed as little kids at a carnival. Bobby is based in Toronto.

Read more about Bobby here.

Find out about his products here.

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For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jim and George and I about Tuko Macho, The Nest Collective, an African generational voice, identity and internal voices and why extreme order is surreal.

For more information on Tuko Macho(IMDB, trailer, website) and TIFF.

Synopsis

Tuko Macho (Sheng for "we are watching") candidly explores the frequently violent intersections of class, law and justice in Nairobi. Shot mostly in Sheng -- Kenya's unique pidgin of English, Swahili and local languages -- Tuko Macho's storylines are drawn from real-life stories that the people of Nairobi have become uncomfortably familiar with.

Presented exclusively on Facebook as a web series, Tuko Macho has traversed between fiction and the real world, allowing audiences to vote for or against the execution of characters, and sparking intense conversations about the place of retributive justice in a city with few heroes.

Tuko Macho stars Kenyan stage and screen actor Tim King’oo as Biko/Jonah -- the philosophical and operational heart of the vigilante operation, Nairobi radio queen and reggae performer Njambi Koikai as Mwarabu -- Biko's moral center, and Ibrahim Muchemi as detective Nick Salat -- the hero-cop who believes the city isn't beyond redemption.

Biography

The Nest Collective are Amal Mohamed, George Gachara, Jim Chuchu, Kendi Kamwambia, Mars, Njeri Gitungo, Njoki Ngumi, Noel Kasyoka, Sunny Dolat and Wakiuru Njuguna. They live and work in Nairobi, creating work together using film, theatre, visual arts, music and fashion that explores troubling modern identities, reimagines pasts and remixes futures.

Tuko Macho was created in partnership with Forum Syd beginning in 2015, with principal photography taking place in early 2016, working with additional crew members assembled from among Nairobi's finest production talents in various sets and locations all over the city.

Director Jim Chuchu had his first TIFF presentation in 2013 with the short film,Homecoming -- part of the "African Metropolis" anthology. He returned in 2014 with The Nest Collective’s 2014 feature Stories Of Our Lives, an anthology film based on the lives of queer Kenyans.

The film was banned in Kenya following its TIFF 2014 World Premiere, but went on to win the Jury Prize at the Berlinale Teddy Awards and continues to screen in festivals worldwide.

For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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Yesim and I talk about tradition, sexual politics in Turkey, harsh modernism, manipulation, control and patriarchal power.

For more information about TIFF go here.

Trailer

Synopsis

In her most politically charged film to date, Turkish writer-director Yesim Ustaoglu revisits her previous films' themes of alienation and the longing to escape, viewing them through a distinctly female lens. In Clair Obscur, a film about the lives of two women from opposing worlds, Ustaoglu explores the different possibilities and limitations that exist for women in Turkey today.

Chenaz thinks of herself as modern and liberal. Resident psychiatrist at a hospital on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, she lives with her long-time partner, Cem, in a stylishly appointed home. Valuing each other's independence, Chenaz and Cem appear to think of each other as equals, but as Chenaz spends more time with a work colleague, she begins to wonder if Cem's treatment of her is motivated by love or by a desire for control.

Elmas lives with her much-older husband in a conservative household where her place is better defined in terms of servitude than by familial bonds. Under her mother-in-law's watchful eye, Elmas is responsible for all of the household chores, made to play the role of nursemaid, and forced to submit to her husband's nightly sexual desires.

As Ustaoglu intercuts and eventually intersects Chenaz and Elmas' stories, we begin to understand that their lives may have more in common than it appears at first glance. Alternating close, confining camerawork with sweeping widescreen landscapes, Michael Hammon's exquisite photography simultaneously reflects the restrictions and boundless potential of Ustaoglu's female protagonists. By turns pensive and dramatic — even violent — Clair Obscur asks us to consider the true meaning of liberty.

Biography

Yesim Ustaoglu was born in Çaykara, Turkey. She directed several shorts before making her feature film debut with The Trace.

Her other features include Journey to the Sun, Waiting for the Clouds, Pandora's Box, which screened at the Festival, andAraf/Somewhere in Between. 

Clair Obscur is her latest film.

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For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael, Sean and Face2Face host David Peck talk about their new film Five Fingers for Marseille, land rights, Apartheid, heroes and colonization, nationalism, pride and race relations and Spaghetti Westerns.

Biography

Michael Matthews

Directing technically complex productions under pressure, has earned Michael a reputation for executing ambitious projects. Michael has a strong focus on emotive, visual storytelling. His work has been nominated and won awards both locally and internationally. Michael co-founded Be Phat Motel Film Company in 2007 with the aim to develop and produce progressive cinema, and has seen a number of projects into international development.

In this period Michael has also made award-winning commercials, short films and music videos, working with worldwide brands and artists. Michael’s half hour film, Sweetheart (2011), screened at festivals in South Africa, Poland, Russia, Germany, Australia, Switzerland, Austria, Greece, Singapore, Costa Rica and the USA.

Sweetheart’s international interest led him to meetings with agents and studios including Fox, Warner Brothers and WME. In 2014 Michael directed the eight part web series, Ashbeclee. The comedy-drama is in the tone of HBO ‘Girls’, but set in Perth Australia. Focused on three female lead characters dealing with quarter life crises and first world problems, it gained over 190 000 episode views. Michael is currently in development on a feature adaptation of Charlie Human’s acclaimed novel Apocalypse Now Now.

Sean Drummond

With a history in stage & performance, Sean's visual sensitivity to pace, tone and character serve him as a complex screenwriter for his own Be Phat Motel Film Company and for the South African, and international markets, as a creative and conceptual producer and as an intuitive documentary director. His shorts Sweetheart and Wide Open and feature documentaries Lost Prophets and Outsider have screened extensively at festivals around the world.

Projects in development include television drama series co-production Acts of Man and a high-octane feature adaptation of Charlie Human’s beautifully twisted novel Apocalypse Now Now. Sean is the founding manager of the Cape Town chapter of the shnit Worldwide Shortfilmfestival, celebrating, promoting and awarding South African and international short films yearly, and he sits on the festival’s international executive committee, pushing artistic collaboration and exchange between filmmakers from cultures all around the world.

He continues to sit on Cape Town’s festival board. He has hosted panels on finance, co-production and distribution at international markets and has served on the Writers’ Guild of South Africa’s executive council. Sean hosts science, tech and sci-spec podcast Space Life and Other Dumb ideas. He’d like to go to space.

Synopsis

Apartheid South Africa: The community of Railway, attached to the remote town of Marseilles, are the victims of brutal police oppression and only the young ‘Five Fingers’ are willing to stand up to them. Their battle is heartfelt but innocent, until hot-headed Tau kills two policemen in an act of passion.   He flees, leaving his brothers and friends behind, but his action has triggered a violent fight that will leave both Marseilles and the Five Fingers changed.

Twenty years later, Tau is released from prison, now a feared and brutal ‘outlaw’, ‘The Lion of Marseilles’. But scarred and empty, he renounces violence and returns to Marseilles desiring only peace and to reconnect with those he left behind. At first, Tau finds Marseilles a town seemingly at peace. The battle for freedom was won.

Five Fingers are in prominent positions – as mayor, police chief and pastor of the old church. But, reconnecting with childhood love, Lerato, now proprietress of the local tavern, and her fiery son, Sizwe, it becomes clear that rather than the haven he hoped for, Marseilles is caught in the grip of a vicious new threat and to Tau’s dismay, his old allies themselves may have allowed it in. Tau can keep his head down only so long. When he and his loved ones become direct targets, he is reluctantly compelled to fight once and for all.

Calling on partners-in-crime and with new friends at his side, Tau reforms the Five Fingers. Standing against old allies and new enemies alike, they must put their lives at the greatest risk for the sake of Marseilles.

Trailer

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Caroline and I talk about her beautiful new film, the complexities of relationships, boundaries and why so many of us are quick to jump to the wrong conclusions.

Film Synopsis

Beneath The Spaceship

Trailer

IMDB

This deeply insightful drama traces the events of one sweltering Swedish summer, when the bond between an adolescent girl and her older neighbour frays as their relationship comes under the scrutiny of those who can’t understand what they share.

Biography

Caroline Ingvarsson is a Swedish filmmaker. She studied at the Sydney Film School and earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from City University in London. She directed the documentary shorts The Dogwalker, I Met a Real Streety Once, and the fiction short Beneath the Spaceship.

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Rolfe Kent and Face2Face host David Peck talk about Alexander Payne’s new film Downsizing, creating chemistry though music, experimentation, writing by walking and relentless enthusiasm.

Biography

Unexpected texture, sounds and a signature musical personality are the hallmarks of British film composer Rolfe Kent, who has scored more than 50 films, including Academy Award nominated Up in the Air (for which he won a Golden Satellite award), Sideways (for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award in 2007), Labor Day, Bad Words (Jason Bateman’s directorial debut), Dom Hemingway, About Schmidt, Election, Mean Girls, Legally Blonde and Legally Blonde II, Wedding Crashers, The Matador, Reign Over Me, The Hunting Party, and Thank You for Smoking. Kent also composed the Emmy-nominated main title theme for the Showtime hit, Dexter.  In 2012, he received the Richard Kirk award for career achievement.

Born in England into a non-musical family, Kent intuitively felt at age 12 that he wanted to be a film composer, although his early musical training was brief and not so formal.  Citing Jarre’s Lawrence of Arabia and Morricone’s The Good, The Bad and the Ugly,  as inspirations, Kent took the advice of an early music teacher to avoid rigid  course work that would dampen his enthusiasm.  He followed an entirely different path and, taking counterpoint to what is often cited as culture mired in cynicism, profited from his early course work in theology to relate it to music.  After enrolling in psychology sutdies at Unviersity of Leeds in Yorkshire, Kent’s musical career was casually begun at a dance club when the director of a play offered him a chance to “do” the music.  His jump start was his composition for a stage musical Gross at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, a springboard for Authors, composers and performers.

In the confines of his musically busy studio, one can immediately see why his musical personality is as distinct and his own.  Constantly on the go, adventurous and curious, Kent has developed a style that is not only distinct, but indicative of his aversion to the-anticipated-score in tone, texture and rhythm.  The walls are lined with many familiar and many more unfamiliar instruments, gingerly handled and gleefully demonstrated for their sonic qualities.  Among his collection are the Indonesian percussion instrument the angklung, the shawm (first used in military maneuvers as a psychological weapon), the melodica, used for the light, soothing effect in Kent’s jazz-infused score for his Golden Globe-nominated Sideways, and an instrument he discovered and cannot name that sounds like the world’s beaches at their most romantic high tide... combined.

Kent has the distinction of attracting and sustaining relationships with directors as popular and diverse as Alexander Payne, Mark Waters, Jason Reitman, Burr Steers, and Richard Shepard.

Synopsis

“Alexander [Payne, writer/director] asked for the score to be beautiful classical music,” Kent described.  The composer wanted to avoid movie-score clichés and took a different route.  “I figured a Kubrickian approach was best, where the music sounds like it existed outside of the film, and was discovered to match the scene perfectly.”  

Known for using unexpected textures, sounds and his own signature musical personality this opened the floodgates for Rolfe.  “As ever, Alexander was open to hearing unexpected sounds, so when I threw him the curve of an opera aria sung in Norwegian, or some bagpipes.  He loved it.” In addition to writing the original score for the film, he also co-wrote the original song “A Little Change In The Weather,” performed by The Swingles.

Trailer

More Info Here about Rolfe and his work.

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For more information about David Peck's podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here or check out the site of his podcast on film, social change and much more.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Image Copyright: TVO and The Cutting Factory. Used with permission.

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Daniel Zuckerbrot and Face2Face host David Peck talk about Michelangelo, The Nature of Things, capital “T” truth, documentary storytelling and science.

For more info on Reel Time Images head here.

Biography

Daniel’s first experience in the Canadian film industry was in 1974 when, while studying history of science, religion and philosophy at the University of Waterloo, he got a summer job as a researcher for a documentary. Though only 20 at the time this was far from his earliest foray into the Canadian art scene. At the age of 15 he began working as an assistant in the technical crew at Theatre Passe Muraille. This was in 1969 and Passe Muraille was the centre of avante garde theatre.

In recent years Daniel’s specifically theatre related work has been limited to directing actors in some of his productions as well as having made a number of documentaries about performers. A working magician himself for some years, he taught magic privately and for the Toronto Board of Education. He is also one of the founding board member of Magicana a registered charity dedicated to the exploration of magic as a performing art and to increasing the public’s understanding and appreciation of this art. For more information see www.magicana.com

From the early 80s, through much of the 90s he was also involved managing the organization and activities of large groups of volunteers. These activities included helping organize neighborhood newspapers in Canada and abroad (including England, Scotland, Iceland, and Jamaica). Daniel is fluent in Spanish. His interests in the history of technology have come to a happy meeting in his current experiments in textile production, dye chemistry and casting metal (copper, bronze, brass, and iron) using kilns and crucibles that he has built himself.

His creative endeavors are not limited to film or the forge. He is a writer in a range of genres and one of his short writings was published in the Spring 2011 edition of the literary journal Descant.

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Jason Lemieux

Jason talks a great deal about the little things and how they can impact our health, our overall wellbeing and why sitting is now considered the new smoking. There are some great tips here for everyone and a metaphor or two guaranteed to meet you somewhere in the middle. Listen in and capture a little of Jason’s passion about holistic healthcare. You’ll be better off for it.

Biography

Dr. Lemieux has been the owner/operator of Physiomed Oakville for over ten years. The valedictorian of theNational University of Health Sciences, Dr. Lemieux combines manual chiropractic treatment with cutting edgerehabilitation protocols. He’s also a great golfer and loves The Game of Thrones.

Check out some of his practical teaching videos here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Biography

Inspired by her Uncle, Canadian astronaut Cmdr (Ret’d) Chris Hadfield, Kelly Hadfield was raised recognizing that a person has no limits to what they can accomplish. In 2007, Kelly co-founded a local non-profit organization in Ontario called the Prom Blitz, which enables marginalized graduating high school girls to proudly attend their prom with their peers and celebrate their achievements.

During her B.Sc. Honours with a Major in Biomedical Science at the University of Guelph, Kelly gained experience in a diverse array of health improvement fields, including physiotherapy, peer counseling, global health, and research.

While completing her undergraduate degree, Kelly founded Ghana Medical Help, an international charity aimed to alleviate suffering and improve health outcomes in rural Ghana. She then completed a M.Sc. thesis focused on utilizing an innovative technique for large scale monitoring of malaria in Africa.

She is currently working on maximizing the impact Ghana Medical Help can have on sustainably improving the health status of rural West African communities and while completing medical school in Ireland.

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Abram today talks about the moral and wise application of knowledge, learning to be quiet, why technology is only going to take us so far, “crops of merit” and how humility is essential to good development.

Biography

Dr. Abram Bicksler is the Director of the ECHO Asia Impact Center in Chiang Mai, Thailand. For over 30 years, ECHO has been helping thousands of development workers and organizations around the world to better access vital information and other resources needed to improve food production and security for small farmers and gardeners. Since 2009, the ECHO Asia Impact Center has been equipping and training development workers and organizations in Asia to extend relevant information, techniques, seeds, and information to improve the lives of the poor in Asia. Formerly an Instructor for the International Sustainable Development Studies Institute (ISDSI) in Chiang Mai, Abram spent the past 4 years teaching and facilitating American undergraduate students to learn about sustainable development in the tropics. Prior to moving to Thailand, Abram completed his M.S. and a Ph.D. in environmental science at University of Illinois, which focused on the ecology and use of cover crops in sustainable vegetable production.

Read more about him here or here.

A 4-min video clip about Seed Banks can be found here.

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Listen to Pietra talk about identity, the resilience of the human spirit, gender disparity, her new film and why she’s attracted to people in difficult situations.

Trailer

IMDB

Website

Film Synopsis

Director Pietra Brettkelly (The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins) follows a group of dedicated Afghan cinephiles who are literally excavating their country’s cinematic past, as they seek to retrieve over 8,000 hours of film footage that they risked their lives to conceal during the Taliban era.

Film preservation is a challenge all over the world, but on this scale of crisis Afghanistan ranks near the very top. The miniboom in film production that followed the establishment of the state Afghan Film organization in 1965 came to an end with the ascension of the Taliban, which viewed cinema as Western culture that needed to be expunged. The country’s film history might well have have been lost forever, if not for the brave custodians who risked their lives to conceal films from the regime.

In A Flickering Truth, we meet the dedicated cinephiles who are now excavating, preserving, and restoring thousands of hours of film footage, both drama and documentary, from Afghanistan’s cinematic past.

The effort is led by Ibrahim Arify, who had been jailed for filmmaking under the Mujahideen and fled the country to start a new life in Germany. Now, he has returned to rebuild Afghan Film and help bring a sense of order to a country where resources are scarce and needs are great. The heart of the organization is the elderly Uncle Isaaq Yousif, who was orphaned at age thirteen and has lived on the archive’s premises for thirty-one years. Isaaq considers the archives to be his family,

Director Pietra Brettkelly follows the archivists as they continue to struggle during the post-Taliban era, where suicide bombers continue to target anything with Western associations. As the caretakers thread old projectors with film from unmarked reels, the country’s history comes alive with images of former leaders, beloved actresses, and landmarks that have since been destroyed. A Flickering Truth is a testament to the urgency and necessity of film preservation.

Biography

Pietra Brettkelly is a New Zealand documentary director and producer, whose work has featured in four of the five top international film festivals – Sundance, Berlin, Venice and Toronto. Best known for the films A Flickering Truth and The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins, Brettkelly was a journalist before becoming a filmmaker and her work has taken her to nearly 100 countries.

Brettkelly’s most recent film, A Flickering Truth, which documents the unearthing of the Afghan Film Archive in Kabul, Afghanistan, premiered at the 2015 Venice Film Festival to great critical acclaim. The Hollywood Reporter’s Deborah Young praised the film, describing it as “a documentary not just for archivists but for those who see film as a vital part of local culture,”while Indiewire’s Eric Kohn called the movie an “eye-opening documentary … a moving navigation of Afghanistan’s past and present.

When filming in southern Sudan in 2006 for the television documentary series Ends of the Earth for Television New Zealand, Brettkelly met Italian artist Vanessa Beecroft.

Beecroft is famous for her provocative performance art, and while in Sudan for a project had decided to try and adopt motherless twins.Brettkelly had previously produced a documentary on international adoption, The Rescue of Iani and, along with cameraman Jacob Bryant, eventually followed Beecroft’s adoption efforts over 16 months, which formed the basis for The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins.

More on Pietra here. 

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Vaishali Sinha and Face2Face host David Peck talk about her new film Ask The Sexpert, cultural context, “women as allies”, a Doctor as a 90-year-old pioneer and the latent effects of colonialism.

IMDB

Synopsis

ASK THE SEXPERT is a feature length documentary about a highly popular 93-year-old sex advice columnist for a daily newspaper in Mumbai. Despite sex being a taboo topic in that country, the column’s brand of non-moralistic advice and humor has emboldened many to write in with their questions, the vast majority of whom seek basic information.

The columnist gains popularity even while a ban on comprehensive sex education in schools is adopted by approximately one third of India’s states.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yRR1_VU1cQ 

Biography

Vaishali Sinha Co-Directed/Produced the feature documentary MADE IN INDIA about the personal stories behind the phenomenon of outsourcing surrogate mothers to India. The film premiered at Hot Docs Film Festival and aired on PBS in 2012.

The film received several Jury awards at festivals and is currently a case study at Harvard Business School for their class on ethics. ASK THE SEXPERT is Vaishali’s second feature length documentary; a presentation by her company Coast to Coast Films.

Vaishali has also produced numerous shorts. She has received support for her films from ITVS, the MacArthur Foundation, Tribeca Film Institute, Catapult Fund, Firelight Media, Playboy Foundation, Chicken & Egg Pictures, The Fledgling Fund, Center for Asian American Media, Mozilla, Ford Foundation, Nextpix and more.

Vaishali also freelances at Videoline Productions founded by Peabody award-winning filmmaker Richard Wormser (Rise and Fall of Jim Crow). Vaishali speaks regularly at events and has acted as jury member at film festivals. In the past she has worked with women’s right group Point of View, in Mumbai. She is originally from Mumbai, and now resides in Brooklyn, NY with her husband Fred Lassen, a Music Director and their two-year-old son Luca.

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Beatrice Behn and René Gebhardt talk about their new film The Artist and the Pervert, love and destructive desires, the complicated relationship between art and life, voyeurism, the clichéd representation of others and espresso machines as inspiration.

Watch the Trailer here.

Synopsis

Georg Friedrich Haas is arguably the most important living composer of symphonic music, but also a descendant of a Nazi family. His wife, whom he met through the dating site “OkCupid,” is an African-American kink educator.

Their deep relationship is based on an open, yet controversial role-playing game between a white male master and a black female slave.

This groundbreaking film documents their lives between perversion, art, love, and radical self-determination.

Biography

Beatrice Behn is a freelance film critic with 10+ years of experience and senior film critic and editor-in-chief of Kino-Zeit, the largest German language film magazine for arthouse and independent film.

She is also about to graduate from Freie Universität Berlin with a Master's degree in film studies. Her fields of expertise are genre cinema, bodies & genders and feminist film studies. ̓THE ARTIST & THE PERVERT‘ is her first feature length documentary. Beatrice is based in Berlin, Germany.

René Gebhardt is a German art director, designer and filmmaker. He won numerous national and international creative awards for his works as an art director, 10 Lions at the ‚Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity‘ among them.  ̓THE ARTIST & THE PERVERT‘ is his first feature length documentary film. He is based in Berlin, Germany.

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Image Copyright: Beatrice Behn and Rene Gebhardt. Used with permission.

For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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Violeta and Face2Face host David Peck talk about Cocaine Prison, freedom, power and politics, the “War on Drugs” and indigenous history and truth.

Biography

Violeta Ayala is an award-winning indigenous filmmaker and writer born in Bolivia. Her credits include Cocaine Prison (2017) premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival. The Fight (2017) distributed by The Guardian Shorts, winner of the Doc Dispatch Award at the Sheffield Doc Fest, The Bolivian Case (2015), premiered as a Special Presentation at Hot Docs, was nominated for Premios Platino and Fenix (the two most prestigious awards in Ibero-America) and was distributed by Ibermedia across Latin America to an audience of 625 million.

Stolen (2009) which premiered at Toronto International Film Festival, screened in 80 festivals worldwide has won 15 awards and aired on PBS. Violeta is currently working the feature version of The Fight and WAR, a documentary about black rights in Australia. She is also writing the screenplay El Comunista about her grandfather – a Serbian Jew, leader of the Bolivian Communist party and friend to Che Guevara. Violeta writes a popular blog at the Huffington Post.

Her films have been supported by PBS, Latino Public Broadcasting, Open Society Foundations, Sundance, MacArthur Foundation, Tribeca, Chicken & Egg, Bertha and Puma Britdoc, IDFA, CNC, Strasbourg Film Fund, Screen NSW, Screen Australia, Norwegian Film Institute, Señal Colombia and The Guardian. She is a founding member of United Notions Film. 

Synopsis

In Cochabamba, Bolivia, the children “swim” excitedly in huge piles of coca leaves, like the Ball Room in a McDonald’s play area. Mediums tell fortunes by reading the leaves. When they grow older, the children help harvest the coca plants. The relationship between the coca plant and cocaine is akin to grapes and wine. While growing a certain amount of coca leaves is legal, making, taking or transporting cocaine isn’t.

Amid this conundrum, teenagers may be paid $100 to transport cocaine, risking arrest and years in the notorious San Sebastian Prison.

This is the life on display in Cocaine Prison, where the boundaries of legality are blurred, in a country where the coca crop by-product all but props up a “grey market” economy. Needing to pay lip service to the U.S. War on Drugs, the Bolivian government enforces drug laws, which allows it to charge powerless drug workers while often turning a blind eye to powerful “big fish.”

Cocaine Prison is a rare case of a prison documentary partially shot by the inmates themselves. The twists of the tale are almost movie-like, with Daisy mulling a devil-or-angel choice of freeing her brother by becoming a “mule” herself, or cooperating with authorities seeking her testimony against her boss. “The universal truth of the War on Drugs is that it targets the most vulnerable everywhere: the drug workers at one end and the drug addicts on the other,” Ayala says. “They are the ones who are called criminals. But the world economy runs on drug money. And the key players, the big fish, live outside justice. The justice system is based on money, class and race.

Trailer

IMDB

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For more information about David Peck's podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here or check out the site of his podcast on film, social change and much more.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Image Copyright: Violeta Ayala. Used with permission.

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amos talked about his new film, about Israel not being a monolithic culture, peace, and why the “other” should exist.

Film Synopsis

Rabin, The Last Day

IMDB

Trailer

Lauded director Amos Gitaï (Kippur) delves into the prelude and aftermath of the 1995 assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in this gripping docudrama.

For many Israelis, the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 marked a grim turning point for their country. In the words of the commission set up to investigate the murder, “Israeli society [would] never be the same again. As a democracy, political assassination was not part of our culture.” In the eyes of even more people, the murder ended all hope for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process through the Oslo Accords and altered the course of history. But, as Amos Gitaï sets out to prove in his brave and provocative new film, Rabin’s assassination was not just the act of one fanatic; it was the culmination of a hate campaign that emanated from the rabbis and public figures of Israel’s far right.

Gitaï has done an immense amount of research on the subject, digging deep into the precursors to the assassination. The mandate of the official Commission of Inquiry was severely limited; to Gitaï, Rabin, the Last Day is meant to be the inquiry that wasn’t, and he is determined to provide a wider context. While he mixes in documentary footage and occasional interviews with key figures (among them Shimon Peres and the PM’s late widow, Leah Rabin), most of the film is a dramatic re-enactment of the investigation, the hearings, and the testimony of Rabin’s assassin, Yigal Amir. Basing every line of dialogue on documentary evidence (including a full transcript of the Shamgar Commission hearing), the director probes the collective psyche of a country so divided that certain elements would stop at nothing to get their way.

Gitaï broadens his net, too, touching on the issue of the controversial settlements as well as the anti-Rabin invective that came from certain synagogues and the mouths of rival politicians. Rarely has such an important historical figure, and event, been given such respect from a filmmaker. The revelations in Rabin are spellbinding.

Biography

Amos Gitaï was born in Haifa, Israel, and received a Ph.D. in architecture from the University of California, Berkeley. Many of his films have played the Festival, including the documentaries Brand New Day, The Arena of Murder, and Carmel, and the narrative features Berlin Jerusalem, Kadosh, Kippur, Kedma, Alila, Promised Land, Free Zone, Disengagement, One Day You’ll Understand, and Roses à credit. Rabin, The Last Day is his latest film.

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Boris Ivanov and Face2Face host David Peck talk about propaganda, international adoptions, state sponsored hate, political complicity, LGBTQ issues in Russia, independent media and Pussy Riot.

Biography

Boris Ivanov’s directing credits include theatrical recreations for History channel’s Beyond Top Secret, which earned two News and Documentary Emmy nominations. He co-directed Loving a Stranger, TV documentary on the complexity of cross-cultural relationships.

He has directed several narrative films including Seven Storeys, winner of Los Angeles Short Film Festival, and Princess Castle. Recently Boris directed an online documentary In The Monument on the evolution of Holocaust memorialization.

Boris is also the producer behind Sundance premiered Family Portrait In Black and hite (VIFF 2011), Love Translated (VIFF 2010), High Five: A Suburban Adoption Saga (VIFF 2012).

Synopsis

On Putin’s Blacklist presents the reality of how an adoption ban of Russian orphans to US citizens came about and how it was the first step in Russia’s new Cold War with America. Soon enough this adoption ban was expanded to all countries that allow same-sex unions and combined Kremlin’s anti-adoption campaign with anti-LGBT.

The next victims were the NGOs and Human Rights Groups followed by Russian opposition. Anyone on Putin’s Blacklist is labeled as American spy, a foreign agent controlled by Western intelligence agencies with the aim of destroying Russia. This is how Putin is able to control the populace, by creating enemies for Russian’s to hate.

With Donald Trump as president, the world is staring at an unclear future. Can Russia reverse its trajectory of persecuting opposition and vilifying the West or will Donald Trump accept Russia as is and legitimize Putin’s regime.

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For more information about David Peck's podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here or check out the site of his podcast on film, social change and much more.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dev Aujla and David Peck talk about 50 Ways to Get A Job, finding meaning in the simple things, giving back, the road less travelled and why relationships are key to pretty much everything.

Dev Aujla is the CEO of Catalog, an insight and recruiting firm that has provided talent and strategy to some of the world’s most innovative companies including BMW, GOOD Magazine, Change.org, and Planned Parenthood.

His writing and work have been featured in dozens of media outlets including the New York Times, Glamour, MSNBC, CBC and The Globe and Mail. 

He is the author of Making Good: Finding Meaning, Money and Community in a Changing World and 50 Ways to Get a Job: An Unconventional Guide to Finding Work on Your Terms. 

Image Copyright: Dev Aujla. Used with permission.

For more information about David Peck’s podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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Join Ken as he talks about his on the ground experience of the Haitian earthquake, what’s wrong with CIDA and his thoughts about the future of child sponsorship.

Ken is a CA and the president of Speroway – an organization in partnership with caring Canadians, responding to the needs of children and their families, in Canada and around the world, by providing food, medicine, education and other essentials with love, compassion and integrity.

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This week’s podcast was a fun one to record. Taped in front of a live enthusiastic and thoughtful audience this past December in downtown Toronto. I chatted with two magicians, on stage and post show, James Alan and Mike Close. The food was good, the magic terrific and the conversation engaging. Listen is as we talk about magic, wonder and reason in the 21st century.

Biography

James Alan is a magician based in Toronto. He is the producer of James Alan’s Magic Tonight, a live dinner-theatre-style magic show performed in Downtown Toronto, Mississauga, and Pickering. He has produced two acclaimed one-man shows;The Uncertainty Project and Lies, Damn Lies & Magic/Tricks. Check out some of thereviews from Magic Tonight.

Michael Close is a magician, musician. He is a world-renowned magic inventor and consultant. He is the author of numerous magic publications including Closely Guarded Secrets, the Workers series and a joke collection, That Reminds Me. He is currently the editor of MUM, the journal of the Society of American Magicians.

The podcast was taped in front of a live audience at the Winter Solstice Celebration for the Centre for Inquiry Canada, a think tank and community outreach organization advancing reason, science, free expression and secular values.

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Listen in on our chat today with Jamie Dagg and Rossif Sutherland talking about their new film River, the Mekong and unintended consequences.

River opens March 13th – 2016.

Read more about the film here and it’s World premiere at TIFF and check out it’s trailer here.

Synopsis – River

Accused of murder after intervening in the sexual assault of a young woman, an American volunteer doctor in Laos is forced to go on the run.

One of the most energetic thrillers produced this year; Jamie M. Dagg's debut feature River takes us on a frantic getaway in Laos, from the shores of the Mekong River, up to the mountains in the north.

John Lake (Rossif Sutherland) is an American volunteer doctor working for an NGO in a village in southern Laos. On his way home after an alcohol-soaked evening at a local bar, John intervenes in the sexual assault of a young woman, and the violence quickly escalates. The next day, the assailant's body is pulled out of the water.

All the evidence points to John, who recognizes the nightmare that awaits if he's captured by the local authorities, and realizes that his only hope is to reach the US Embassy. With no time to think and no one to count on, he goes on the run.

Shot and edited with vigour, and propelled by Sutherland's spot-on performance as a man fuelled by fear and guided only by instinct, River nevertheless goes beyond the thrill of the chase.

Addressing the incompatibility of different nations' judicial systems, the film raises the questions: Was John's vigilante action the right thing to do? And is escaping the right thing for him to do now?

Dagg's exceptional film manages to keep these issues present in our minds while remaining relentlessly on the move, creating a feverish crescendo that doesn't let up for one single minute.

Biography

Rossif Sutherland, an established performer in Music, Film and Television has developed an extensive resume. 

Film credits include “Big Muddy” directed by Jefferson Moneo, “I’m Yours” opposite Karine Vanasse, Gary Yates’ feature film “High Life” opposite Timothy Olyphant and Joe Anderson for which received a Genie nomination, and the critically acclaimed Clement Virgo feature “Poor Boy’s Game” opposite Danny Glover all of which premiered The Toronto International Film Festival. Others include “Timeline”, a Paramount feature directed by Richard Donner as well as the independent feature film “Red Doors” directed by Georgia Lee. Most recently he just completed filming a supporting role in ‘Back Country’ opposite Joel Kinnaman and the starring role in ‘River’ directed by Jamie Dagg which shot in Laos.

In Television, Sutherland has had recurring guest spots on shows such as NBC’s “Crossing Lines” and BBCA’s “Copper” with other guest starring roles in TMN’s “Living In Your Car”; “Monk” and “Being Erica” and “Cracked” for CBC as well as a recurring role in season 10 of NBC’s hit show “ER”. He’s been series regular on Showcase’s “King” and the hit show “Reign” for the CW. When he’s not acting, he is busy recording his music.

Biography

Jamie Dagg was born in Timmins, Ontario, and is based in Toronto. His shorts Waiting (05) and Sunday (08) played the Festival.

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Boudewijn Koole and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new film Disappearance, looking closer, the wonder and mystery of life, Mother and daughter relationships and death as an inspiration.

Biography

Boudewijn Koole won the Discovery Award of the European Film Academy in 2012. He started as a documentary filmmaker after his studies at the University of Delft. His first documentary series for television on children in the Northern Ireland conflict and children and death were nominated for the UNICEF award and an International Emmy.

He recently began to write and direct fiction films. His first feature film, Kauwboy (Little Bird) was sold to over 20 countries and won more than 30 awards worldwide, amongst them the First Feature Award at the Berlinale. Kauwboy was the Dutch entry for the 2012 Oscars.

In 2016 Beyond Sleep, premiered at the opening night of the International Film Festival Rotterdam. In September 2016 Koole has won a Golden Calf for Best Director at the Netherlands Film Festival in Utrecht.

Synopsis

Roos (Rifka Lodeizen), a photographer of 33 years old, is on her way to her 55 year old mother Louise (Elsie de Brauw) and her 13 year old half-brother Bengt (Marcus Hanssen) in Norway. The welcome is everything but warm. Bengt is angry because Roos hasn’t been home in a very long time. The relationship between Roos and Louise has been difficult for ages. Bengt and Roos soon make up; there is a very strong bond between the two of them. Making up with Louise is quite a different matter altogether.

Every approach is met with a wall of silent reproach and deep anger about the past, partly and perhaps even mostly from Roos. Roos runs into Johnny (Jakob Oftebro). After an unavoidable and passionate reunion she tells him why she has come to see her mother: she’s incurably ill and she has to inform Louise and Bengt.

After a big fight with her mother Roos finally tells them. Louise as Bengt are broken by the news. Louise realizes that she has to help Roos accepting the soon coming death. Because of the time spending with her mother, in the nature with Bengt, Roos realizes that she’s not going to wait for the death. She feels the desire to disappear in the nature. The hills up ahead seem to be calling her. She wants to go there, her last journey.

When Roos wants to leave the house, Louise is already waiting for her with the sledge and the dogs. Inwardly torn, Louise helps Roos and accompanies her. Roos finally reaches the place where she wants to disappear: the infinite white hills.

Trailer

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For more information about David Peck's podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here or check out the site of his podcast on film, social change and much more.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Image Copyright: Boudewijn Koole and The Film Kitchen. Used with permission.

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Check out our conversation with Mark today as we talk about his new book, why he's a recovering Catholic and how to use philosophy as a way of life. 

Biography

Mark Kingwell, M.Litt, M.Phil, PhD, D.F.A. (born March 1, 1963) is a Canadian professor of philosophy and associate chair at the University of Toronto‘s Department of Philosophy. Kingwell is a fellow of Trinity College. He specialises in theories of politics and culture.

Kingwell has published twelve books, most notably, A Civil Tongue: Justice, Dialogue, and the Politics of Pluralism, which was awarded the Spitz Prize for political theory in 1997. In 2000 Kingwell received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, for contributions to theory and criticism. He has held visiting posts at institutions including: University of Cambridge, University of California at Berkeley, and City University of New York where he held the title of Weissman Distinguished Professor of Humanities.

His books have included, A Civil Tongue (1995); Dreams of Millennium (1997); Better Living (1998); The WorldWe Want (2000); Practical Judgments (2002); Catch and Release (2003); Opening Gambits (2008) and a sample of his articles with wonderful titles like, “Is It Rational To Be Polite?” (1993); “Interpretation, Dialogue, and the Just Citizen” (1993); “Madpeople and Ideologues” (1994); “The Plain Truth About Common Sense” (1995); “Defending Political Virtue” (1996); “Two Concepts of Pluralism”

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Listen is today as Russ talks about why he’s running for councilor in Ward 6 in Toronto. He talks about his own conviction and passion for what will make the city a better place to live and how he lives somewhere in a place between anger and hope.

Russ Ford has served the citizens of South Etobicoke for over 30 years. His most recent position, Executive Director for the LAMP Community Health Centre. LAMP CHC is an award-winning organization recognized as one of the best community health centres in Ontario.  For more than 14 years, Russ has developed and enhanced LAMP’s services, improving lives and creating opportunities for the people of South Etobicoke.

Over the years, Russ has helped establish at least nine organizations that impact life in Etobicoke, including two community health centres, programs for youth, seniors, immigrants and diabetes education.

In 2011 Russ fought for community services and programs when city budget talks were threatening to make deep cuts in these essential services. Russ was honoured by the community and the Social Planning Council for his work in helping to preserve a budget that was fairer to all citizens of Toronto.

Prior to coming to LAMP, Russ was Executive Director and founder of the Stonegate Community Health Centre in South Etobicoke.  He also has worked as a journalist and a community development officer in the Lakeshore and Rexdale communities.

Russ holds a master’s degree in social policy from McMaster University, an honours Bachelors of Social Work degree from York University, where he graduated with distinction, and a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Ryerson University.

When he’s not working for the community, you can find Russ on the basketball and tennis courts. Russ has coached youth basketball programs for 15 seasons, including a year at Lakeshore Collegiate. He currently lives in south Etobicoke with his wife Sheila and is the devoted father of three.

For more info check out his site here.

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Alon talks about his new film Transfixed, activism and action, walking in the shoes of others and how it can help us to understand the world in a new and more inclusive way.Film Synopsis

Martine Stonehouse and John Gelmon are middle-aged underdogs, living with Asperger Syndrome.

Despite their social challenges, both dream of getting married, but straight-identifying John refuses to tie the knot until transsexual Martine gets gender reassignment surgery. Will Martine and John find the happiness together that they deserve?

Alon Kol has worked in film and television for seven years as a director and editor. He recently directed the "Holy Threads" episode of The Naked Archaeologist for the History Channel. Kol has written, directed and edited his own award-winning films, which have been shown on television and at numerous festivals. He is also a senior film editor who has edited for broadcasters such as Vision TV, History US, and National Geographic.

Transfixed is a feature independent documentary film produced with the financial support of the Canada Council, the Toronto Arts Council, the Council of the Ontario Arts and the National Film Board of Canada.

Film Trailer

Biography

Alon Kol has worked in film and television for seven years as a director and editor. He recently directed the "Holy Threads" episode of The Naked Archaeologist for the History Channel.

Kol has written, directed and edited his own award-winning films, which have been shown on television and at numerous festivals.

He is also a senior film editor who has edited for broadcasters such as Vision TV, History US, and National Geographic.

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For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michelle talks to day about her approach to solving social issues in her community. She speaks about celebrating difference, facilitating community and how we really need to learn how to say hello more often.

Biography Michelle lives in Oakville with her husband Jeff. She has 4 adult children and one teenager. Michelle attended Humber College for the Community Worker program and had great placement and early career opportunities with Parkdale Legal Services, St Christopher House, LAMP Community Health Centre, Flemingdon Park Red Cross and ESL program, Community Living & Christian Horizons. She has been privileged to have been mentored by many community leaders who shared their knowledge of the importance of facilitating community. These experiences have led her to take on the challenge of being the Executive Director of Oak Park Neighbourhood Centre where she has been involved for 15 years. Michelle is passionate about the importance of nurturing neighbourhoods to be the best they can be by encouraging support, connections and contributions for every member of a community

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Christal talks about finding bravery when you need it most, looking for new stories to tell, how we need to change the questions we so often ask and why there is something beautiful about the inquisitive mind.

Biography

Christal Earle is a passionate communicator and powerhouse of inspiration and insight. Over the course of her career she has co-founded an internationally recognized charity (www.livedifferent.com), worked with numerous clients and audiences around the world focused on humanitarian endeavours driven by vision and the entrepreneurial spirit.

Christal’s message of understanding and embracing the brilliance of who you are and leveraging that to bring about hope and change to others resonates at both the personal level and from the stage.

Since 2001, Christal has been inspiring audiences all around the world, from all walks of life. From high schools and universities to international development and aid workers, to community interest and investment groups she has brought messages that have inspired, provoked and called her audiences to action. Her delivery style is infused with the power of personal story and humour, while providing tangible steps that can be immediately implemented.

In 2009 Christal and her former husband began the pursuit of adopting a four-year Haitian girl in Dominican Republic. What began as a simple and straightforward emergency humanitarian response on behalf of an orphaned child ended in an international debacle that is yet to be resolved. To date, their daughter has not been granted permission to come to Canada and is unable to leave Dominican Republic. The result of the experience caused Christal to have to completely rebuild her life around the limitations it presented.

Christal’s message is one of learning how to change the stories we tell ourselves. In December of 2014 Christal released her first book, Resonate: We Can Change the Stories We Tell Ourselves. Her life work continues to be focused on helping leaders and seekers of truth learn to change and transform the stories they tell themselves.

Christal is now a full time speaker and communication consultant, focused on working with social change organizations and leadership. She is based between Toronto, Canada and Cabarete, Dominican Republic as she works to fulfill her ultimate dream: completing the adoption of her daughter, Widlene.

To find out more about how to book or work with Christal, find her at www.yourbrillianceunlimited.com

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For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound

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Join us today as Annie talks candidly about “why she’s not special”, her fight with a rare form of Cancer, about “we” versus “me”, why she’s so positive and why her life and philosophy has changed so radically over the past few years.

Biography

ANNE PARKER is a Canadian living in Toronto, Ontario.

She was born in 1951 and lost her mother and her sister to cancer. Having survived both breast (1980) and ovarian (1988) cancer, in 1994 Annie and other family members were among a small group of North American families tested for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations.

After waiting almost two years, she learned that she does carry the deadly mutation. After surviving a further bout of cancer in 2005, Anne is today a 63-year-old, healthy woman living with a ticking time bomb: the BRCA1 gene mutation.

Anne is now a cancer awareness and genetic testing advocate. The story of her life was the inspiration behind the film, Decoding Annie Parker (2013) starring Helen Hunt and Aaron Paul. Anne’s determination to give hope to other individuals and families afflicted by hereditary cancer led her to write her autobiography, Annie Parker Decoded.

For more info head to her site here.

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Brian Roberts and James Alan join me in the mysterious back room of The Browsers’ Den of Magic to talk about expectations, secrets and the pressure to fool, card magic, wonder, scripting and the permanence of the coin. It’s a preview of our fun and interesting lecture to benefit the Cambodia War Remnant Museum. 

Spare Change for Social Change 

Enjoy an awesome pair of talks on magic with Brian Roberts and David Peck on February 26, 2017, at Toronto’s Browers’ Magic Den!

They are two local Toronto magicians who have been performing and lecturing on sleight of hand magic now for many years. They both love working with coins and have been known to dabble in cards, parlor and stage manipulation.

Topics covered will include, but not be limited to the Misers Dream, new and polished, workable routines from Brian, thoughts on misdirection and stage manipulation, David’s nuanced take on Wild Coins and why magic is here to stay in this digital age.

Join us for an interesting evening of dialogue, magic, methods and discussion.

All money raised will be going to a social enterprise in Cambodia working with Landmine and PTSD Victims. It’s called The Cambodian War Remnant Museum. It’s making a difference. It presents the story of the war years in Cambodia from a unique perspective. The staff is made up of former soldiers. It’s groundbreaking and changing lives for the better!

 Get more information and tickets at the Browsers’ Den site!

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George and Face2Face host David Peck talk about love, gratitude, celebrity and rebellion and influence, “earned fear”, how you can be angry for good reasons, U2 and why poverty is so not necessary.

More about The Strombo Show here.  

More about George here.

Biography

A six-time Gemini Award and Canadian Screen Award winner for best host in a talk series, George Stroumboulopoulos has interviewed a who’s who of entertainment icons, world leaders and respected thinkers.

George has also taken an active role in global initiatives and is a strong advocate for social issues.

George is the first Canadian National Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations World Food Programme. And he’s one of three Canadians recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader for 2012.

He was also a driving force behind Canada for Haiti, a live benefit that raised more than 27 million dollars for Haitian earthquake victims, and One Million Acts of Green, which saw Canadians register 1.6 million acts of green on the official website.

Along the way, George has interviewed Hollywood legends such as Oprah, Tom Cruise, Keanu Reeves, Michael J. Fox, Clint Eastwood, Jodie Foster, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Samuel L. Jackson; political leaders such as Hillary Clinton, Stephen Harper, Jean Chrétien, Sarah Palin, Brian Mulroney, Al Gore and Jimmy Carter; critically acclaimed authors including Christopher Hitchens, Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, Peter C. Newman and Gore Vidal; music stars Coldplay, Nickelback, Robert Plant, Snoop Dogg, Tony Bennett, Shania Twain, Michael Buble, Ice Cube and The Foo Fighters; renowned directors including Spike Lee, James Cameron, Deepa Mehta, Brian DePalma, and Paul Haggis; and Hollywood breakout stars Ewan McGregor, Olivia Wilde, Bradley Cooper, Ryan Reynolds and Robert Pattinson.

As well, George took part in The Greatest Canadian TV series on CBC, hosting a documentary to make his case for the founder of medicare in Canada, Tommy Douglas. He was one of ten finalists and ultimately received the most votes from Canadians, winning by more than 50,000 votes over second-placed Terry Fox.

George has also hosted the highly regarded CBC documentary series Love, Hate & Propaganda - which examined how propaganda helped shape significant events of the 20th century, including the Second World War, the Cold War and the War On Terror.

George is the host and co-executive producer of George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight. You can find him on Twitter at @strombo as well as on Facebook.

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For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

Image Copyright: George Strombolopolous. Used with permission.

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Helen talks about her new film Hold Your Fire, about police violence, fear, the Sammy Yatim shooting and how 1 in 5 of us will suffer form a mental health crisis at some point in out lives.

Film Trailer

Film Synopsis

Hold Your Fire explores the reasons why officers who signed on to serve and protect somehow end up shooting a vulnerable person. The documentary looks at how police training and response to people in crisis went off track, and shows how progressive police forces, from Rialto, California to Leicester, U.K., are striving to get onto a better path. We travel with Canadian police mobile teams to calls involving people in emotional crisis, and meet a Hamilton mental health worker who responds to 911 calls and is quite possibly the only civilian in Canada to ever send home the tactical team.

Biography

In naming her one of BC’s 100 Most Influential Women, the Vancouver Sun said, “Helen Slinger’s filmmaking is all about taking a grabber of an event and turning it on its head. The documentarian deliberately digs deeper, looking for real meaning beneath surface shock.”

Slinger began her career as a reporter, first newspaper, then television. After a lengthy left-turn into news management, she left mainstream media to pursue her passion for documentary. An empathetic director, the subjects of her films trust her completely, revealing deeply intimate aspects of their lives. But it’s Slinger’s command of the narrative that is most remarkable.

She artfully weaves together complicated storylines, delivering a nuance that eludes most. Notables from a long list of documentary credits: Shadow Warrior, Leaving Bountiful, Alexandra’s Echo, Mounties Under Fire, The Gangster Next Door, When the Devil Knocks, Dog Dazed, and The Condo Games. When not immersed in Bountiful projects, Slinger is an in-demand writer and script doctor, whose efforts elevate dozens of documentaries.

Read more about Bountiful Films here.

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For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

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Andreas Dalsgaard and I talk about his new film The War Show, Syria, self-discovery and tools of expression, silence and journalistic analysis.

Synopsis

A Syrian radio DJ documents the experiences of herself and her friends as their dreams of hope and liberation in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring give way to the grim realities of repression, forced emigration and extremism.

Syrian radio host Obaidah Zytoon and her friends are caught up in the euphoria of the 2011 Arab Spring. Camera in hand, these artists and activists take to the streets to protest Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and record their experiences. They talk about art and relationships as much as politics. But as they film themselves over the next several years, their hopes for a better future are tested by violence, imprisonment and death.

Zytoon and friends have worked with veteran Danish director Andreas Dalsgaard to shape, narrate and edit years of footage into a deeply moving personal narrative. The War Show, subtitled "From Revolution to War in Seven Steps," stands out from other films on Syria in many ways. Rather than dwelling on scenes of bloodshed, it focuses on what the revolution meant to everyday people. Most of Zytoon's friends aren't political firebrands. They share similar aspirations to young people all over the world: to loosen the strictures of religion and repression. In an early protest, Zytoon asks an adolescent girl why she isn't wearing a headscarf. "I'm not demonstrating to be suffocated," she says, "I'm demonstrating to breathe."

But dreams of revolution turn into the reality of civil war. Zytoon takes road trips to the centre of rebellion in Homs, to her hometown Zabadani near Lebanon, and to the north of Syria where they meet struggling rebels and witness the rise of extremism.

Through first-person narration, the film enables us to feel connected to everyone Zytoon meets. After years of Syria making headlines, perhaps some audiences feel fatigue with the topic. But the poignancy of this film will awaken you.

Biography

Born 1980, grew up in northern Denmark. Andreas Dalsgaard has directed documentaries for over a decade. Educated in anthropology at Aarhus University and Paris VII and film directing at The Danish National Film School, his award-winning films have been shown at over 200 festivals worldwide and include Afghan Muscles (2007, American Film Institute Grand Prix), Copenhagen (2009, World Best Graduation Film) Bogota Change (2009), The Human Scale (2012, Al Jazeera Audience Award), Life Is Sacred (2015) and numerous shorts.

Dalsgaard is also co-founder of the production company Elk Film, writes and directs fiction for both film and theater and has given conferences and masterclasses worldwide.

For more information about TIFF go here.

IMDB

Trailer

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For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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Kay talks about why it’s too bad we’ve “stopped lamenting”, how mental illness is the silent killer and about finding purpose in one’s pain.

Biography

Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church with her husband, Rick, is an international speaker, best-selling author and Bible teacher who has a passion for inspiring and motivating others to make a difference with their lives. She is best known for her 10 years as a tireless advocate for those living with HIV and AIDS, and the orphaned and vulnerable children left behind. As an advocate, she has traveled to 19 countries, calling the faith community as well as the public and private sectors to respond with prevention, care, treatment and support of people living with the virus.

Kay is author of several books including her newest Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn’t Enough (Revell, April 2012), which was adapted from a Bible study she first taught at Saddleback Church in July 2011, drawing more than 5,000 women for the four-week sessions. In the book, Kay describes how painful experiences – two bouts of cancer, watching as life-threatening illnesses attacked her children and grandchildren and living with mild depression most of her life – have shaped her conviction that joy is a choice and within the reach of every person, no matter how desperate or dark circumstances may be.

She is also author of Dangerous Surrender, which was originally released in 2007 and revised, expanded and published as Say Yes to God (Zondervan) in 2010, and coauthor of Foundations: 11 Core Truths to Build Your Life On with Pastor Tom Holladay (Zondervan) in 2004.

Additionally, Kay has also written for Christianity Today, Purpose Driven Life, CNN.com and The Washington Post, and has been featured in Newsweek, Reader’s Digest, Guideposts,Sojourners, POZ and Today’s Christian Woman magazines, among others. Kay attended California Baptist College and earned her B.A. from California State University, Los Angeles.

She is mother to Amy, Joshua and Matthew, and grandmother to Kaylie, Cassidy, Caleb, Cole and Claire.

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Join our chat today as Lindsey touches on gender equality, our responsibility to the other and why she does what she does. She has a passion for youth engagement and social change of all kinds.

Originally from New Brunswick, Lindsey is a youth engagement specialist with experience designing and facilitating youth-based initiatives around the world, including projects with UNESCO, Youth Challenge International and Plan Canada.  An arts enthusiast with a strong interest in gender equality, Lindsey recently joined MTV EXIT www.mtvexit.org in Bangkok as their youth engagement manager where she oversees creative awareness-raising programming on trafficking and exploitation across Southeast Asia.

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Film Synopsis

Directed by Avi Lewis and produced in conjunction with Naomi Klein’s best-selling book of the same name, This Changes Everything is an urgent dispatch on climate change that explores how our violent disregard for our planet has endangered both it and ourselves, and how resisting this abuse and opposing the forces that propagate it can have a profound — even revolutionary — impact upon the makeup of our society.

With Klein serving as narrator and guide, the film examines several individual cases worldwide — from ranchers in Montana dealing with floods and an oil spill to grandmothers in Greece protesting the arrival of a Canadian gold-processing complex, from fishermen in India rejecting a coal-fired power plant to migrant workers in Fort McMurray drowning their sorrows — to show both the ravages of unchecked capitalist “development” and some of the grassroots initiatives that have begun to combat them.

Filmed on several continents over a period of three years, This Changes Everything argues that the greatest crisis we have ever faced also offers us the opportunity to address and chere orrect the inhumane systems that have created it.

Biography

Avi Lewis is a filmmaker and TV host with a 25 year history of pushing the boundaries of mainstream media. He is the director of the feature documentary This Changes Everything, inspired by the bestselling book by Naomi Klein.

His first documentary, The Take (2004), followed Argentina’s legendary movement of worker- run businesses. It premiered at the Venice Biennale and was released theatrically around the world.

He co-created and hosted both Al Jazeera English Television’s acclaimed documentary series Fault Lines, and the ground-breaking The Big Picture on CBC Television.

Watch the trailer here

Visit the website for more info.

And get Naomi’s book here that inspired the film.

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