Face2Face with David Peck

Alanis Obamsawin and Face2Face host David Peck talk about her new film Our People Will Be Healed, the Sundance ceremony, remnants of colonialism, indigenous peoples, the power of story and why hope isn’t a big enough word.

Biography

Alanis Obomsawin was born in New Hampshire and raised in Quebec.

A singer, songwriter, printmaker, and engraver, she has also written and directed many documentary features, including Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, Rocks at Whiskey Trench, Is the Crown at War with Us?, Hi-Ho Mistahey!, Trick or Treaty?, and We Can't Make the Same Mistake Twice. 

Our People Will Be Healed is her latest film.

Synopsis

“Norway House Cree Nation sits more than 450 km north of Winnipeg. One of Manitoba's largest First Nations communities, it is also among the most innovative on Turtle Island. With a focus on self-determination and sustainability, Norway House is home to a remarkable education centre and a range of community-managed industries. But the legacy of colonial policies, the trauma of residential schools, and the pain of murdered and missing women and girls remain deeply felt.

In her latest documentary, Our People Will Be Healed, Alanis Obomsawin invites her audience into Norway House to meet its people and to glimpse what action-driven decolonization actually looks like. Obomsawin's cinema is one of voice. Her camera leans into its subjects as if listening intently, and while her trademark narration provides context, she insists that the voices largely belong to the community. Using personal interviews and gorgeous landscape photography, Obomsawin captures this rich, vibrant place in all its complexity and beauty.

For nearly five decades, Obomsawin has been giving voice to the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island and reflecting back to Canadians portions of their nation's ongoing history that they have forgotten, ignored, or silenced. But as much as Obomsawin is a chronicler of the past and present, she also provides a beacon for the future.

Successful stories of Indigenous self-determination have never been more important, as examples for First Nations, Metis, and Inuit communities, and for the broader culture as well. Norway House offers one potential pathway forward, a model of Indigenous sovereignty alongside Canada.”

With thanks to Jesse Wente

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: National Film Board of Canada. Used with permission.

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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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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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Stephen McCallum and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new film 1%, violence, loyalty and the bonds of friendship, a sense of belonging, finding our way home and why people need story.

Biography

Stephen graduated from AFTRS in 2011 where he won the Foxtel Exceptional Talent award and the AFTRS EU scholarship. Since graduating Stephen has directed multiple award winning short films and commercials including his marriage equality advert for GetUp - It’s Time which was voted AdNews Viral of the year and has had over 16,000,000 hits on youtube.

In 2013 Stephen was the recipient of Screen Australia's director's attachment scheme for Tony Ayres' Matchbox feature film. In 2014 he was Glendyn Ivin's Director’s Assistant on Channel 9’s “Gallipoli” where he directed 2nd Unit. In 2016 Stephen was awarded the West Coast Visions fund to direct his first feature film 1%. Stephen has garnered a reputation for creating bold, character driven films set within visceral story worlds. He currently has multiple long form projects in development.

Synopsis

In the world of Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs, power belongs to those strong enough to hold it. Welcome to the dangerous, uncompromising and primal world of the Copperheads MC, welcome to the 1%. 1% follows Paddo [Ryan Corr], acting president of the Copperheads Outlaw Motorcycle Club. When Paddo’s simple minded brother Skink [Josh McConville] is kidnapped after a drug deal gone wrong, Paddo and his girlfriend Katrina [Abbey Lee] are forced to make a deal with rival club, the Devil’s, to save his brothers life.

All is well until Copperheads president Knuck [Matt Nable] is released from jail and returns to discover the Devil’s deal and other unwanted changes in his beloved club. Threatened and challenged to seize back control by his wife Hayley [Simone Kessell], Knuck violently terminates the deal with the Devils and puts Paddo back to square one. With Skink’s life on the line and no options left, Paddo has to choose between his president and his brother in the ultimate collision of loyalty and blood.

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: Spectrum and Head Gear Films. Used with permission.

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

Govinda Van Maele, Frederick Lau and Face2Face host David Peck talk about their new film Gutland, irony, cynicism, childhood dreams, fairytales for adults, and why evil doesn’t think its evil.

Biography

Govinda Van Maele, born 1983 in Luxembourg to Belgian-Sri Lankan parents, started making films as a teenager. After high school he took on an apprenticeship of sorts in producer-director Pol Cruchten’s company Red Lion, working as an asstistant director, casting assistant and stills photographer among other positions.

His short films JOSH (2007), A DAY IN THE OPEN (2012) and YOU GO AHEAD (2013) travelled extensively on festivals and won several awards. He worked on documentaries as director (WE MIGHT AS WELL FAIL, 2011) and director of photography (MUEZZIN, 2010) and is a member of Kollektiv13, producing documentary shorts for RTL in Luxembourg.

In 2014 he founded the production company LES FILMS FAUVES with producer Gilles Chanial and director Jean-Louis Schuller. In his spare time he curates exploitation cinema at the Luxembourg Cinematheque. He lives in Turkey and Luxembourg.

Frederick Lau was born in 1989 in Steglitz, Berlin, where he still lives. He was cast in his first role in 2000 and has since played in over 50 films and television series.

In 2008 he was awarded the Deutscher Filmpreis (Lola) for best male secondary role in DIE WELLE (The Wave). In 2015 he won the Lola for best main role in Sebastian Schipper’s VICTORIA.

Synopsis

“Gutland begins with the arrival of an outsider in the agricultural community of Schandelsmillen. Harvest season is already well underway, but Jens a German drifter, is looking for work. He's taken on as a farmhand — and taken to bed by Lucy (Vicky Krieps), a single mother who picks him up at the village beer hall. Taciturn and solitary by nature, Jens doesn't ingratiate himself to the locals, yet they take an instant liking to him, bringing him along to parties, gifting him a trumpet, and inviting him to join the village band.

Jens' first days in his new home flow by with bucolic tranquillity, but over time he will begin to unearth clues to Schandelsmillen's shadowy side — just as the villagers will slowly catch on to something shady about Jens' past.”

With thanks to Kerri Craddock

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: Les Films Fauves and Govinda Van Maele. Used with permission.

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

Jonas and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new film Valley of Shadows, Freud, fairy-tales, fantasy and fatalism, dream life, cognitive dissonance and why good questions are so much more important than answers.

Biography

Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen was born in Bjørkelangen, Norway, and he studied directing at the Polish National Film School in Lodz.

He is the director of the shorts Darek and Everything Will Be OK. 

Valley of the Shadows is his debut feature film.

Synopsis

Between the sea and the mountains in a small village in Norway, Aslak (6) lives with his mother Astrid. A tragic event occurs that Aslak can’t quite understand and Astrid struggles to handle. Aslak’s friend shows him a macabre scene; three half-eaten sheep killed in the forest on a full moon night.

In a quest for answers, Aslak ventures into the menacing forest behind his house. Is what happens on his journey merely a boy’s imagination or is it reality?

Valley of Shadows is a film in the tradition of Scandinavian Gothic fable.

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: Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen and Celluloid Dreams. Used with permission.

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

Urszula Antoniak and Face2Face host David Peck talk about her gorgeous new film Beyond Words, Identity, voice, racism and otherness, immigration and empathy and how a film is rarely about the plot.

Biography

Urszula Antoniak studied Film Production at the Polish Film Academy and Film Directing at the Netherlands Film and Television Academy. Her feature film NOTHING PERSONAL  won six awards in Locarno, including the Silver Leopard for Best Debut Film and the FIPRESCI Prize. Antoniak’s second feature, CODE BLUE, was selected for Cannes’ Quinzaine des Realisateurs. CODE BLUE won two Golden Calves, and the lead actress, Bien de Moor, won several international prizes for her role. NUDE AREA, Antoniak’s third feature, was nominated for the Golden Frog at Camerimage.

The children's film LIFE ACCORDING TO NINO (2014), which was written by Antoniak, won the prize for Best Children's Film at the Cinekid Film Festival in 2014 and at BUFF in Sweden in 2015. BEYOND WORDS is Antoniak’s fourth feature film. Antoniak has recently been supported by the Netherlands Film Fund with a special grant for the development of international talent for the project STRANGER.

Synopsis

Nothing in Michael, a young and successful Berlin lawyer, gives away his Polish roots. The sudden appearance of his father, who was long presumed dead, plunges Michael into an existential crisis. After his father leaves, Michael can’t return to his life as a German. Michael and his boss and best friend Franz feel at home in Berlin’s hip restaurants, bars and clubs.

There is seemingly no difference between them, but Michael, who emigrated from Poland after the death of his mother several years ago, still pays extra attention to his accent. Michael is thrown into turmoil when a run-down Polish bohemian shows up on his doorstep and claims to be his father.

Father and son, two complete strangers spend a weekend together, torn between empathy, rejection and mistrust. As Michael’s roots catch up with him, a painful crisis seems inevitable...

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: Urszula Antoniak and Opus Films. Used with permission.

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

Iram Haq and Face2Face host David Peck talk about her stunning new film What Will People Say, gender, oppression, moralism, family, anger, fear and shame and why validating voice and identity are critical to a better future.

Biography

Iram Haq (b. 1976) is an actress, writer and director. She made and starred in her directorial debut, the short film Little Miss Eyeflap, which screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009.

Her feature film debut I Am Yours premiered at Toronto International Film Festival in 2013 and was selected as Norway’s official Oscar entry. The film has gone on to win a number of prizes at festivals around the world.

Synopsis

Sixteen-year-old Nisha lives a double life. At home with her family she is the perfect Pakistani daughter, but when out with her friends, she is a normal Norwegian teenager. When her father catches her in bed with her boyfriend, Nisha’s two worlds brutally collide. To set an example, Nisha’s parents decide to kidnap her and place her with relatives in Pakistan. Here, in a country she has never been to before, Nisha is forced to adapt to her parents’ culture.

What Will People Say is a moving drama about the complex relationship between a father and daughter. It is the story of a young girl who must find her own way in life. In the lead, 18-year-old Maria Mozhdah makes her impressive acting debut.

Her father is played by Adil Hussain, who has previously acted in a long line of Indian and international films like Life Of Pi. What Will People Say is the second feature film by director and scriptwriter Iram Haq. Her first feature I Am Yours had its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival and won several awards at international film festivals.

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: Iram Haq and Mer Film. Used with permission.

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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.

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

Kathleen Hepburn and Face2Face host David Peck talk about a Mother’s strength, life and the Canadian landscape, empathy, coming of age, Parkinson’s disease and death as a beautiful part if life.

Biography

Kathleen Hepburn is a Vancouver born writer and director who holds an MFA in Creative Writing, and a BFA in Film Production from the Universities of Guelph and Simon Fraser respectively, and is a graduate of the Canadian Film Centre's Writer's Lab. Her debut feature, NEVER STEADY, NEVER STILL is a film that exposes the tenderness that exists within struggle, and our ineffable connection to the landscape around us.

Her most recent short film of the same name was included in TIFF's Canada's Top Ten, and was awarded Leo's for Best Dramatic Short and Best Direction, and Most Promising Canadian Director at VIFF 2015.

Synopsis

The feature film debut of writer/director Kathleen Hepburn, NEVER STEADY, NEVER STILL is a tender and heart-breaking story of a physically disabled mother and discontent son ­ each alienated from their world and struggling to manage in the face of grief, guilt and chronic disease.

The film is set in the rugged and unforgiving rural north of British Columbia, Canada and the story spans an entire year in the lives of the characters. Having lived with Parkinson’s disease for almost two decades, Judy is faced with the heightened challenges of daily life when her husband and caregiver dies of a sudden heart attack on their isolated property on the shores of Stuart Lake.

Meanwhile, her teenage son Jamie pushed by his father to get a job on the oil fields, is terrified by the idea of filling his shoes at too young an age, and grappling with the daunting task of becoming a man in world that has no apparent room for weakness.

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: Kathleen Hepburn and Christie Street Creative. Used with permission.

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