Ashley, David and Face2Face host David Peck talk about their brilliant new film Do Donkeys Act, mutual appreciation, living poems, the sentience of animals, the environment and our relationship to it and why we all might need a break from humans every now and then.

Biography

Filmmaking duo David Redmon and Ashley Sabin together produce, direct, photograph and edit critically acclaimed cinematic documentaries that have screened internationally in festivals and on television worldwide at Sundance, Toronto, Cinema du Reel, Rotterdam, Visions du Reel, RIDM, MoMA, and Viennale Film Festivals and on PBS, POV, BBC, CBC, DR, ARTE, and NHK.

Their body of work includes four recent “animal ethnography” films based in the world of donkeys and funded by the Leverhulme Trust: Sanctuary (2017), Do Donkeys Act? (2017), Choreography (2014), and Herd (2015); two dream/memory cinema poems Sentient 1 & 2 (2015/2016); a 6 minute snowbound ballet mécanique, Neige (2016); a suite of U.S. post-industrialization themed films set inside three interconnected factories on the coast of Prospect Harbor, Maine: Downeast 

(2012), Night Labor (2013), and Kingdom of Animal (2012); a feature documentary about the labyrinthine world of teenage modeling in which a New York based scout recruits Siberian teenagers to the Tokyo model market Girl Model (2011); a film linking China and New Orleans through globalized manufacturing of cheap throwaway goods for American leisure pursuit, Mardi Gras: Made in China (2005) and two “carnivalesque” character driven films set in Louisiana Kamp Katrina (2007) and Invisible Girlfriend (2009). Lastly, set on the U.S. Mexico border, a longitudinal love story about family relationships and the meaning of “home” Intimidad (2008), which has been described as “a documentary fairytale of truly humbling proportions.” 

A former Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University with a PhD in sociology from the University at Albany, State University of New York, David Redmon is now a lecturer in the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research at the University of Kent, UK. 

A Fulbright Scholarship recipient, Ashley Sabin earned a M.F.A. at Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec and graduated with high honors in Art History, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY.

Synopsis

“Burned, beaten, abandoned, donkeys look back at us humans with indifference, and bray.” David Redmon and Ashley Sabin’s DO DONKEYS ACT– filmed over 5 years––subtly subverts the notion of the “dumb beast” as it captures donkeys communicating emotionally with each other in the midst of healing from human cruelty and neglect. A poetic text threads through scenes “acted” by donkeys, a rhythmic script commentary voiced by Willem Dafoe.

DO DONKEYS ACT’S ethno-poetic-animal-fiction takes its playfully self-reflexive cues from Jean Rouch and Chris Marker. Encouraging us to respect a major language barrier we might not otherwise consider––the mystery and intrigue of donkey utterances––DO DONKEYS ACT invites us to "step into their shade, listen closely" as we attune to a series of dramatic performances in which we eavesdrop on donkeys speaking amongst themselves.

Reclaiming the donkey from the indignity of a centuries old master slave relationship in which the dominant image of the donkey has been negative (stubborn, buffoon, jackass, laborer, trickster and fool), DO DONKEYS ACT elevates a denigrated and degraded beast to the role of lead actor and performance artist. To paraphrase Marina Abramovic, the donkey is present.

Trailer

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Mila and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new film Let There Be Light, fusion energy, yeast excrement, plasma physics, Don Quixote and why science is about getting things wrong.

Biography

Mila Aung-Thwin is co-founder of EyeSteelFilm. After completing his studies at McGill University in 1998, he began working with maverick filmmaker Daniel Cross on the feature documentary S.P.I.T: Squeegee Punks in Traffic, learning the ins and outs of documentary filmmaking on the streets of Montreal with a squeegee punk named Roach. In order to take advantage of Canadian tax incentives, they founded a production company and called it “EyeSteelFilm” because it seemed like a good idea at the time.

After flirting with other titles such as “cinematographer” (Too Colourful for theLeague), “co-director” (Chairman George), “director” (Bone, Music for a Blue Train) and “Office Drywall Consultant” (various walls), he has decided to just go with “Producer”and stop worrying about it.

Most recently, Aung-Thwin produced the feature documentaries Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam, Rip: A Remix Manifesto (IDFA audience Choice Award Winner), Up the Yangtze (Genie award winner) and Last Train Home (IDFA Feature Documentary Winner). In addition, he serves as the President of the Rencontres International du Documentaire (RIDM), Montreal’s international documentary festival.

Synopsis

“A futuristic energy source that could indefinitely supply the world’s power requirements provides the backdrop for this absorbing documentary.” – The Hollywood Reporter

Clean, safe and unlimited power has been an obsession for scientists and inventors for centuries, and an underlying preoccupation for our society as a whole. Since the 1940s, when we first understood how the sun creates energy, nuclear fusion has been energy’s holy grail.

For decades, fusion has been delayed and thwarted by failure, miscalculation, fraud and politics. It has been maddeningly always just out of reach, which seems to make people obsess over it all the more. “Fusion is the energy of the future… and always will be,” goes one old joke. But today, fusion is being pursued with a renewed zeal, mostly because we’ve never needed it like we do now, and there are 37 countries currently collaborating to build the biggest experiment ever, in order to prove that fusion is viable. Will this finally succeed? Or will the project collapse under its own massive complexity? The film chronicles the work of the passionate scientists who are struggling to make it work. “It’s rare to find people who work on projects that are designed to last decades, and these scientists would be happy if it worked in a century from now,” says co-director Aung-Thwin. “So on a personal level, this is a deep sacrifice – but they are doing it for the chance that it helps all of humanity.“

Trailer

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Amanda Lang and Face2Face host David Peck talk about her new book The Beauty of Discomfort, meaning, addiction-based science, head to toe joy, change that we choose and why curiosity drives progress.

Her new show Exponential will be on Sirius XM (channel 167) and her new podcast on the Antica Network. Look for it and listen in.

Biography

Award-winning business journalist and best-selling author Amanda Lang has been covering business in North America for 25 years. Lang is the host of Exponential with Amanda Lang, airing on Sirius XM and as a podcast. She has also been an anchor for Bloomberg Television Canada, on Bloomberg North with Amanda Lang. Lang was CBC’s senior business correspondent, reporting for its flagship nightly news program, The National, and host of The Exchange with Amanda Lang, a daily business program airing on CBC News Network. For five years before that Lang hosted The Lang and O’Leary Exchange, with Kevin O’Leary. Prior to that the pair co-hosted SqueezePlay, on BNN, for 6 years.

Lang is also a best-selling author. “The Power of Why,” (HarperCollins, October 2012) explores the connection between curiosity and success. “The Beauty of Discomfort” (HarperCollins, April 2017) examines how difficult change can be, and set out strategies for how to achieve it. Lang studied Architecture at the University of Manitoba, before becoming a journalist. Her first job in journalism was for the Globe and Mail, and subsequently Lang joined the Financial Post newspaper, where she became the paper’s New York correspondent. In New York she made the leap to television, where she first was part of the team that launched BNN and before long wound up at CNN as a reporter and anchor. She returned to Canada in 2002.

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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: Amanda Lang. Used with permission.

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Pat Mills and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new film Don’t Talk To Irene, gender disparity, bullying, random ideas, freedom and non-conformity and why Geena Davis portraying God is important.

Biography

Pat Mills’s first feature film, the dark comedy GUIDANCE, which he wrote, directed and starred in, had its world premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. Picked up by Strand Releasing in the US and Search Engine Films in Canada, Guidance was theatrically released in Summer 2015. Hailed as a “GRADE A” comedy by the Los Angeles Times and a New York Times Crit ics’s Pick, it currently holds a 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Guidance is now available on DVD, Netflix, Vimeo, Amazon, TMN, HBO and itunes. His performance as David was nominated for an Actra Award for Outstanding Male Performance.

An alumnus of TIFF’s Talent lab and TIFF Studio, Pat was named winner of TIFF’s Pitch This! for his second feature DON’T TALK TO IRENE. The screenplay won BEST COMEDY SCREENPLAY at the Austin Screenplay Competition. The film stars Michelle McLeod, Bruce Gray, Scott Thompson and Geena Davis.

More at www.pat-mills.com

Synopsis

Irene is 16, fat, friendless and tired of being a loser, but she’s determined that this year is going to be different — Irene is going to become a cheerleader. But when she’s the victim of a cruel prank, Irene is suspended on her first day back at school Irene - along with bullies Robbie and Sarah - and must endure two weeks of community service at the local retirement home.

Irene befriends Charles, a depressed retired boxer who figuratively punches away her low self esteem. In his own grumpy way he convinces her to follow her dreams and instead of becoming a cheerleader, she becomes the next best thing — a choreographer. She signs the seniors up to audition for her favourite reality show “Total Talent Showdown”.

Keeping the plan a secret from her mother, Irene finds confidence for the first time in her bond with the seniors, teaching them how to dance for television broadcast. What she doesn’t know is that a very jealous Robbie and Sarah are secretly plotting their revenge—and they will stop at nothing to kill Irene’s dreams of reality show stardom.

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: Pat Mills and Alyson Richards Productions. Used with permission.

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

Under Pressure with Andrucha Wadddington, Mini Kerti and Lucas Paraizo.

Andrucha, Mini, Lucas and Face2Face host David Peck talk about their new medical TV series Under Pressure, public versus private health in Rio de Janeiro, infrastructure, science versus faith, corruption and why there is hope. 

Synopsis

An ambulance siren marks the beginning of another tough day for the medical staff of a Rio de Janeiro public hospital. In between patients, they struggle with the constant challenges of the chaotic environment of an ER in the outskirts of the city, crossing every line to keep patients alive in a hospital that is running out of supplies.

Anguish and personal drama are bubbling over among the people who come to hospital looking for help. The desire to save lives is what drives the doctors in Under Pressure, an authentically Brazilian medical drama.

Amid the daily struggles, two people tormented by the ghosts of their past, find solace in one another the soothe their ailing souls.

Under these rough conditions, the surgeons, each with their particular quirks, each a specialist in their own field, come together to make up a team of hero doctors. These heroes are willing to do whatever it takes to help those in need and offer even a glimmer a hope to people who come in every day with their lives at risk. From directors Andrucha Waddington and Mini Kerti, Under Pressure comes out of the Andrucha Waddington feature film of the same name.

Co-produced by Globo and Conspiração Filmes, created by Luiz Noronha, Claudio Torres and Renato Fagundes, the film is based on an original concept by Mini Kerti and freely inspired by Marcio Maranhão's, Sob Pressão – A Rotina de Guerra de um Médico Brasileiro

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: Globo and Conspiração Filmes. Used with permission.

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

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.

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Mina Shum and Face2Face host David Peck talk about her new film Meditation Park, neighbours, Buddhism, the falsity of capitalism, underwear, the obstacles and triumphs we face and why we’re constantly coming of age.

Biography

Mina Shum is a Hong Kong–born, Vancouver-raised filmmaker who studied theatre and film production at the University of British Columbia.

Many of her films have played at the Toronto Film Festival, including her short Me, Mom and Mona, which was awarded a Special Jury Prize; her feature debut, Double Happiness, which won the award for Best Canadian Feature; the films Drive, She Said and Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity; and the Canada's Top Ten Film Festival selection The Ninth Floor. 

Synopsis

“Mina Shum directs an all-star cast — including Cheng Pei Pei, Sandra Oh, Tzi Ma, and Don McKellar — in her latest feature, about a devoted wife and mother (Pei Pei) who is forced to reassess her reverence for her husband after she finds another woman’s thong in his laundry.

In Meditation Park, Mina Shum returns to the themes that propelled her early work. The film opens with Maria (Cheng Pei Pei) hosting a birthday celebration for her workaholic accountant husband, Bing, (Tzi Ma). Maria reveres Bing and remains in awe of the sacrifices he has made for the family, so much so that she even respects his insistence that she not speak to their son.

But when she finds evidence that Bing may not be the perfect person she believes him to be, she's forced to consider her world in a radically different light. Maria embarks on a journey of self-discovery by engaging with the world around her, something Bing has always discouraged. She befriends a group of local eccentrics and a rather shady neighbour, Gabriel (Don McKellar). Maria soon realizes that people's lives are much more complicated than Bing has led her to believe.

Shum exhibits genuine compassion with her insight into the experiences of first-generation immigrant women. Meditation Park is a charming and generous film.”

With thanks to Steve Gravestock - TIFF

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: Mina Shum and Thoughts From The Asylum. Used with permission.

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

Arshad Khan and Face2Face host David Peck talk about similarity through difference, his new film ABU, Pakistan, immigration, puritanism, regret and why librarians matter.

Khan is a filmmaker, film festival director, festival strategist and film educator from Canada. Born in Pakistan, Khan believes in cinema as a catalyst for change. He hopes to make films that shed light on subjects that are ignored by the mainstream media.

He is interested in realism in cinema and the new wave in South Asian cinema, yet not restricted to any one cinematic genre. As a gay man, Filmmaker Arshad Khan explores his troubled relationship with his devout, Muslim, Pakistani father Abu. Khan documents his struggles with his sexual identity as his Muslim parents attempt to fit into Canada.

Using family archives, pictures and movies, ABU is a revealing and deeply affecting portrait of a family’s tug-o-war between conservatism and liberalism that has greater implications for those choosing the west as their home.

ABU is a journey to the centre of a fragmented family while they grapple with religion, sexuality, colonialism and migration. Through a tapestry of narratives composed of family footage, observation and classic Bollywood films, gay-identifying Pakistani-Muslim filmmaker Arshad Khan takes viewers through the tense relationships between family and fate, conservatism and liberalism and modernity and familiarity. Hidden within the cabinets of my parents homes, from Lahore to Mississauga, are an enormous archive of family films capturing the days of my youth and teenage-hood.

As I sat to write a film about a Pakistani immigrant girl with magical powers living in Mississauga, another story kept interrupting the narrative: it was the story captured on those tapes, it was the story of my family, my youth and my "abu". My father had recently passed at the time I began crafting this film, while I was awaiting funds for the fiction work that was consistently being put on the back burner while I delved into the VHS tapes of my families histories. I kept the slow wane of time in mind as the fragments of narrative of my family began to unfold before more eyes.

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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: Arshad Khan and Gray Matter Productions. Used with permission.

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

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.

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

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.