Face2Face with David Peck

Anastasia Phillips and Face2Face host David Peck talk about her new film Tammy’s Always Dying, mental health issues, perspective, vanity, therianthropy and winemaking and why she never judges a character.

Trailer

Synopsis:

On the 29th of every month, right when the welfare money runs out, Catherine talks her alcoholic mother Tammy off the ledge of the same bridge. This routine has gone on for so long that it’s the only thing Cathy feels she’s good at. And its Tammy’s selfish way of keeping hold of her daughter. But when Tammy is diagnosed with terminal cancer, suddenly she's not so sure she wants to die anymore.

Catherine has embraced failure. She works at the neighborhood dive bar and has terrible relationship with Reggie Seamus, the same idiot she's been with since high school. Except now he’s unhappily married with kids. The only positive force in Catherine's life is Doug, a semi-closeted friend of the family who has the unfortunate habit of always taking Tammy's side. With Tammy’s diagnosis, Catherine's responsibilities become completely overwhelming.

Then a chance meeting with Ilana, a glamorous, reality TV agent gives Catherine an alternative. She can sell her life story and experience 15 minutes of fame. She just has to wait for Tammy to die. But Tammy is responding well to treatment. The 29th comes and goes and…nothing.

Catherine is furious after an altercation with her still ferocious mother. She throws a suitcase into the back of her shit-box car and leaves for the city. To Ilana. To success. Finally, she'll get an audience for her tragedy. But Ilana isn't the hero Catherine anticipated; in fact, Ilana is a selfish drunk, which is exhaustingly familiar to Catherine.

When Doug suddenly dies of a heart attack, Catherine is completely devastated. She decides to go back home and do the only thing she's ever been good at: taking care of Tammy. But Tammy has come to terms with her mortality and wants to do right by her daughter.

And then it’s the 29th.

About Anastasia:

Anastasia Phillips was born and raised in Toronto. She received a B.F.A in Acting from the University of British Columbia, where she also studied Philosophy. 

Her professional acting career began with the title role in the Vancouver Art’s Club production The Diary of Anne Frank, for which she received a Dora nomination for Best Actress. From there, Phillips worked across the country in regional theatres, including the Citadel’s production of Equus, and the Vancouver premier of Morwyn Brebner’s The Optimists. She also toured with the Electric Theatre Company’s award winning production of Studies in Motion.

Phillips moved back to Toronto when she landed a lead role on the CBC series, M.V.P,. A number of television and film projects followed, including the notable feature Nonsense Revolution, which premiered at the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax. Recently, on the big screen, Phillips also starred in the dramatic thriller Incident In A Ghostland as a traumatized sister and daughter, for director Pascal Laugier; and as an over-protective young mother in Don’t Talk To Irene, for director Pat Mills.

Phillips has studied and performed improv at the Groundlings in LA, and has also trained in a circus, as well as with a Brazilian theater troupe. She was the voice of ‘Lo’ on the Fresh TV animated series Stoked.

Phillips gained further notoriety when she starred in an episode of Murdoch Mysteries, which garnered her a Gemini nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Guest Role. She later reprised that role on the series, at the request of the show’s creator. Additionally, one Phillips’s favorite roles was that of ‘Vera Burr’, the empowered lead on Bomb Girls, both the TV movie and the series, opposite Meg Tilly.

Image Copyright: JA Productions. Used with permission.

F2F Music and Image Copyright: David Peck and Face2Face. Used with permission.

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

With thanks to Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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

Ellen Toland and Face2Face host David Peck talk about her new film Inside the Rain, living legends, mental illness, big goofy hearts, the resilience of artists and why sometimes people appear in our lives for only a season.

Trailer

Watch it on Apple TV, Prime, Google Play, Tubi and others…

And learn more about the film here.

Synopsis:

College film student Benjamin Glass (Aaron Fisher) has it all: ADHD, OCD, borderline personality. And he’s also bipolar. But Glass is more than his diagnoses – he prefers the term ‘recklessly extravagant’ -- and he’s determined to prove his genius. When a misunderstanding threatens to expel him from college, Glass pushes back; he plans on recreating the incident on video, with the help of a moonlighting sex worker (Ellen Toland), to clear his name. But how will he raise the money for the film, when his parents dismiss the scheme as another manic episode?

Inside the Rain is a wincingly funny rom-com-drama, anchored by off- kilter performances by co-stars Fisher and Toland. The colorful ensemble cast includes Rosie Perez as a tough love shrink, Eric Roberts as an unhinged film producer, and Catherine Curtin and Paul Schulze as the long-suffering parents. The ultimate underdog film and proof that if you believe in yourself, anything is possible.

About Ellen:

Inside the Rain marks Ellen Toland's debut as a female lead. A native Texan turned New Yorker, Ellen received her BFA in Acting from Pace University. She went on to train at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and has since continued to study with some of the top acting coaches/studios in the business. Ellen's passion for the craft, coupled by her beauty and ethereal essence, has presented her the opportunity to work on projects that live in worlds ranging from period pieces to new age millennial.

Ellen can currently be seen in supporting roles in Michael Engler's The Chaperone (in select theaters and now on PBS) and in Rachel Carey's Ask For Jane.

On the television side, Ellen can be seen as a series regular on Amazon's millennial cult limited series Doomsday. She also recently appeared as a guest star on CBS' Bull.

Image Copyright: Act 13 and Killer Films. Used with permission.

F2F Music and Image Copyright: David Peck and Face2Face. Used with permission.

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

With thanks to Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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

Daniel Stern and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new film James vs. His Future Self, sculpting, good conversation, staying focused, regret and living in the moment, and why there’s no ketchup in the future.

Trailer

Watch it on: Bell On Demand, Shaw and iTunes.

Synopsis:

When an uptight time-travelling obsessed young scientist is visited by his nihilistic future self, he's told that he needs to give up his dream of becoming the world's first time traveler, or else. But when he won't go along with the plan, it becomes a wicked battle of man versus himself - literally.

In James vs His Future Self, Jonas Chernick is James, a brilliant and obsessed particle physicist on the brink of inventing time travel who, in the process, has relegated the only two people who care about him to the sidelines. Daniel Stern is Jimmy, the future, time-travelling version of James, now angry, cynical and driven by regret and loss. Jimmy’s obsessed with righting the wrongs of his life by convincing his younger self to give up his obsession with time travel and to finally stop and smell the roses. Or else.

Directed by Jeremy LaLonde (Cinequest Best Comedy award-winner The Go-Getters, Slamdance hit and Canadian Film Fest award-winner How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town) and co-written by LaLonde and Chernick, James vs His Future Self is an existential twist on the time-traveller-arrives-to-save-the-future trope. An homage to the classic sci-fi rom-coms of the 80’s and 90’s, a la Back to the Future, James vs His Future Self is a rare Canadian indie film filled with raunchy humour, heartfelt romance, surprising twists and packed with noteworthy performances.

At the center are Chernick (currently co-starring on the Netflix/CBC hit comedy series Workin’ Moms, and star of the 2012 TIFF award-winner My Awkward Sexual Adventure) and Daniel Stern as his future self, giving the comeback performance of his career. Winner of the Jury Award for Best Supporting Actor at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival, and nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Stern (who also currently stars in the hit Hulu series Shrill) is hilarious, dangerous and surprisingly emotional as Jimmy, James’s determined future self.

Alongside Chernick and Stern are head-turning performances by three extraordinary actresses. James is affected by the gravitational pull of three fierce women in his life. His sister Meredith (Bitten’s Tommie-Amber Pirie) wants both of them to get over the death of their parents 15 years earlier and finally forge their own paths in the world. His best friend/soul mate Courtney (Cleopatra Coleman, from Netflix’s In The Shadow of the Moon and the Fox series Last Man On Earth) is a genius scientist in her own right, and is being courted by CERN to relocate to Switzerland and work on the Large Hadron Collider. This would remove her from James’s life, presumably forever. And Dr. Rowley (Joker & Six Feet Under’s Frances Conroy) is the metaphoric Devil on his shoulder, a lonely giant in the science world whose approval and acceptance could make James’s time-travel dreams a reality.

Is the future inevitable? Or can Jimmy change James’s course?

About Daniel:

Daniel Stern recently completed a major arc playing Aidy Bryant’s (SNL) father in the Hulu comedy series Shrill, produced by Lorne Michaels. Stern can also now be seen starring in Game Over Man! opposite Adam Devine, Anders Holm and Blake Anderson in the Kyle Newacheck-directed Netflix feature.

Stern appears on Judd Apatow’s Netflix series Love and previously co-starred in WGN’s Manhattan and feature films including Diner, It’s My Turn, Breaking Away, and the City Slickers and Home Alone franchises.

He’ll next be seen starring in the feature film Everything’s Peachy, which he adapted from of his own stage play, and which he’ll be directing in 2019.

Image Copyright: Northern Banner Releasing. Used with permission.

F2F Music and Image Copyright: David Peck and Face2Face. Used with permission.

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

With thanks to Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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

Dr. Mazen Kamen and Face2Face host David Peck talk about the complexity of the Brain, emotions, faith and grief, making good choices, chronic illness, the tip of the research iceberg and diseases that are no longer death sentences.

About the Foundation:

The Kamen Brain Tumor Foundation is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to improving the treatment and survival of children with glioma brain tumors through the funding of pediatric glioma brain tumor research. Our Scientific Advisory Board consists of leading experts in the field of pediatric glioma brain tumors who provide insight and guidance into the most promising research opportunities that examine causes as well as safer, more effective treatment options. Our objective is to cure children with glioma brain tumors.

The Kamen Brain Tumor Foundation was created with one mission, to cure brain tumors in children. Dr. Mazen Kamen began the foundation shortly after losing his 19 month old son to brain cancer. The Foundation provides funding for cutting edge research programs aimed at finding promising treatment for children with glioma brain tumors. One funded program utilizes brain cells from current glioma patients which are used to grow miniature three dimensional human brain like structures know as cerebral organoids. When mature, tumors are introduced to the organoids, allowing doctors to use experimental treatments on DNA identical replicas.

Among children ages 0-14, brain and central nervous system tumors are the leading cause of cancer-related deaths. There are about 28,000 children and teenagers living in the United States with primary brain or central nervous system tumors and an estimated 4,600 more children will be diagnosed each year. The high death toll reveals a need to quickly find more effective treatment options and a cure.

Learn more about the foundation here.

About Dr. Kamen:

Dr. Kamen, MD is a practicing Cardiologist (Heart Specialist) in New York, NY. Dr. Kamen graduated from New York University School of Medicine in 1983 and has been in practice for 36 years. He completed a residency at New York University. Dr. Kamen also specializes in Internal Medicine. Dr. Kamen accepts multiple insurance plans including Medicare. Dr. Kamen is board certified in Cardiovascular Disease.

Image Copyright: The Kamen Brain Tumor Foundation. Used with permission.

F2F Music and Image Copyright: David Peck and Face2Face. Used with permission.

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

With thanks to Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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

Jonathan Jakubowicz and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new film Resistance that stars Ed Harris, Jesse Eisenberg and Clémence Poésy. They talk about inspiration and why artists create, responsibility and pushing back, connecting with an audience, Marcel Marceau, the art of silence and making the invisible visible.

Trailer

Watch it on iTunes and Amazon Prime

Synopsis:

All Marcel Marceau (Jesse Eisenberg) wants is a life for the arts. Working at his father’s butcher shop during the day, the talented mime tries to make his dream come true on the city’s small stages and to win the affections of politically active Emma (Clémence Poésy).

To please her, Marcel agrees to join a dangerous mission that will change the course of his life forever: they want to save 123 Jewish orphans from the grasp of the German Nazis and the ruthless Obersturmführer of the SS Klaus Barbie (Matthias Schweighöfer) and take them across the border to Switzerland.

Together with Emma, Marcel joins the French resistance to stand firmly against the atrocities of World War II.

His art will prove the greatest weapon against the horrors of war.

About the Director:

Venezuela's most celebrated filmmaker and writer, whose film Secuestro Express was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the British Independent Film Awards and was a New York Times Critics Pick in 2005.

In 2005 Secuestro Express became Venezuela’s highest-grossing film, eclipsing such movies as Titanic and The Passion of the Christ. It became the first Venezuelan movie to be acquired by a major US distributor - Miramax.

Jonathan’s first film passion was Distance is a poignant short film about a woman's mysterious past unfolding during an unexpected trip to Holland in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. Distance screened at the World Film Festival of Montreal, New York Independent Film Festival and Palm Springs Short Film Festival, amongst others.

In addition, Jakubowicz wrote and directed, SHIPS OF HOPE, a documentary recounting the journey of refugee Jews on a ship fleeing the European Nazi Regime to Venezuela. It screened at the Director's Guild of America's Angelus Awards, and the Havana Film Festival. The documentary went on to win; Best Documentary at the Premios a la Calidad de Cenac (Venezulelan Oscars).

His second film, Hands of Stone about the relationship between Panamanian boxer Roberto Durán (played by Edgar Ramírez) and his trainer Ray Arcel (played by Robert De Niro) premiered in the Cannes Film Festival 2016 and was warmly received with a 15 minute standing ovation. It's the first Latin movie to have a simultaneous wide release in all of Latin America.

His latest film, Resistance, stars Academy Award nominated actors Jesse Eisenberg, Ed Harris, Clémence Poésy and Edgar Ramírez. The film was shot at the end of 2018 and it tells the story of how a group of Boys and Girls Scouts created a network that ended up saving ten thousand orphans during World War II. One of them went on to become the greatest mime of all time, Marcel Marceau.

Jakubowicz is Polish Jewish Descendant. Has a BA in Communications from the Universidad Central de Venezuela.

Image Copyright: Pantaleon films. Used with permission.

F2F Music and Image Copyright: David Peck and Face2Face. Used with permission.

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

With thanks to Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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

Teyama Alkamli and Andrew Moir and Face2Face host David Peck talk about their new film Hockey Mom, Syria, motherhood and refugees, new Canadians, survival jobs, and something called the newcomer kitchen .

Trailer

Watch it here.

Synopsis:

Hockey Mom is an intimate, character-driven film that follows a single Syrian mother and her young son rebuilding their life in Toronto with the support of Canada’s private refugee sponsorship program.

When the Syrian war tore her life apart, Fatma bravely seized the opportunity to build a new life for herself on her own terms. Twenty days after she arrived in Toronto from a refugee camp, Fatma fulfilled a years-long wish: she left her husband.

For the past two years, Fatma and her son, Majed, have been living with their sponsors on Vermont Avenue, a friendly street in Toronto. On the surface, their new life in Canada seems fine, but Majed hasn’t made friends and is routinely suspended from school for unruly behaviour. She decides that a change of address might be the solution to his problems. Determined to provide Majed with everything he needs, Fatma finds an apartment in a nearby suburb. But the move makes matters worse and Fatma encounters obstacles every step of the way.

Majed’s school suspensions continue, leaving Fatma with no time to look for a job. When the sponsors tell her that their financial support will soon run out, and with no job prospects in sight, she feels like a failure. Nowhere left to turn, Fatma digs deep to take ownership of her choices and finds the courage to face them.

HOCKEY MOM is more than just a story about a Syrian mother trying to make a new life with her son; it’s a story about a brave woman learning to trust herself.

About the Directors:

Teyama Alkamli was born in Aleppo and raised in Dubai, Teyama Alkamli is currently a proud Torontonian. Her visually tender and deeply human films deal predominantly with issues of identity, sexuality, displacement and migration. Alkamli’s short films have screened at festivals worldwide, including Doclisboa and FECIBogotá.

She is an alumna of DocNomads, the European Mobile Film School, Hot Docs Emerging Filmmaker Lab, and the Canadian Film Centre's Director Lab. Hockey Mom is her first mid-length documentary.

She is currently developing her narrative feature debut, My Name is Jala.

Andrew Moir’s documentaries leave you thinking long after watching them. The intricate maneuvers he manages while integrating himself into each subject's life, often spanning years, is remarkable.

Working with small crews or often alone, audiences have been truly touched by Andrew’s films. He has seen great success at film festivals where four of his short films premiered at Hot Docs Canadian Documentary Film Festival.

Other festivals who have featured his films include Sheffield Doc/Fest, AFI Fest, and DOC NYC. His production company, Hands Up Films, produces his docs and he is currently working on his first feature-length film, Bedside Bride, which will be released in 2020. 

Image Copyright: CBC. Used with permission.

F2F Music and Image Copyright: David Peck and Face2Face. Used with permission.

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

With thanks to Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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

Karim Sayad and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new and intimate film My English Cousin, the myth of Sisyphus, international relations, feeling at home and finding beauty in simple stories.

Trailer

Synopsis:

This keenly observed documentary by Karim Sayad follows the director's cousin, Fahed, who left Algeria for England in 2001 and, now, contemplates returning to his place of birth. In 2001, Fahed left Algeria for England, settling in, of all places, Grimsby. Nearly two decades later, after marrying, working two jobs to pay the bills, and picking up a distinct Northern English accent, Fahed decides he wants to go back to his place of birth. But while his address in Algeria has remained fixed, the concept of home, he soon finds, is far more fluid. Trapped between two countries, Fahed is also between two cultures: one he's worked to assimilate into and one he nostalgically longs for but can't, in reality, face.

Shot with a keen eye that observes the smallest of details, director Karim Sayad's documentary unfolds in textures. From Fahed's Ramadan preparations for his flatmates (in whose hands cans of beer are basically a constant fixture), to family members in Algeria questioning Fahed about his marriage plans, Sayad captures the loneliness that trails his real-life cousin no matter where he goes.

(With thanks to TIFF and Kiva Reardon)

About the Director:

Karim Sayad was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, and holds a master's degree in international relations from Geneva's Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. He has directed the short film Babor Casanova. His debut feature documentary was Of Sheep and Men. 

My English Cousin is his latest film.

Image Copyright: Karim Sayad and Close Up Films. Used with permission.

F2F Music and Image Copyright: David Peck and Face2Face. Used with permission.

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

With thanks to Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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

Alanis Obomsawin and Face2Face host David Peck talk about reconciliation, leaving a legacy, Jordan’s Principles, passion, commitment, advocacy, fighting back and why every child matters.

Trailer

More Info Here

Synopsis:

It took one little boy, Jordan River Anderson, to ensure that thousands of First Nations and Inuit children can today receive the same standard of social, health and education services as the rest of the Canadian population. In Jordan River Anderson, The Messenger, Alanis Obomsawin’s latest film (her 52nd), the renowned documentary filmmaker chronicles the long legal fight against a health care system that operated on two disconnected levels, causing injustices and suffering—a situation that has since been significantly improved. The Abenaki filmmaker traces the parallels between the lives of two First Nations children, Jordan River Anderson and Noah Buffalo-Jackson.

A member of the Norway House Cree Nation of Manitoba, Jordan River Anderson had very serious health problems, for which he was being treated at a Winnipeg hospital. He could have ended his life in adapted housing close to his family, but because of his Indian status a dispute arose between the governments of Canada and Manitoba over who should pay the costs of his relocation to home-based care. Jordan died in hospital in 2005. Jordan’s Principle, which states that the first government agency to be contacted is the one responsible for this phase of a child’s care, was unanimously adopted by the House of Commons in 2007, and a ruling by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal resolved the issue of jurisdiction.

Many people and organizations worked hard for this outcome, but despite the judgment and the funding that was allocated for Jordan’s Principle, many First Nations and Inuit parents are still faced with a refusal of social, health and educational services. For example, when Carolyn Buffalo and Richard Jackson needed specialized transportation for their teenage son, Noah Buffalo-Jackson, who suffers from cerebral palsy, they had to pay for it themselves. Similarly, the First Nation of Wapakeka in Ontario appealed for assistance in combating a wave of suicides in their community, but received no help. “We hear a lot about universal health care in Canada,” says Aimée Craft, a law professor at the University of Ottawa who is interviewed in the film, “but why is it universal for everyone except First Nations children?”

Numerous binding government orders and the goodwill of several Canadian government officials, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, were required before First Nations and Inuit parents and children were finally able to enjoy appropriate support. “The law is a shield that protects this generation of children,” observes Cindy Blackstock, director general of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, and one of the protagonists of the documentary. “It restores their dignity, and allows them to grow up within their own families. Justice is possible.”

Filmed in centres of political power, in First Nations communities, and at public demonstrations, Jordan River Anderson, The Messenger provides a forum in which the voices of parents, caregivers, and their legal representatives can all be heard. Alanis Obomsawin’s latest documentary completes, on a note of optimism, the cycle of films devoted to the rights of children and Indigenous peoples that she began with The People of the Kattawapiskak River.

About the Director:

Alanis Obomsawin, a member of the Abenaki Nation, is one of Canada’s most distinguished documentary filmmakers. As a prolific director with the National Film Board, she has created an extensive body or work focusing on the lives and concerns of Canada’s First Nations.

She began her professional career in 1960 as a singer in New York City. In 1967, producers Joe Koenig and Bob Verrall invited her to join the NFB as an adviser on a film about Indigenous peoples. She has not put down her camera since.

An activist as well as a filmmaker, Obomsawin is driven to provide a forum for the country’s First Peoples. Her entire filmography is a testament to that desire. Her documentaries have always sought to show the importance of roots and strong intergenerational bonds for the preservation of Indigenous cultures—from Christmas at Moose Factory (1971), in which she used children’s drawings to tell the story of a Cree village on the shore of James Bay, Ontario, to Jordan River Anderson, The Messenger (2019), her most recent film (her 52nd), which documents the long struggle to establish the right of Indigenous children to receive, in their own communities, the same high standard of health care as the rest of the Canadian population.

Obomsawin is a director who knows how to film conflict, as demonstrated by her four films about the Oka Crisis of 1990: Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993), winner of 18 international awards; My Name Is Kahentiiosta (1995); Spudwrench: Kahnawake Man (1997); and Rocks at Whiskey Trench (2000).

Alanis Obomsawin has received numerous awards and honours throughout her career. She was inducted into the Canadian Film and Television Hall of Fame in 2010, and in 2014 she received the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television Humanitarian Award, an honour given in recognition of exceptional contributions to the community and the public sector. In 2015, the Valdivia International Film Festival (Chile) recognized her body of work with its Lifetime Achievement Award, and she received an Honorary Life Member Award from the Directors’ Guild of Canada in 2018.

Obomsawin has received honorary doctorates from many universities, including Dalhousie University in 2016 and McGill University in 2017. In 2016, she also received two of the highest civilian honours conferred by the Province of Quebec when she was named a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec and awarded the Prix Albert-Tessier. In 2019, she became a Companion of the Order of Canada.

Image Copyright: Alanis Obomsawin and NFB. Used with permission.

F2F Music and Image Copyright: David Peck and Face2Face. Used with permission.

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

With thanks to Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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

Barbara Kopple and Face2Face host David Peck talk about curiosity, politics and historical unknowns, rich and complex stories, the magic of people, being better informed and why she’s always been a good listener.

Synopsis:

It has been called “the most audacious, difficult, complicated, rescue mission ever attempted.” Desert One uniquely blends emotion and bravado to tell the incredible tale of America’s secret mission to free the hostages of the 1979 Iranian revolution. Two-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple discovers a wealth of unearthed archival sources and receives unprecedented access, engaging in intimate conversations with many of the soldiers closest to the story, some for the first time, as well as President Jimmy Carter, Vice President Walter Mondale and TV newsman Ted Koppel.

Evocative new animation brings audiences closer than anyone has ever gotten to being on the inside for this history-making operation. This is the thrilling story of a group of Americans working together to overcome the most difficult problem of their lives. Among those Americans is President Jimmy Carter, readying to face a re-election challenge when self-described student revolutionaries suddenly take power in Iran. Anti-American students take the U.S. embassy in Tehran by force and hold hostage fifty-two American diplomats and citizens.

Using new archival sources and unprecedented access to key players on both sides, master documentarian Barbara Kopple reveals the true story behind one of the most daring rescues in modern US history: a secret mission to free hostages captured during the 1979 Iranian revolution.

At a moment when tensions once again rise between the governments of Iran and the U.S., old wounds remain painfully current for many on each side who detail their recollections in Desert One -- but talk of hope also emerges, that the lessons of the past might finally guide us to a better future.

About the Director:

Barbara Kopple is a two-time Academy Award® winning filmmaker. A director of documentaries, as well as narrative TV and film, one of her more recent projects was the documentary Running From Crazy, which explores the life of actress Mariel Hemingway.

Barbara produced and directed Harlan County USA and American Dream, both winners of the Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature. In 1991, Harlan County USA was named to the National Film Registry by the Librarian of Congress and designated an American Film Classic. Harlan County USA was restored and preserved by the Women's Preservation Fund and the Academy Film Archive, and was featured as part of the Sundance Collection at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005. The Criterion Collection released a DVD of Harlan County USA in 2006.

Barbara has been awarded the Human Rights Watch Film Festival Irene Diamond Award, Los Angeles Film Critics Award, National Society of Film Critics Award, the SilverDocs/Charles Guggenheim Award, New York Women in Film & Television Muse Award, the Maya Deren Independent Film and Video Award, the Woodstock Film Festival Maverick Award, Women in Film & Video of Washington, DC Women of Vision Award, the White House Project's EPIC Award, the International Documentary Association Career Achievement Award, the San Francisco Film Society's Persistence of Vision Award and the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize, Filmmakers Trophy & Audience Award. The Paley Center for Media has named Barbara a 2007 She Made It Honoree.

She recently served her tenth year on the board of trustees for the American Film Institute and continues as an advisory board member for the American University Center for Social Media and Independent Feature Project's Filmmaker Labs. In 2010, Barbara received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from American University. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the Director's Guild of America, New York Women in Film and Television’s Honorary Board, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and actively participates in organizations that address social issues and support independent filmmaking.

Image Copyright: Barbara Kopple and Cabin Creek Films. Used with permission.

F2F Music and Image Copyright: David Peck and Face2Face. Used with permission.

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

With thanks to Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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

Peter Tabuns, Mark Johnston and Face2Face host David Peck talk about politics, the art of conversation, logic and passion, hydro rates, climate change and the environment and finding common ground.

For more info about the series head here.

Synopsis:

Many politicians, from all levels of government, will admit that they never have time to sit down and meet one-on-one. Wouldn’t it be great if they had the opportunity to explore each other’s personal perspectives, motivations, histories and hopes for the future, while at the same time immersing themselves in an issue they disagree on?

Political Blind Date is not just playing matchmaker for fun. In an age of polarizing partisan politics, public distrust, “fake news” and questionable behavior, it’s worth the effort to get politicians to connect on a human level, to see if they can make unexpected alliances over issues they disagree on - and who knows, maybe even work together for common good!

A typical date starts out with an opportunity to get to know each other before heading out to explore the issue of the day. Sharing a coffee together for the first time, they get to know something about why each of them got into politics, their family history, some of their personal interests and their connection to the issue. Just like any date, finding out about another person humanizes them, not just for the each other, but for the audience as well. They then go out to explore each other’s point of view – each having a full day to bring their perspective and viewpoints to life.

This works on the fairest terms. Each participant chooses where they will take the other and keeps it a secret. By spending a day discovering the places and people associated with important issues, politicians who stand on opposing sides of an issue get to know someone they wouldn’t otherwise choose to spend time with.

The series has a healthy dose of light-hearted fun in between the heated exchanges, as our participants get to know each other. As in “real” life, it is much harder to stick to an entrenched position when you get to know the person on the other “side”!

About the Guests:

Peter Tabuns has been the Toronto-Danforth MPP for over decade, winning re-elections four times Peter has been at the forefront of change and new ideas. He is currently the Ontario New Democrat’s critic for Climate Crisis and Energy. Informed by his former roles as Greenpeace Canada’s Executive Director, and later Jack Layton's climate change advisor. Peter continues to push for Ontario to lead in meeting international climate goals. Peter also served seven years as a City Councillor in Toronto where among other positions he chaired the Board of Health.

Mark Johnston is the founder of Nomad Films. More than thirty years in the documentary business, Mark has worked in a producer or director capacity on over sixty films. Mark has more recently begun producing dramatic films, beginning with Act of Dishonour. Upcoming dramas include In the Shadow of a Saint (with Djimon Hounsou playing the late activist Ken Saro-Wiwa).

He began his television career with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s nightly newscast, The National. He was one of the first team members on Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World, a massive ten-hour PBS/BBC/Global Television documentary series filmed in fifteen countries around the world.

Most recently Mark Executive Produced TVO Original Much Too Young, a documentary for TVO and Knowledge Network about the teen and young adult children of parents with young onset Alzheimer’s. Mark has worked for partners as diverse as the BBC, ARTE France, Discovery, National Geographic, PBS, the CBC, as well as a plethora of other media outlets.

Image Copyright: Nomad Films and TVO. Used with permission.

F2F Music and Image Copyright: David Peck and Face2Face. Used with permission.

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

With thanks to Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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