With Passover and Easter upon us, this time of year, we often think about the meaning of freedom, survival, and renewal. Directed by Sally El Hosaini from a screenplay that she co-wrote with Jack Thorne, The Swimmers is a 2022 biographical sports drama film dealing with similar themes. The plot follows the true life story of teenage Syrian refugees Yusra Mardini and her sister Sarah Mardini, who swam alongside a sinking dinghy of refugees to lighten it, and eventually help 18 refugees to reach safety across the Aegean Sea while being smuggled from İzmir towards Lesbos.

Subsequent struggles as refugees are vividly depicted, but Yusra Mardini's swimming career sees her reaching the Rio 2016 Olympics as a member of the Refugee Olympic Team. In the final credits, we learn that Sarah in 2016 returned to Lesbos as part of voluntary efforts to assist incoming refugees. She was arrested and faces charges carrying potentially long-term prison sentences, if convicted.

Yusra and Sarah are played by real-life sister Lebanese Actresses, Nathalie Issa & Manal Issa. The film also stars, Ahmed Malek, German Actor, Matthias Schweighöfer (playing The Swimming Coach),  Ali Suliman, Kinda Alloush, James Krishna Floyd and Elmi Rashid Elmi.

November 11, 2022 it was in limited release in cinemas, then shown at the evening gala of the Marrakesh International Film Festival on November 18, 2022, before its streaming release by Netflix, on November 23, 2022.

As accredited media, I was at its world premiere red carpet Gala and Q & A at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2022 to conduct interviews and discuss the status of refugees, freedom, and the importance of pursuing your dreams.

Enjoy this episode with my compliments this Passover/Easter weekend!

Hunter and Rylee have been besties since kindergarten. They share everything and have developed a level of respect, kinship, and a very strong bond. But when they reunite post-grad, bitter truths emerge threatening to tear their friendship apart.

In this episode, I interview  Jared Marino, Director, Cinematographer, Producer & Writer,
Lead Actresses, Jenna Schaefer  (plays “Rylee”), Clarice Goetz  (plays “Harper”) and Producer, Alyssa Bruno, of the film, Benevolent, at The Vaughan International Film Festival’s 2022  Canadian Short Film Screenings to find out why this multi-nominated and two-time film festival winning movie came to be. We also discuss the impact of female friendship, how women experience friendship differently than men, how friendships evolve & change over time and don’t always survive, the ever-present element of competition & jealousy between Hunter who remained living in their hometown while Rylee moved away to pursue a career, the lack of support shown for choosing different paths, how the women are driven by passion & low self-esteem , why it is important to never turn your back on those who are always there for you, and much more!

Born out of Director Sharon Lewis’s own muted struggle with not fitting into neat racial/Queer/Christian boxes, With Wonder takes an intimate look at the journey of members of the Queer, Christian community of colour and their attempts to answer the question: Can you be both Christian and Queer?

This feature length documentary, features the diverse stories of several members of the LGBTQI+ community, including high profile queer activists and Queer clerics, in places like Jamaica, New York, London, and Los Angeles. They each have their own unique ways of amplifying their voices and finding their way back to spiritual health, despite the shaming tactics of some Christian institutions.

With Wonder is a love letter to God from the LGBTQI+ community of colour. Heartfelt and honest, With Wonder delves into what for some might be uncomfortable conversations.

In this episode, I sit down with Courtney Panchan, Distribution Manager of Black Market Releasing (the film company releasing With Wonder) to talk about how the QPOC people in the film came to terms and come out the other side, living their truth with the power of who they are and still serving God and how they can champion youth across Canada & the US who are looking to be accepted for their truth.

Founded in 2019 by producers Corey Ross and Svetlana Dvoretsky and developer – Slava Zheleznyakov, Lighthouse Immersive is the first experiential entertainment multi-plex, aiming to cultivate community and creativity through large-scale events and exhibitions of all art forms.

With locations in Toronto, Chicago, and San Francisco, Lighthouse Immersive offers versatile spaces for creators to present their work, while engaging audiences around the globe in unique art experiences that encourage dialogue and inspire new artistic creations.

Currently Lighthouse Immersive Studios Toronto is featuring The Disney Animation Immersive Experience with 500,000 cubic feet of projections taking you through the 100 years of Disney’s Animation Studios history - everything from Snow White to Peter Pan and from Frozen to Encanto. Swim through a sea of bubbles alongside Ariel and stroll through a sparkling snowfall with Elsa. Interactive elements include responsive projections that move with the audience and twinkling bracelets that light up in sync with the show.

No stranger to the world of entertainment, Corey is President of Lighthouse Immersive Inc. In this episode, Corey and I discuss the wonderful world of Disney and what it took to put this Immersive Experience together.

Take a trip down memory lane with all your favorite Disney characters at the Disney Animation Immersive Experience at Lighthouse Immersive Studios Toronto. Extended by popular demand, this exhibit, featuring 500,000 cubic feet of projections, takes you through the 100 years of Disney’s Animation Studios history - everything from Snow White to Peter Pan and from Frozen to Encanto.

Swim through a sea of bubbles alongside Ariel and stroll through a sparkling snowfall with Elsa. Interactive elements include responsive projections that move with the audience and twinkling bracelets that light up in sync with the show.

This experiential venue design by Emmy-winner and Tony-nominated designer David Korins (Hamilton) includes a multi-room pre-show exhibit dedicated to the history of Disney Animation and their animators.

In this episode, I talk with Co-Producer, Academy Award-Winner J. Miles Dale (The Shape of Water, Nightmare Alley, Antlers, The Strain) about all the considerations & challenges that went into brining this experience to life, what guests can expect to see & take away from the exhibit, the inspiration behind it, and so much more!

Conception: written, directed, and produced by Tarun Verma – comedian and former fertility pharmacist, who has seen it all with couples struggling with IVF. Conception is the final episode in our month of LOVE.

This fictional drama-documentary movie tells the story of Vic and Ami, who are living the quintessentially perfect married life. Living in the city, working high powered jobs, but their world turns upside down when they attempt to start a family and can't get pregnant and have to resort to IVF.

The journey of IVF tests their marriage and begs the question... how far will you go to have a baby?

In this episode, I sit down with Tarun Verma and the movie’s lead actors: Kareem Ghuneim (from Divorcish), and Simren Lalan (from Ghost Story Chronicles) to discuss the movie’s theme, how emotionally & financially draining IVF can be, the strain that it puts on a marriage, and the couple’s values, what not being able to get pregnant can mean to a woman & man’s identity and self-esteem amidst family & cultural pressures, and much more!

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Carrying on with all things LOVE in our Month of LOVE series, this week’s episode features the British romantic comedy-drama Film -  What’s Love Got to Do With It? The film covers the topics of arranged or assisted marriage and interfaith marriage.

Winner of Best Comedy at the 2022 Rome Film Fest and scheduled to soon hit movie theatres in Great Britain (Feb.24th) and North America, the film directed by multi-award-winner, Shekhar Kapur(Elizabeth, Bandit Queen), and written & produced by Jemima Goldsmith Khan, the movie is set between London and Lahore.

It documents a filmmaker’s childhood friend & neighbour's arranged marriage to a bride from Pakistan. It is based on Jemima’s own mixed marriage (she was formerly married to Pakistani politician and former cricket captain, Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi, who later served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan). The star-studded cast includes Lily James (Lady Rose in Downton Abbey, Pam in Pam & Tommy) alongside British & Pakistani Actors, Models, Comedians and Musicians Shazad Latif, Shabana Azmi, Emma Thompson, Sajal Aly, Oliver Chris, Asim Chaudhry, Jeff Mirza, Alice Orr-Ewing, and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.

I caught up with some of them at the film’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10th, 2022, to discuss the concept of arranged & assisted marriages, the pluses & minuses of them, what attracted these stars to their roles, and lots more!

As we continue to honor Valentine’s Day and all things LOVE, this week’s episode features the amazing story in first-time author, Danielle Kaplan’s book, I Married A Thrill-Seeker: A Cautious Wife’s Memoir of Her Husband’s Risk-Taking and Their Long Road to Recovery. For fans of memories of trauma and recovery and for anyone living and loving a risk-taker, comes one man’s struggle to overcome a one percent chance at survival as told through the eyes of his wife, his high school sweetheart, who was his greatest ally. The book recalls the tale of Danielle’s type-A and adrenaline-junkie husband, Stephen Kaplan — former CFO and CEO of Deciem Beauty Group — as he sets off to take one last solo road trip on his motorcycle, from Toronto, Ontario to near Fairbanks, Alaska. Danielle knows it’s the last ‘adrenaline rush’ trip he’ll take on the bike–he’s promised to give it up for good.

On the other hand, Steve expected to make it home with no drama, no unnecessary risks, just the freedom of the open road and the wind on his face. But after hitting a pothole while driving at a high speed in rain at dusk, it’s the ending neither of them dreamed of when he crashes on a remote highway in the Yukon, he can’t move, and its hours before he can receive medical treatment.

In this candid interview, Danielle and I sat down to discuss how this event changed her, her husband’s and her children’s lives in an instant, how she came to terms with Steve’s adrenaline-junkie antics & found an appreciation for it amidst having to make unbearable decisions, experiencing miraculous moments, how as a former speech pathologist she became her husband’s greatest advocate - fighting by his side the entire time, through every step forward and step back as Steve regained his health and lots more in what can only be described as a true testament of luck, love, and incredible fortitude given Steve’s injuries that left him with a less than one percent survival rate.

Happy February! In honor of Valentine’s Day, this month, our episodes are focused on all things LOVE. This includes love that isn’t always good for us. As is the case in the short movie, Love, Sick – A Story of Toxic Love, Written, Produced, & Directed, by the Emmy and Webby award-winning, Christopher Klimovski. I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing ‘Klimovski’ as he prefers to be called, in Vaughan, Ontario, at The Vaughan International Film Festival’s, International Short Filming Screenings where Love, Sick premiered. Have to admit, the film was chilling to the core. And I wouldn’t expect anything less from Klimovski. Have you been through a painful breakup and experienced heartbreak? Or ever missed someone so much that you felt sick? What about a strong sense of yearning for a person who didn’t feel the same way? Then you know that this experience is real and hurts. Love, Sick the movie takes this feeling up a notch. The story centers on two people who want to be together, and simply can’t without destroying each other. But not for the usual, cliché reasons. Klimovski and I chat about what provoked him to make this movie and explore the dark and very toxic side of love.

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The Fabelmans is a 2022 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Steven Spielberg, who co-wrote and co-produced it with Tony Kushner. The film is a semi-autobiographical story loosely based on Spielberg's adolescence and first years as a filmmaker, told through an original story of the fictional Sammy Fabelman, a young aspiring filmmaker who explores how the power of films can help him see the truth about his dysfunctional family and those around him. It stars Gabriel LaBelle as Sammy, alongside Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, and Judd Hirsch in supporting roles.

The Fabelmans had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2022, where it won the People's Choice Award. The film received widespread critical acclaim for the performances of the cast, Spielberg's direction, the screenplay, cinematography, and John Williams' musical score. It was named one of the top ten films of 2022 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute.

The film received five nominations at the 80th Golden Globe Awards in 2023, winning Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Director for Spielberg. It also received 11 nominations at the 28th Critics' Choice Awards, including Best Picture, winning Best Young Performer for LaBelle.

In this episode, I take you behind-the-scenes with Steven Spielberg and the cast at the Fabelmans at its TIFF premiere, where even more about Steven’s life & family, beginnings as a filmmaker, and casting decisions, are revealed.