On Docs

Host Colin Ellis speaks with Shawney Cohen and Rachel Browne about Rat Park, their new Vice Studios documentary about the global addiction crisis. Through the experiences of the United States, the Philippines, and Portugal, they examine the spectrum of federal drug policy, from a tough-on-crime approach to complete decriminalization.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Colin Ellis speaks with Ingrid Waldron about There's Something in the Water, the documentary that Nova Scotia-born actor Ellen Page made about Waldron's book about environmental racism, and what it's like to have a celebrity take interest in your work and advocacy.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jordan River Anderson was five when he died. The boy from Norway House Cree Nation was born with a condition that left him unable to talk, walk, or breathe on his own. And because the provincial and federal government couldn't agree on who should pay for his home care, he spent his whole short life in a hospital. Host Colin Ellis speaks to filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin about her documentary about Jordan's legacy.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2011, former priest William Hodgson Marshall pleaded guilty to multiple counts of indecent assaults of minors and sexual assault. Matt Gallagher made a documentary about this case, but Prey isn't about what happened before Marshall's conviction: it's about what happened when a survivor took the Congregation of St. Basil to court over its financial settlement. Prey profiles survivors Rod MacLeod and Patrick McMahon. Colin Ellis speaks with Gallagher, MacLeod, and McMahon about the film.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yung Chang's documentaries have looked at China's modernization, exotic fruit cultivators, and more. Now, in This Is Not a Movie, he turns his sights on Robert Fisk, Middle East correspondent for The Independent newspaper. Fisk has covered some of the region's most harrowing conflicts in his more-than-40-year career. Chang spoke to Colin Ellis on making a doc about someone with a controversial reputation, having a subjective point of view in journalism, Fisk's criticism of social media, and more.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Everyone thinks they can recognize propaganda - and that they're immune to its influence. Filmmaker Larry Weinstein's latest documentary, Propaganda: The Art of Selling Lies, will make you reconsider.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Docs host Colin Ellis speaks to Michael Sladden, owner and director of Camp Pathfinder, about he decided to invite war-zone refugees to the camp and what it was like to have the project featured in a documentary.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Women are the fastest-growing incarcerated population, both in Canada and around the world. When filmmakers Nance Ackerman, Teresa MacInnes, and Ariella Pahlke decided to make a documentary about why, they also decided to put the camera in the hands of the incarcerated women whose stories they were telling.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Michael Jackson. Bill Clinton. Lorena Bobbitt. If you lived through the '90s, chances are you know these names and know the stories behind them. But do you really? Host Colin Ellis and producers Matthew O'Mara and Chantal Braganza discuss Leaving Neverland and Lorena, two series that revisit two of the biggest scandals of the decade.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ben Sisto spent eight years in search of the original writer of the 1999 hit, "Who Let to the Dogs Out?" His quest is the subject of a new documentary. Host Colin Ellis spoke with Sisto about making the doc, and the answers he found.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.