Face2Face with David Peck

Gilad Cohen and Amar Wala

Listen in as Gilad and Amar talk about why they think that human rights needs to be rebranded, their new podcast The Hum and why there is always a reason to hope.

The Hum Podcast

Check out the trailer here

The term ‘human rights’ often brings up images of pain, oppression and injustice. It’s easy to forget that at the core of every human rights story are real human beings - people who are smart, funny and more like us than we think.

The Hum is a podcast that goes straight to the hearts of these people and their stories. Each week, guests open up about their personal journeys in ways they never have before. They will shock you, inspire you, and even make you laugh. But most of all they’ll open your eyes to the human rights stories that exist all around us. 

Biography

Amar Wala

With his debut feature The Secret Trial 5 (2014), Amar Wala established himself as a daring new voice in Canadian cinema. A graduate of York University's acclaimed Film program, he believes deeply in cinema's ability to create awareness and facilitate social change. Passionate about both documentary and narrative film, Wala's dramatic work has also garnered high praise at home and abroad. Cameron Bailey, Director of TIFF, named Amar one of Toronto's Top Ten Filmmakers in 2008, for his short film The Good Son. The Secret Trial 5 received the 2014 Magnus Isacsson Award at RIDM, as well as a Jury mention in the Emerging Filmmaker category at Hot Docs. The film would also be named one of Now Magazine's Top Ten Films of 2014.

Gilad Cohen

Gilad is an artist, human rights advocate and founder of JAYU, a non-profit that uses art to share human rights stories. Gilad has been actively involved in the human rights scene since 2006. Feeling the need to raise more awareness in his own community, Gilad launched Jayu in 2012, using art as the main vehicle. Gilad has been invited to speak on human rights in media and several platforms including CTV, CBC, The Globe and Mail, Al Jazeera America, and the 19th session of the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva in 2012. In 2015, he was selected as Rothschild Fellow through The University of Cambridge in the UK.

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

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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

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

River opens March 13th – 2016.

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

Synopsis – River

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Biography

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

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

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

Biography

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

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Karen Valley

Karen talks today about what it means to be “disabled”, our limitations, her social entrepreneurial spirit and why it’s so important to push the boundaries in a variety of ways.

Biography

Karen Valley was born missing her left arm below the elbow and was enrolled in The War Amps Child Amputee (CHAMP) Program. As Karen grew up with the CHAMP Program, she embraced the Association’s philosophy of “amputees helping amputees” both as an enthusiastic Champ and later as a Junior Counsellor.

She gave media interviews on behalf of The War Amps, appeared on the Association’s float in a number of parades in the Ottawa area and made presentations to local children’s groups, spreading the PLAYSAFE message and raising awareness about life as an amputee.

In 1993, Karen began her employment at The War Amps, and today she is the Director of the Association’s National Amputee Centre (NAC). In this capacity, Karen ensures that the NAC remains a centre of excellence on the subject of amputation, providing valuable information to all Canadian amputees in the areas of prosthetics, limb loss and The War Amps many programs. By liaising with prosthetists, orthotists, manufacturers and rehabilitation centres, the NAC stays apprised of the latest in prosthetic technology and applications.

With over 20 years of professional experience, Karen’s knowledge of and familiarity with amputation has made her an expert consultant, and she is pleased to share what she knows with the media and other stakeholders.

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

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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

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

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

Biography

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

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

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

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

You can follow her on Twitter @erinlynnhunt

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

Read more about explosive landmines and investment.

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

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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

Holly Gordon

Listen in as Holly talks about women’s empowerment, the power of storytelling, why education is important, the gap between head and heart and why things change when you create room for conversation.

The Film: Girl Rising

Watch the Trailer here

Biography

As Co-Founder and CEO of Girl Rising, Holly determines long-term strategy for the campaign and looks for new opportunities to drive change for girls around the world. Holly is also an Executive Producer of the Girl Rising film. Holly has been selected by Fast Company as a member of the League of Extraordinary Women and named by Newsweek/Daily Beast as one of 125 Women of Impact.

Forbes Magazine also named the Girl Rising movement the #1 Most Dynamic Social Initiative of 2012. Prior to Girl Rising, Holly Gordon worked at the Tribeca Film Festival, and before that at ABC News, where she was a producer and booker for the major news broadcasts, covering high-profile stories, including the trial of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, the shootings at Columbine, and the September 11th attacks. Holly graduated from Brown University, with a B.A. in International Relations.

http://girlrising.com/

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Doug talks about how you politics is defined by what you see out your front window, why he’s against the death penalty, political satire in the US and his new book President Blog.

Biography

Doug Magee is a writer, photographer, and filmmaker living in New York's East Harlem. He is a graduate of Amherst College and Union Theological Seminary. He has had a decidedly checkered career.

Doug worked as a freelance photojournalist for a number of years and was published in many major magazines and newspapers, including a New York Times front-page photo of violence in Portugal.

He is the author of SLOW COMING DARK, a book of interviews with death row inmates, and WHAT MURDER LEAVES BEHIND, profiles of families of murder victims. In addition, he has written three children's books.

His films include the HBO movie SOMEBODY HAS TO SHOOT THE PICTURE and the Showtime movie BEYOND THE CALL.

He is married to Mary Hedahl, the director of development at Human Rights First. The eldest of his three sons, Tim Magee, an associate professor at Westchester Community College, is married to Julie Tant Magee and they are the parents of William and Natalie. Joey Magee is in his third year at Oberlin College. Jackson Magee is in his first year at Allegheny College. All three sons are left-handed.

Doug is passionately opposed to state-sanctioned killing and hopes to see this archaic punishment abolished in his lifetime.

He has been a Yankees fan his entire life and doesn't plan to change any time soon.

He plays softball with the Writers Guild of America East team and trombone with the East River Jazz Band, both badly.

Doug loves his neighborhood, New York's Spanish Harlem. Visit when you're in New York. It's one of the beating hearts of the city.

NEVER WAVE GOODBYE, his first novel, was published in June 2010. His second novel, DARKNESS ALL AROUND, was published in October 2011, and will be out in paperback on June 19, 2012.

Read more about the book here.

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

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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

Karen talks about uncertainty, the frozen smile, anxious attachment, trans-generational trauma, good parenting and about learning how to self regulate.

Biography

Karen Dougherty is Toronto-based psychotherapist and documentary filmmaker.

In her practice she works to help patients through periods of adversity, transition, and instability to deepen self-understanding, establish emotional regulation, and build resilience. Her key areas of interest are repetitive bad-object relations, trans-generational trauma, and existential issues. She is a Candidate at the Toronto Institute of Psychoanalysis.

As a filmmaker, Karen specializes in psychoanalytic, history, and social issue documentaries. Her current project, funded by PEPweb http://www.pep-web.org/, explores the world of Columbia University Researcher Dr. Beatrice Beebe, whose frame-by-frame video microanalysis of mother-infant communications has revolutionized our understanding of attachment.

Recent collaborations include research and consulting on the CBC POV documentary Girls Night Out, about young women and binge-drinking culture (Directed by Phyllis Ellis, produced by White Pine Productions, premiering on CBC’s Firsthand on Thursday, March 3, 2016 at 8PM on CBC); The Nature of Things documentary The Equalizer (Kensington Communications), about sports psychology and technology (airing on Thursday, March 3, 2016 at 8PM on CBC); and, also with Kensington Communications, Risk Factor, a point-of-view documentary for TVO about the psychology of risk (in production).

As a psychoanalytic consultant on documentaries she helps filmmakers tune into their subjects, listening for and capturing unconscious communications and provides guidance on dealing with trauma and maintaining boundaries.

Karen has a Master’s Degree in English Literature (McGill) and a Master’s in Psychoanalytic Studies (School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield).

For more information, visit www.karendougherty.ca

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

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound

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

Photo credit: Véro Boncompagni

Check out the trailer of their new NFB film Ninth Floor making its world premiere at TIFF 2015.

Synopsis of Film

It started quietly when a group of Caribbean students, strangers in a cold new land, began to suspect their professor of racism. It ended in the most explosive student uprising Canada had ever known. Over four decades later, Ninth Floor reopens the file on the Sir George Williams Riot – a watershed moment in Canadian race relations and one of the most contested episodes in the nation’s history.

It was the late 60s, change was in the air, and a restless new generation was claiming its place– but nobody at Sir George Williams University would foresee the chaos to come.

On February 11, 1969, riot police stormed the occupied floors of the main building, making multiple arrests. As fire consumed the 9th floor computer centre, a torrent of debris rained onto counter-protesters chanting racist slogans – and scores of young lives were thrown into turmoil. Making a sophisticated and audacious foray into meta-documentary, writer and director Mina Shum meets the original protagonists in clandestine locations throughout Trinidad and Montreal, the wintry city where it all went down. And she listens. Can we hope to make peace with such a painful past? What lessons have we learned? What really happened on the 9th floor?

In a cinematic gesture of redemption and reckoning, Shum attends as her subjects set the record straight – and lay their burden down. Cinematography by John Price evokes a taut sense of subterfuge and paranoia, while a spacious soundscape by Miguel Nunes and Brent Belke echoes with the lonely sound of the coldest wind in the world.

Mina Shum: Biography

Born in Hong Kong and raised in Canada, Mina Shum is an independent filmmaker and artist. “I’m the child of the Praxis Screenwriting Workshop, Cineworks Independent Film Co-op, the Canadian Film Centre and working class immigrant parents,” she says.

With Ninth Floor, a production of the National Film Board of Canada, Shum has written and directed her fourth feature film and first feature documentary.

Her first feature Double Happiness (1994) – developed while she was resident director at the Canadian Film Centre – premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Citation for Best Canadian Feature Film and the Toronto Metro Media Prize. It went on to win Best First Feature at the Berlin Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Torino Film Festival. Following its American premiere at Sundance, it was released theatrically in the U.S. by Fine Line/New Line Features. It was nominated for multiple Genie Awards, Canada’s top film honour, winning Best Actress for Sandra Oh, and Best Editing for Alison Grace.

Shum’s second and third features – Drive, She Said (1997) and Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity (2002) – also premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity was subsequently invited to both Sundance and the Vancouver Film Festival, where it won a Special Citation for Best Screenplay (shared with co-writer Dennis Foon). It was released theatrically in Canada and the U.S.

Shum’s short films include Shortchanged; Love In; Hunger; Thirsty; Me, Mom and Mona, which won a Special Jury Citation the 1993 Toronto Film Festival; Picture Perfect, nominated for Best Short Drama at the Yorkton Film Festival; and most recently I Saw Writer’s Guild Award.

Her TV work ranges from Mob Princess, a TV movie produced for Brightlight Pictures/W Network, to episodic directing on About A Girl, Noah’s Arc, Exes and Oh’s, Bliss, The Shield Stories and Da Vinci’s Inquest.

Shum’s interests extend beyond film and television. Her immersive video installation You Are What You Eat was held over at the Vancouver Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Centre A, and her cinematic theatre piece All, created in collaboration with the Standing Wave Music Ensemble, was presented at the 2011 Push Festival. She has hosted sold-out events for the experimental Pecha Kucha program, and her Internet hit Hip Hop Mom was featured in Calgary’s official Canada Day celebrations.

In 2004 she was invited to deliver the inaugural UBC/Laurier Institute Multicultural Lecture, entitled New Day Rising: Journey of a Hyphenated Girl, and in 2011 she was the recipient of the Sondra Kelly Writer’s Guild of Canada Award.

She is currently preparing her next feature, Meditation Park.

Selwyn Jacob: Biography

Selwyn Jacob was born in Trinidad and came to Canada in 1968 with the dream of becoming a filmmaker. It was a dream that wouldn’t die: he became a teacher and eventually a school principal but eventually chose to leave the security of that career to educate a wider audience through film. He has been a producer with the National Film Board of Canada since 1997.

His early work as an independent director includes We Remember Amber Valley, a

documentary about the black community that existed near Lac La Biche in Alberta. Prior to joining the NFB, he directed two award-winning NFB releases – Carol’s Mirror, and The Road Taken, which won the Canada Award at the 1998 Gemini Awards.

In 1997 he joined the NFB’s Pacific & Yukon Studio in Vancouver, and has gone on to produce close to 50 NFB films. Among his many credits are Crazywater, directed by the Inuvialuit filmmaker Dennis Allen; Hue: A Matter of Colour, a co-production with Sepia Films, directed by Vic Sarin; Mighty Jerome, written and directed by Charles Officer; and the digital interactive project Circa 1948, by Vancouver artist Stan Douglas.

Released in 2010, Mighty Jerome addresses issues of race and nationalism while paying tribute to Harry Jerome, one of the most remarkable athletes in Canadian history. The film went on to win multiple honours, including a Leo Award for Best Feature Length Documentary and the 2012 Regional Emmy Award for Best Historical Documentary.

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Today's conversation is about great ideas, having good instincts, the entrepreneurial spirit, ‎a passion for creating solutions and what problem solving can lead to. 

Biography

"BaitCloud is a fishing industry start-up out of Mississauga, Ontario that started in 2015 with two first time inventors and entrepreneurs, Cheryl Hopkins and Carl Rudnik.

Their growth has been steady and unconventional as they look to re-invent the fish-attractant marketplace forever.

For more information about their company visit their site here.

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

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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

Ian talks about leadership, why attitude is so important, why misery is a choice, consistency and why he’s an unapologetic nerd.

Biography

Since his years in high school, Ian Tyson has never shied away from the stage. From drama productions to his many years as a student leader, performing and motivating have always gone hand in hand. Ian has parlayed his passion for comedy and entertaining with his desire to inspire change in others into a 25+ year career as one of the top speakers in North America.

The middle child of 3 kids, Ian grew up in St. Thomas, Ontario where he still makes his home and is the proud father of two teenagers. Ian draws much of his inspiration from tales of his childhood. From the humorous: Recess! Eating paste, and playing superheroes, to the touching: how we define our friends, and dealing with the loss of his mother at the age of 10. Combine this with his extensive training in leadership and a more than-healthy dose of pop-culture references and you have the recipe for Ian's presentations and workshops.

Ian holds a degree in English from Carleton University where he trained to one day become a teacher. However, since he had been speaking to students since the end of his own high school career, he saw a chance and made his speaking career a full time venture. He was the co-founder of Youth Leadership Camps Canada (YLCC) in 1992, and it remains one of the top leadership training programs in Canada. He has worked with student leadership organizations across North America and has been a keynote speaker and workshop facilitator at both CSLC and NASC National Conferences. Ian has presented at national, provincial/state and regional conferences for CADA, SADD, OSAID, 4-H, FFA, HOBY, COLS, ICAA, and CAIS among others. For 4 years, Ian sat on the board of directors for The Canadian Student Leadership Association (CSLA) as a "Director at Large" and was named the Ontario "Leader of Distinction" in 2009 for his outstanding contributions to student leadership.

Ian continues to speak to schools, working with educators, parents and conferences across North America, as well as working at corporate events, conducting team and trust building workshops and becoming a talented event MC. His past clients have included companies like; Bell Canada, Union Gas, The Home Builders Association, Jostens, The City of Surrey, Professional Advisors, Corrections Canada, London Life, The Committee of Youth Officers and The National Character Education Conference.

Ian now enjoys a career as one of North America's Top Speakers; working with both students and adults in a variety of venues. His first book "Hooray For Everything!: The Optimist Manifesto" is now available, and has been very well received across North America. He has self-produced a successful podcast interview series "Ian Tyson's PositiveCast" which has Ian discussing life, success and positive attitude with people from all walks of life.

To book Ian for your next conference, event or assembly, please click here.

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

With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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