In this episode we explore a film that mashes up the textures of Indian cinema with a Canadian coming-of-age picture. The Queen Of My Dreams is a comedy-drama that explores the casm between desires and expectations. Set Against the backdrop of a shared obsession with Bollywood fantasy. Mariam, a Pakistani Muslim woman, and her Canadian-born daughter Azra come of age in two different eras.

I was joined by writer and director Fawzia Mirza.

Fawzia is a Canadian film and TV actress, writer, producer, and director. Her work includes web series Kam Kardashian and Brown Girl Problems, and the 2017 film Signature Move. Mizra came out as a Muslim lesbian in 2016, and describes herself as "a lesbian, Muslim, Pakistani, actor, activist, writer, producer, lawyer and creature of passion". Her first short film, also titled The Queen of My Dreams was inspired from feelings as a young girl. Fawzia Mirza fell under the spell of Bollywood heroines and their promise of love and feminine perfection. As an adult, she looks back and re-imagines the epic romance in the classic film Aradhana, in a queer light. In 2020, her feature screenplay adaptation of The Queen of My Dreams was accepted into the Toronto International Film Festival Writers Studio and Filmmaker Lab, under the working title Me, My Mom & Sharmila. The film was shot in 2022, under the working title Me, My Mom & Sharmila. It was adapted from Mirza's theatrical stage play of the same name. 

The 2023 Atlantic International Film Festival is just around the corner, and with it comes a new line-up of films across a fresh collection of streams. This podcast showcases the voices of filmmakers whose work will feature in the 2023 program, going deep behind the vision and motivation for each film.

Find out More:
https://atlanticfilmfestival.ca/

Produced by Podstarter
https://www.podstarter.io/

With Love and a Major Organ is set in an alternate world where hearts are made of objects and suppressing emotions is self-care, a lonely woman rips out her own heart for the man she loves, only to discover that he has run away with it. Whimsical, quirky, and wildly original, With Love and a Major Organ pushes on the ever-stranger phenomenon of physical human interaction in the age of technology. Why is it that we are ever more connected and yet we have never felt more alone?

I was joined by writer Julia Lederer, Director Kim Albright producer Madeleine Davis and lead, Anna Maguire.

Julia Lederer is an internationally-acclaimed writer, Julia's plays have been produced across North America and in Europe, and her films have been selections at major festivals, including TIFF,  Palm Springs, and SXSW. Kim Albright is a Canadian/British/Filipina writer/director. She began her career in the UK, directing short films, music videos, and commercials and is an alumna of the Canadian Film Centre Director's Lab (2018). Madeleine Davis is a Canadian writer and producer based between Canada and the UK, where she is currently completing a Masters in Creative Writing at Cambridge University. She has a decade of experience in narrative and commercial filmmaking. Anna Maguire is a British/Canadian writer, director and actress. As an actress, Anna recently performed in Kim Nguyen’s The Hummingbird Project alongside Salma Hayek, Jesse Eisenberg and Alexander Skarsgard and can be seen in the upcoming film Violation by Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli.

The 2023 Atlantic International Film Festival is just around the corner, and with it comes a new line-up of films across a fresh collection of streams. This podcast showcases the voices of filmmakers whose work will feature in the 2023 program, going deep behind the vision and motivation for each film.

Find out More:
https://atlanticfilmfestival.ca/

Produced by Podstarter
https://www.podstarter.io/

In this episode we talk to Ian Harnarine, the writer and director of Doubles. The story of a Trinidadian street vendor must travel to Toronto and decide if he will help save his estranged father from dying.

Ian was born in Toronto, Canada and is the son of immigrants from Trinidad & Tobago. He attended York University earning a Bachelor’s degree in Physics & Astronomy and a Master’s degree in Nuclear Physics from the University of Illinois and an MFA from NYU’s Graduate Film School. Harnarine’s film “Doubles With Slight Pepper” (Executive Produced by Spike Lee), won the Best Short Film Award at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Canadian Academy Award. “Caroni”, about a West Indian domestic worker in New York, premiered at TIFF and continues to screen at festivals worldwide. Harnarine has made dozens of films for Sesame Street, one of which garnered an Emmy nomination. “Party Done”, Harnarine’s feature documentary about controversial crime reporter Ian Alleyne, played theatrically in the Caribbean. “Doubles”, a feature film, is currently in post-production while Harnarine writes an adaptation of David Chariandy’s novel “Soucouyant”. Harnarine was selected by Filmmaker Magazine as one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film, profiled in the New York Times and named one of Playback Magazine’s Ten to Watch.

The 2023 Atlantic International Film Festival is just around the corner, and with it comes a new line-up of films across a fresh collection of streams. This podcast showcases the voices of filmmakers whose work will feature in the 2023 program, going deep behind the vision and motivation for each film.

Find out More:
https://atlanticfilmfestival.ca/

Produced by Podstarter
https://www.podstarter.io/

The 2023 Atlantic International Film Festival is just around the corner, and with it comes a new line-up of films across a fresh collection of streams. This podcast showcases the voices of filmmakers whose work will feature in the 2023 program, going deep behind the vision and motivation for each film.

Find out More:
https://atlanticfilmfestival.ca/

Produced by Podstarter
https://www.podstarter.io/