Welcome to the first week of our annual halloween spooktacular. This week, we’re starting out slow and creepy with the 2017 TIFF Midnight Madness darling The Crecent with artist Emma Allain. Slow burning, building and deeply disturbing, If you’re a fan of ambiguously creepy horrors and the visuals of movies like “Mandy” you’re not going to want to miss this sensorily stunning film.

The Crescent is available on Amazon Prime right now for your viewing pleasure.

Is it in the rule book that a dog can play basketball? Find out this week as we dive a little too deep into the story of beloved 1997 children’s movie Air Bud with podcaster Stu Popp! This one gets weirdly dark and we do offer a brief disclaimer that we are going to be talking about cruelty to animals, but this film is one that takes some really surprising turns in terms of how it was made and what’s happened in the 20 years since.

You can catch Air Bud right now on Amazon Prime and Stu Popp on the Dungeon Punk podcast and the upcoming Peach Baskets podcast.

So Big, So Strong, But So Gentle. You Will Learn to Love Yeti. And that’s not a request. It’s our third anniversary and we’ve got the fabulous Mark Junop back in the studio for another weird dive into the wilds of exploitation cinema.

This week we’re talking about the utterly bizarre Yeti: Giant of the 20th Century from 1977. Made to take advantage of the furor behind Dino De Laurentiis’ 1976 King Kong remake, this Italian-Canadian interpretation is set in Toronto and features an expressive dude in a fur suit climbing every Torontonian landmark you can think of - But weirdly not the one that seems obvious.

This one isn’t going to be for everyone, but if you’re all about oddities that were clearly made with love and care while simultaneously aping a larger budget hit - don’t miss this gonzo take on the giant misunderstood creature genre. And if you need more coaxing - two words - YETI NIPPLES.

Luckily, it’s very available. There’s an ultra-low rez version on youtube, and a restored version on Amazon Prime.

It’s the second and final part of our CFC Special with Justine Whyte, director and executive producer of CFC Features.

This week, we’re talking about Kyle Rideout & Josh Epstein’s Adventures in Public School from 2017 and Clement Virgo’s Rude from 1995, as well as helpful tips for filmmakers and writers looking to get their own work produced by the CFC, and what releases we can look forward to in the coming years with new films from Tracy Deer and Sadaf Foroughi.

Adventures in Public School is available on iTunes right now, and the rest are soon to follow. Stay up to date with the CFC and all their releases by following them on Twitter and Instagram @cfccreates.

Wrapping up our TIFF '19 preview series we're talking to writer/director Harry Cepka about Raf, a the story of a woman who's luck just keeps getting worse - until she meets a woman named Tal, and everything changes.

Featuring performances by 2016 TIFF rising star Grace Glowiki and Van Helsing series regular Jesse Stanley, you'll be able to catch this conversation launching film at TIFF this week!

Get your tickets at TIFF.net If you're not in Toronto or able to make it to the festival, you can follow the progress of the film at rafthefilm.com.

Continuing with our TIFF 2019 preview series, we were fortunate enough to sit down with filmmakers Christopher Auchter and Alanis Obomsawin to talk about their new documentaries that are premiering at TIFF.

First up is Christopher Auchter’s Now is the Time, a documentary which revisits the subject of a previous NFB documentary This is the time, the work of artist Robert Davidson and the raising of a totem pole for the first time in a community in decades. Combining animation, new interviews, stop motion, and archival footage, it’s an incredibly beautiful statement on the power of art in culture and community.

Secondly, the legendary documentarian Alanis Obomsawin speaks to us about Jordan River Anderson - The Messenger, which digs into the story of Jordan’s Principal, a law created to insure that all Canadian children, have access to the medical care and resources they need. In turns, heartbreaking, enraging, and revelatory, this is one to add to your must see list.

Get your tickets at the TIFF Website and make sure to follow the progress of the films through the NFB.

Ready for a primer of the CFC and a solid overview of Canadian film in the 90’s and 2000’s? Welcome to part 1 of our in depth look at the work of the Canadian Film Centre. This week, Becky sits down with Justine Whyte, Director and Executive Producer of CFC Features, to talk about the history of the film centre, the importance of short films to making a feature and five (and more) of the spectacular feature films that they’ve produced.

This week, we’re talking about Holly Dale’s Blood and Donuts from 1995, Jeff Barnaby’s Rhymes for Young Ghouls from 2013 and Cube from 1997.

Join us next week where we’ll discuss Adventures in Public School which made a splash in 2017’s TIFF festival and 1995’s Rude which appeared in the Un Certain Regarde category at Cannes. Also stay tuned helpful tips for filmmakers and writers looking to get their own work produced by the CFC.

Adventures in Public School is available on iTunes right now, and the rest are soon to follow. Stay up to date with the CFC and all their releases by following them on Twitter and Instagram @cfccreates.

In this very special TIFF 2019 preview Becky sits down with the Executive Producer, English Program (Ontario Centre) for the National Film Board of Canada Anita Lee about the documentary “This is not a movie”. The film will have its world premiere at TIFF this year and if you’re in Toronto, you won’t want to miss it.

Directed by the spectacular Yung Chang (Up the Yangtze, China Heavy Weights) the film chronicles the career of legendary foreign correspondent Robert Fisk and his pursuit for truth in war zones across the world.

Get your tickets at the TIFF Website and make sure to follow the progress of the film through the NFB.

This week, Becky sits down with Canadian stage and screen icon Sheila McCarthy to talk about her groundbreaking role of Polly Vandersma in 1987’s I’ve Heard The Mermaids Singing. Credited with launching the Canadian New Wave of Cinema and heralding the big bold voice that is Patricia Rozema - do not miss this inspiring and gorgeous film.

How do I watch it, you ask? Well, thanks to Encore Plus, it’s currently available for free on Youtube. So you have no excuses.

This week, Becky sits down with archivist and librarian Kate Zieman, to talk about the deeply delightful “Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives” from 1992. This treat from the NFB’s studio D tells the stories of several gay women across Canada recounting their lives in the 50’s and 60’s. With stories that range from harrowing to hilarious - DO NOT MISS this little treasure that only could have come from the NFB.

Which, is where you’ll find the full movie for FREE if you’re in Canada. If you’re in the rest of the world - head on over to Youtube.

Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives, Lynne Fernie & Aerlyn Weissman, provided by the National Film Board of Canada