In The Seats with...

Hollywood has always been a little complex in finding success, but there's a through line....

On this very special episode we sit down with Bob Levin the President and COO of Screen Engine/ASI who has over two decades of experience at Disney, Sony and MGM in film marketing about his role in this new book 'How To Score In Hollywood: Secrets To Success In The Movie Business' that he wrote with Kevin Goetz.

The book provides insight from top to bottom on all the tricks of the trade to get from an idea to an opening weekend box office gross and all the challenges in between.

It was a pleasure to pick Bob's brain on the in's and out's of the process as well as tackling some of the more challenging ideas that are out there in a media landscape that is changing by the day.

'How To Score In Hollywood: Secrets To Success In The Movie Business' is available online and at major retailers now.

Deep diving for the gems in the midst of awards season...

On this special episode we going looking for some Canadian gold which has been turning up at theatres all across the country (and our own TIFF Lightbox) for a screening last night.  It's time for 'Measures of a Funeral'.

A young academic pursues acclaimed early 20th-century Canadian violinist Kathleen Parlow while escaping her failed musician mother's shadow in this poignant character study.

It's a haunting character study about the obsession for perfection and we had a great talk with writer/director Sofia Bohdanowicz  about her continuing collaboration with star Deragh Campbell, the films exceptional use of music and so very much more....

Look for 'Measures of a Funeral' at a theatre near you!

Words can have impactful meanings....

On this episode we're back on the festival circuit as Executive Producer Patty Jenkins introduces audiences to something with a grit underneath it's fingernails that makes us sad one minute and rolling in the aisles the next.  It's time for 'Junkie'.

It's the story of Stevie (played by real life recovering addict Rocky Shay) who is just a perpetual screw-up on all kinds of levels.  She's escaped from rehab (again) and is trying to repay her debts while reconnecting with her estranged gay son Liam before skipping town for good.  It's the kind of emotional rollercoaster that is hard to look away from as we see flashes of redemption for Stevie along side the ever looming train wreck that has been her life up to this date.

We had the unique pleasure of sitting down with writer/director William Means and star Rocky Shay about the origins of it all and getting an award winning talent like Patty Jenkins involved with the project.

Sometimes you just have to go back and sit in its shade....

On this special episode we're playing a little bit of catch up and looking into a film that had it's World Premiere back at Fantastic Fest this year, it's time to sit under 'The Tree Of Knowledge'.

It's the story of Gaspard (Rui Pedro Silva), a teenager from the suburbs of Lisbon, who falls into the hands of the Ogre, a man who has made a pact with the Devil. The Ogre uses the boy to attract tourists, whom he transforms into animals and then kills. Gaspard escapes with a donkey and a dog that he has grown fond of, and in an enchanted manor, he meets the spirit of Queen D. Maria I of Portugal. Meanwhile, enraged, the Ogre sets off in pursuit.

I had the distinct pleasure of sitting down with filmmaker Eugène Green to talk about the origins of the story and so very much more....

In the realms of Science Fiction and Fantasy, the words 'To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before' now takes on a brand new meaning....

On this very special episode we travel to the most inclusive and delightfully foul mouthed universes that we've ever had the pleasure of seeing on the big screen.  It's time for 'Lesbian Space Princess'.

It's the story of a young space princess who is thrust out of her sheltered life and into a galactic quest to save her bounty hunter ex-girlfriend from the Straight White Maliens.

Not only is this movie, charming and life-affirming it's also ridiculous and incredibly smart all at the same time.  Plus if that wasn't enough it's a feature length animated and independent production that was made for under $1 Million dollars which is pretty unheard of.

We had the pleasure of sitting down with the writer/directors of the film Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese to talk about the origins of it all and crafting what hands down is one of the more original pieces of cinema put to screen this entire year.

'Lesbian Space Princess' is in theatres now.

How do you step into a moment in cinematic and pop culture history?

We'll admit we've been dark for a minute...and it hasn't been any artistic reason just straight up burn out....which means it was going to take something special to get us back in the saddle....and that saddle is 'Nouvelle Vague'.

'Nouvelle Vague' is the story of a young Jean-Luc Godard who after his days as a critic writing for Cahiers du Cinema decides that the new form of film criticism will be to actually make a film himself.  He gets a low budget feature funded and with the help of Francois Truffaut develops a treatment about a young gangster couple along with his band of misfit toys and hence, 'Breathless' is born and cinematic history is made.

Only someone like Richard Linklater could make a film about one of the more landmark cinematic moments of our time in the chaotic style that Godard himself made 'Breathless' and it makes for one of the most unique and unforgettable cinematic experiences of the year.

We had the chance to talk with the young man who in his very first leading role stepped into the shoes of the iconic Jean Luc Godard to give us one of the more unique and original performances of the year.  In chatting with Guillaume Marbeck we got a little insight into the process that got him on this journey and what a celebration of cinema something like 'Nouvelle Vague' truly is.

'Nouvelle Vague' is in select theatres now,

One of the genuine joys of being in the trenches at a film festival is that you get to be in honest to goodness awe of some of the cinema that gets produced.

'While The Green Grass Grows: A Diary in Seven Parts' is a glorious chronicle of the miracles contained in everyday things and occurrences that allows for space to expose and embrace the fragility and profound nature of relationships, where reflections on the human condition and our environment flow together like streams in a river.

Deeply personal, Intensely philosophical and all humanistic this film is something akin to visual poetry that wraps you up in it's over arching thematical message that wants us to appreciate the moment while acknowledging how quickly it can all change and be taken away from us.

We had the pleasure of sitting down with filmmaker Peter Mettler about the making and process of this journey, his upcoming retrospective at the Lightbox and knowing when to say cut while in the editing bay on something that ends up being 7 hours long.

A glorious slice of Canadiana art operating at it's highest level.

Getting enlightened to history that you both knew and didn't know was there is more then eye opening....

We're in the thick of the madness at the Toronto International Film Festival and there 50th anniversary as we had the honor to take in a brand new documentary that enlightens us to the realties of the history of racism in Canada and beyond in the brilliant 'True North'.

Through the use of never before seen compelling historic archives and the voices of those who lived through the tumultuous period of 1960s Montreal, 'True North' uses a bold cinematic aesthetic that centers the power of memory and archive to expose the pivotal events of a moment that impacted the global movement for Black liberation.

'True North' is the kind of film that allows us to experience the realities of the time rather then get a didactic retelling of the history of it all and it makes for an immersive piece of cinema that transcends any kind of social politics and allows us to appreciate the genuine emotion of the time.

We had the pleasure of sitting and talking with filmmaker Michèle Stephenson about this and so very much more with the film making it's World Premiere at TIFF.

Keep your eyes open for 'True North' as it makes the festival rounds because it's an important piece of not only Canadian history but Canadian cinema as well.

Sometimes it's easy to forget to look up....

On this very special episode we dive into a movie on VOD platforms now that reminds us the need to look up.  It's time for 'Star People'.

On March 13, 1997, thousands of people in Arizona witnessed the largest mass UFO sighting in U.S. history—now famously known as The Phoenix Lights. Among them was 10-year-old Claire, who felt as if the lights called to her. Years later, Claire (Kat Cunning), now a photographer, is still chasing that moment, hoping to capture the lights on camera and finally make sense of what she saw.  When a mysterious tip leads her deep into the Arizona desert during a deadly heatwave with her UFO streamer boyfriend (Connor Paolo) and troubled brother (McCabe Slye)  in tow, they encounter a vulnerable immigrant family whose plight complicates her mission. As tensions rise, Claire searches for the answers she seeks on terra firma and among the stars.

We had the unique pleasure of sitting down with writer/director Adam Finberg to discuss the origins of the story and so very much more.

'Star People' is on VOD platforms now,

Story always has to come first....

On this special episode we look a sweet little rom-com that also happens to be an indigenous story.  It's time for 'Sweet Summer Pow-Wow'.

'Sweet Summer Pow Wow' is the story of a young Indigenous couple get a break from their troubled lives when they find each other through a summer of love on the Pow-Wow circuit.

We've seen the story of young love finding each other in the middle of challenges in their youth before but seeing it through the prism of indigenous storytelling we are reminded that we're all pretty damn similar in the first place.

And that's the whole point as we talk with co-writer/director Darrell Dennis and his star Tatyana Rose Baptiste about the importance of leading with story first, the built in nature of storytelling and the myriad of franchises that could be out there if Hollywood wants to mine some indigenous culture in a money making kind of way.

'Sweet Summer Pow Wow' is in theatres now.