In July of 2013, Canadian law enforcement authorities announced that they’d thwarted a terrorist plot to blow up the British Columbia Legislature. A couple from Surrey – John Omar Nuttall and Amanda Ana Korody, who were recent converts to Islam – had been arrested for planting pressure cooker bombs at the Legislature in Victoria on Canada Day. It was a chilling story – but Canadians would soon learn that the story was chilling for entirely different reasons other than “terrorists in our midst.” 

That story is laid out in Manufacturing The Threat, filmmaker Amy Miller’s critically acclaimed documentary that dives into the unsettling world of agent provocateurs and entrapment within Canada's national security apparatus. Manufacturing The Threat is a thrilling and emotional film, which examines that deeply disturbing episode in Canadian history when an impoverished couple was coerced by undercover law enforcement agents into carrying out a terrorist bombing. Shining a light into the murky world of police infiltration, incitement, and agent provocateurs, the film shows how Canada’s policing and national security agencies, granted additional powers after 9/11, routinely break laws with little to no accountability or oversight. And there’s nothing to suggest it’s not still happening today. 

Manufacturing The Threat had its world premiere at the 2023 DOXA Documentary Film Festival, and is screening at VIFF Centre in Vancouver until October 20. Amy Miller dropped by the YVR Screen Scene Podcast to talk about the threat posed by agent provocateurs to marginalized communities in Canada, and why she had a challenging time bringing this story to the screen. Episode sponsors: Biz Books and The Drama Class

Gary Jones is an actor, comedian, writer, and Paul McGillion’s drinking buddy. He is perhaps best known for his fan-favourite recurring role as Walter Harriman (AKA the Chevron Guy) in Stargate SG-1, for his countless appearances on CBC’s hit radio show The Debaters, for his record nine times hosting the Leo Awards, and for his many years “Yes, and”-ing on improv stages across the continent. In 2022, Gary won a Leo Award for Best Actor in a Web Series for his work in the first season of Forgotten Masters, a delicious and absurd mockumentary series now streaming on YouTube. Gary plays DJ Ian Leighton, who has spent 45 years volunteering on co-op radio and interviewing many of the great players, but now devotes his 3:00-3:15 AM time slot to finding the greatest guitarists you’ve never heard of. These guitarists are portrayed by Ken Lawson and a revolving cast of some of the greatest hairpieces you’ll ever see. Forgotten Masters returns for its second season on October 13, and Gary Jones visits the YVR Screen Scene studio to talk Harriman (including his bonkers audition and a potential Stargate SG-1 rewatch podcast), hairpieces, and the forgotten masters we’ll meet in season two of Forgotten Masters. Episode sponsor: UBCP / ACTRA

Mareya Shot, Keetha Goal: Make the Shot is a film borne of the South Asian diaspora. This spirited documentary feature follows four junior hockey players of South Asian descent through the 2021-2022 season as they strive to be drafted into the NHL. The film also follows their families – the South Asian parents who made sacrifices in order to pay for their kids to be able to participate in this game, even if they didn’t grow up with it themselves; the grannies in their sarees and heavy parkas cheering on their grandsons from the stands – and the coaches, trainers, and journalists determined to change the game from the inside. Mareya Shot, Keetha Goal: Make the Shot screens at the 2023 Vancouver International Film Festival. Filmmaker Baljit Sangra visits the YVR Screen Scene Podcast to talk identity, legacy, representation, and the South Asians making it big in Canada’s game. Episode sponsors: Biz Books and The Drama Class

In honour of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (September 30), we’re releasing this special interview with filmmaker Jules Koostachin about her family’s journey to heal from the intergenerational trauma caused by residential schools. It’s a journey she explores in her new documentary feature, WaaPaKe (Tomorrow). For generations, the suffering of residential school Survivors has radiated outward, impacting Indigenous families and communities. In her efforts to help the children of Survivors, including herself and her family, Jules makes the difficult decision to step in front of the camera and participate in a circle of truth. She is joined in this courageous act of solidarity by members of her immediate family – including her mother Rita and one of her sons, Asivak – as well as an array of voices from Indigenous communities across Turtle Island. Moving beyond burying intergenerational trauma, WaaPaKe (Tomorrow) – which screens on October 1st and 4th at the 2023 Vancouver International Film Festival – is an invitation to unravel the tangled threads of silence, unite in collective freedom and power, and explore what intergenerational healing looks and feels like. Says Jules: “Who am I without that trauma?” Episode sponsors: Biz Books and The Drama Class

For our fall season opener, we look back at the impact of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes on the Vancouver film and television industry through in-depth conversations with IATSE 891 Business Representative Crystal Braunwarth and UBCP/ACTRA President Ellie Harvie (who addresses the infamous July 14 open letter). We also hear from background performer and indie filmmaker Michelle Muldoon about the issues at the heart of the strikes and how it's impacted her , and from photographer Rob Trendiak, who trained his lens on impacted film workers for his inventive photography project Anachron.

Please note: the interviews were conducted before the WGA and AMPTP announced the tentative agreement on the evening of September 24.

Episode sponsor: UBCP / ACTRA

The Vancouver Queer Film Festival (VQFF) is the second-largest film festival in the city and the largest queer arts event in Western Canada. Its milestone 35th edition (which kicks off on August 10) is a full-throttle, 11-day ride through 92 short and feature-length films from 27 countries, and it comes at a pivotal moment in queer history. Charlie Hidalgo, artistic director VQFF’s producing organization Out On Screen, visits the YVR Screen Scene Podcast to discuss joy as a form of resistance, and the ways that VQFF is working to foster community and amplify queer voices during this time of increased intolerance against LGBTQ2S+ people. Episode sponsors: Biz Books and The Drama Class

Brian Doe Chua is a versatile voice actor with a growing list of credits that includes videogames like Dragalia Lost, kid-friendly animated fare like Polly Pocket, Lego Friends, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, Beyblade Burst, and Ninjago, and beloved anime like World Trigger, where he voiced the heroic Osamu Mikumo. Brian is also very active on social media, constantly tweeting his admiration for his fellow voice actors and also about social justice issues and issues facing the voice acting community, like AI. In this thoughtful conversation with Sabrina Rani Furminger, Brian discusses his adventures in dubbing, being cloned, his vocal profile (“Fun, Millennial Guy Next Door; Caring Without Sounding Condescending; Passionately Sincere”), and why he added the “Chua” to his name. Episode sponsor: UBCP/ACTRA

Jason Simpson is an actor and voice actor who has built a diverse body of work, from sci-fi fare like The Magicians and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, to games like League of Legends, Dragalia Lost, The Amazing Spider-Man, Dead Rising 2, 3 & 4, and Need For Speed; and animated fare like Johnny Test, Polly Pocket, Sausage Party, Death Note, Black Lagoon, Lego Nexo Knights, Ninjago, and Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny. Jason is perhaps best known for voicing Viren, the best dad ever, in Netflix’s Emmy Award winning animated series The Dragon Prince (and head to the footnotes for a link to a YouTube fan edit entitled “Viren: World's Best Dad! (jk he sucks),” a compilation of Viren being the opposite of an aspirational Pinterest dad). In this compelling and twisty-turny conversation, Jason dishes on the Vancouver voice community, how he really feels about Viren, that time he and Adrian Petriw “almost died” in Atlanta. Episode sponsor: UBCP/ACTRA

East by North West is a new global summit designed to highlight, elevate, and empower racialized creatives in and across film, TV, streaming, gaming, and animation. Produced by the Racial Equity Screen Office in association with Gold House, East by North West runs July 28-30 in Vancouver and connects screen professionals with world film markets so that they can network, establish contacts, and gain invaluable insights into conquering the complex realm of international distribution avenues – something that has traditionally been a tough nut to crack for racialized film workers. What does this look like? It looks like three days of startlingly relevant panels (including one on the future of entertainment and AI), intensive networking sessions, a dim sum drag event, a gala opening night party, and a keynote address from Shannon Lee, the daughter of Bruce Lee and the executive producer of Warrior. It looks like a platform that bridges the gap between creatives of colour and other underrepresented communities. It looks like gathering, networking, sharing wisdom, and celebrating connections.

Barbara Lee is the founder of the Racial Equity Screen Office and the creator of East by North West, and she joined Sabrina in the YVR Screen Scene studio to preview this new global summit. Says Barbara: “We are no longer waiting for the establishment to approve or find value in our stories and content. Instead, East by North West is the mechanism to build our own table.” Episode sponsor: Biz Books + The Drama Class

Actor Osric Chau is equally adept at comedy and drama, and at being a supportive member of an ensemble while still shining on his own. Osric played Kevin Tran, a high school student turned ghost turned prophet, on Supernatural, and Vogel, a member of the quartet known as the Rowdy Three, on Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. He won a Leo Award for Best Supporting Performance by a Male in a Dramatic Series for portrayal of Charles in Blood and Water, the first television drama series produced for a Chinese Canadian audience that mixed dialogue in English, Cantonese and Mandarin, and he’s had great roles in Star Trek Discovery, Nancy Drew, Christmas at the Golden Dragon, and The Flash. Osric is also a producer. He’s a writer and director. He’s been a restaurateur. He’s spoken out about acts of hatred against Asian Canadians and Asian Americans. In this compelling and at times soul-stirring episode, Osric talks genre-hopping, navigating the industry as an Asian actor, how Supernatural’s Kevin Tran changed his life, and the deeply moving story behind his stunning look for the 2016 Leo Awards. Episode sponsor: UBCP/ACTRA