The Royal Canadian Movie Podcast

It’s our very first live episode! On November 12th 2018 in the Media Commons theatre at the Robarts library in Toronto, we recorded this episode in front of a fabulous live audience to help launch the Toronto Film Map. Full of awesome recommendations, cool behind the scenes info and neat ways you can connect with Toronto, you’ll want to check out this awesome resource.

To celebrate the launch, we asked Rachel E. Beattie - the Assistant Media Archivist at Media Commons Media Archive, University of Toronto, Jordan Hale - Digital Repositories Librarian, University of Waterloo, formerly of the Map & Data Library, University of Toronto, and Keith Nolwenn Bellec - Special Projects Assistant at the Media Commons, to select their favourite films from the map.

So of course, we’ve got an episode chockfull of great recommendations for movies, interesting facts about the city of Toronto, and a celebration of capturing a city on film and TV over the decades.

As with all live podcast episodes, there are some visual elements and some sound issues that may arise. Please bear with it.

Make sure to check out the map at https://mdl.library.utoronto.ca/projects/toronto-film-map.

When we invited filmmaker Michael Peterson on to the podcast he picked not one, but two films by Alberta filmmaker David Winning - Storm and Killer Image. Unfortunately, like so many Canadian films, these two are both out of general circulation - and you’ll need to tune in to hear the hilarious stories of how Mike got his copies. So although we do chat about the films a bit, we end up chatting about a lot of the big subjects - like what makes a Canadian Film, Canadian, And why that might be bull all together, the growing indie scene in Alberta, how to create a distinct voice as a filmmaker, and of course, what it’s like to work with Michael Ironside.

Do yourself a favour and and check out Mike’s films Lloyd the Conqueror and Knuckleball, which are now on VOD.

If you have a copy of Storm or Killer Image, let us know. We’d love to see them ourselves.

This week, Becky chats with filmmaker Karl R. Hearne about his most recent film Touched. Returning from a creative hiatus, this is Karl’s first feature after a string of successful short films. Part murder mystery, part ghost story, part character study, Touched is an atmospheric visual treat. Come for the great talk about independent filmmaking, stay for the story about screening the film at a progressive German prison.

Touched is showing at the Carlton Cinemas in Toronto starting November 16th and on VOD in the new year.

This week, we’re talking to musician Alaska B of Yamantaka Sonic Titan about the cult classic "Class of 1984" from 1982. Out of control on so many levels, we talk about the weird fear of punks from the late 70’s and early 80’s, set dressers taking things a little TOO far, and how seriously you can actually take a movie that’s this silly.

Class of 1984 is available for rent on iTunes, and a Blu-ray edition is available from Shout Factory.

This week’s end credit music is Dirt - by Yamantaka Sonic Titan.

This week, Becky sits down with author and filmmaker Caelum Vatnsdal about the early Guy Maddin film 1992’s Careful. Caelum literally wrote the book on Guy Maddin, as well as has worked directly with him on a number of films - Including the one we’re talking about today! Get ready for lots of inside information, great stories, and an awesome perspective of why so much great and weird stuff comes out of the prairies.

Caelum’s books can all be found on Amazon. We especially recommend They Came From Within - A History of Canadian Horror - which we often use as a research source for this podcast.

Careful is a bit hard to find, but your local library may have a copy.

This week’s end credit music is Sounds Familiar by the Weakerthans.

This week, Becky sits down with documentarian Shasha Nakhai to talk about her debut feature documentary, Take Light.

Take Light documents the energy crisis in Nigeria. Director Shasha Nakhai returned to her hometown of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and spent almost a year quietly filmed hours of interviews and footage. The result is a powerful expose of the web of corruption and anger in the Nigerian energy industry that leaves 50% of Nigerians without electricity in Africa's largest energy-producing country. Poignant, enlightening and at times exhilarating, you won’t want to miss this one!

Take Light will be in theatres in Toronto Friday November 2 – Thursday November 8, 2018 Carlton Cinema – 20 Carlton St., at Yonge St., Toronto and available to stream on-line after that.

To cap off 2018’s Shocktober, we’re going back to the beginning - Cronenberg’s beginning, with 1975’s Shivers (aka:They came from within, aka: Orgy of the Blood Parasites, aka: The Parasite Murders). Writer and Event thrower Lana Leprich has a unique perspective to Cronenberg, having worked on the exhibition in Toronto at The TIFF Bell Lightbox.

We’re chatting tax shelter era Canadian history, exploring the repercussions of making this movie for Cronenberg, the moral outrage around it, and the history of Cinepix in Canadian film.

Shivers got a Blu Ray release and is easy to find.

This week’s end credit music is Dubravko Detoni’s “Assonance”.

This week Becky sits down with investigative journalist Robert Osborne to talk about his newest CBC Documentary The Third Dive: The Death of Rob Stewart.

THE THIRD DIVE goes deep into the tragic loss of Rob Stewart, and Robert Osborne’s documentary is a thorough investigation into the circumstances of his death - which didn’t quite add up.

Becky has a great conversation with Robert, discussing how he dove into this project, creating a documentary that remains unbiased, connecting with interview subjects, and the value of investigative true crime podcasts.

The Third Dive: The Death of Rob Stewart will be airing on Friday, October 26, 2018 at 9 PM on CBC-TV and on the CBC website from noon the same day.

This week, we’re talking to producer and writer Steph Guthrie about 2014’s infamous nature survival movie Backcountry. We laugh a lot for a movie about a horrific “based on a true story” narrative, but there’s just too much fun stuff in this tale of toxic masculinity vs. the Canadian wilds to not go a little off the beaten path. We talk the reason why so many movies in Canada are shot in the wilderness, the many virtues of Missy Peregrym, and the fun of shooting with bears.

Backcountry is available on Netflix and VOD.

This week’s end credit music is Always Keep an Edge on your Knife by Corb Lund.

This week, Becky’s chatting with Justin Decloux about his most recent feature film Impossible Horror. We talk collaborating with other people, the value of the low budget horror film, and why physical media is still important.

Impossible Horror is available on Blu-ray October 23rd. Get your pre-order from the website with lots of great perks.