Mexican director Laura Plancarte shares her reasoning behind making the collaborative documentary "Mexican Dream" with her subject, Maria Magdalena. The film screened at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.

Then, focusing on the Upper Canada Choristers (UCC), I interview composer and conductor Laurie Evan Fraser, and Jacinto Salcedo, a tenor and coordinator of UCC's Latin music ensemble 'Cantemos.' We discuss their musical paths from the U.S. and Venezuela respectively, as well as UCC's upcoming concert, 'New Beginnings,' which celebrates the choir's 30th anniversary. The concert takes place in person on May 10, 2024 at Grace Church-on-the Hill or online https://www.uppercanadachoristers.org/

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival Coverage: interviews with director, Jennifer MacArthur (FAMILY TREE) and co-directors, Jeff Orlowski-Yang and Sarah Keo (CHASING TIME).

FAMILY TREE: North Carolina’s sustainable forestry movement is a rare gesture towards community-based climate action. Seen through the stories of two Black families who fight to preserve their land and generational legacy, Family Tree’s cinema vérité approach reveals the colossal task of maintaining the land while navigating family dynamics, unscrupulous developers and changing environmental needs. Each challenge is faced with diligence and integrity, while the forest itself becomes a kind of character in this drama about its own survival. SOURCE: hotdocs.ca

CHASING TIME: After bringing some of the first and most striking visual evidence of our changing planet to the fore through the groundbreaking study of melting glaciers, photographer James Balog returns to Iceland to close the last chapter of his life’s work. SOURCE: hotdocs.ca

The Art Gallery of Ontario workers are on strike. I'm joined by OPSEU Local 535 members,Mark Thornbury and Meagan Christou to talk about workers' demands. Please note: my outreach to AGO representatives were not responded to at the time of this recording.

Revisiting Anna Magnani with James Quandt, film writer and former Senior Programmer for TIFF Cinematheque. This is an edited version of an interview I did with James 7 years ago.

Izad Etemadi (Writer, Actor, Persian) joins me to talk about playing multiple characters in Rose Napoli's Mad Madge A Nightwood Theatre production in association with VideoCabaret. Staged at The Theatre Centre in Toronto.

Mad Madge Credits:

Written by Rose Napoli

Directed by Andrea Donaldson

Starring: Rose Napoli, Karl Ang, Wayne Burns, Izad Etemadi, Farhang Ghajar, and Nancy Palk

Set, Costumes, and Props Designed by: Astrid Janson, Abby Esteireiro, and Merle Harley

Wardrobe Team: Alessia Urbani, Jennifer Purcell Martin, and Maxim Bortnowski

Dresser: Tsz Ting Lam

Lighting Design: Rebecca Vandevelde

Sound Design: Olivia Wheeler*

Associate Sound Designer: Frank Incer

Intimacy Director: Christina Fox

Stage Manager: Hannah MacMillan

Production Manager: Maya Royer

Production Consultant: Pip Bradford

Producer/Publicist: Victoria Laberge

Commissioned by: Kate Amesbury

*Represented by the Associated Designers of Canada, IATSE Local ADC659.

Photo of Rose Napoli by Dahlia Katz

MUSIC/SPOKEN WORD PLAYLIST

Scott Thompson: I'm Canadian from Kids in the Hall Buddy Cole 5

Jully Black: I Got Four Kids from Caroline, or Change

Randell Adjei ( I Am an Artist) and Borelson (M.O.B (Mind Over Body) featuring Ink the Urban Myth, Phoenix, Deqwi, Tracey Kayy, R.Q.TEK from As Far as Eye Can See

Dominique Fils-Aimé: Free Dom

Award-winning Mexican-Canadian playwright, Christine Quintana and I discuss her work El Terremoto (World Premiere) at Tarragon Theatre, March 26 – April 21, 2024.

Spoke word by Amani (I Am an artist, My Life)

Poetry by Ashley Obscura (Ambient Technology)

Music by Haviah Mighty (Wishy Washy)

Author, m. nourbeSe philip on her seminal work Zong, celebrating its 15th anniversary, plus we reminisce about her as well-received children's book, Harriet's Daughter.

John Galway, Co-founder and Executive Director of the Toronto Irish Film Festival is back to showcase the feature films at this year's festival. Note: I'm a member of the shorts program jury so we didn't discuss those in detail.

Featured Guest, Neil Armstrong, journalist, writer and editor shares some of the books on his shelf for this #BHM #AfricanFuturesMonth focussed edition of The More the Merrier with donna g.

Street-based photographer, Gun Roze and I discuss past shows, his spotlight in Spectaculum Magazine, and his latest project, reimagining the male nude.

Photo: Gun Roze at "Backstage" opening. Source: Instagram @gunroze7

Arts and culture writer, Heidy M (hyemusings.ca) and cinephile Gordon G are back on the show. We chat about recent films and a classic that will make you wary of cats.

Welcome to 2024. The first show of the year features Sistah Lois (pronounced 'Loyce'), activist and edutainer, and my mentor from my early days in radio at CIUT 89.5 FM. In this chat we discuss what community means to her, life lessons (those lived and those learned from the ancestors), and her future ventures.

Photo of Sistah is courtesy of her Instagram @sistahlois

A collection of three interviews from 2023: Doctor and playwright Suvendrini Lena on the Palestinian play, Rubble, Tamas Wormser on the Jewish doc, Shalom Putti and Bernardo Ruiz on his doc El Equipo about the "disappeared."

Music: Peace is the only way by Lenka Lichtenberg and Roula Said

Enjoy this all-music episode as we move towards the end of 2023😊

Bahamadia, 'I Confess'

Jill Scott, 'Easy Conversation'

Kindred the Family Soul, 'Surrender to Love'

Melanie Durrant, 'Let Me'

LAL, 'One Way'

Jade Elektra, 'A Little Bit of House'

Njako Backo and Kalimba Kalimba, 'Family'

Okavango African Orchestra (Juno Award winners), 'Bilan'

Miss Blandine, 'Point d'interrogation'

Djely Tapa, 'Départ pour lune'

Naxx Bitota, 'Poso Oyo'

Sonia Aimy, 'Husband in Canada'

Please note: All samples played are limited to those available via Toronto Public Library using the Libby app. No copyright infringement intended. Mature subject matter, listener discretion is advised.

AUDIOBOOKS

'Tatouine', Jean-Christophe Réhel

'A Dream of a Woman', Casey Plett

'Chinkstar', John Chan Simpson

'Kameleon Man', Kim Barry Brunhuber

'God Loves Hair', Vivek Shraya

'Empire of Wild', Cherie Dimaline

'We, Jane', Aimee Wall

MUSIC

Blaxam 'everybody'

Nicky Lawrence 'dreamer'

Alan Hobbins 'Chopin Nocturne in d-flat major, opus 27, no 2'

Theatre legend, Philip Akin joins me to talk about his directing take on The Lehman Trilogy at Canadian Stage + Jérémie Abessira, Executive Director of the European Union Film Festival, and I chat about the is a year's festival. Music by Alex Bird and the Jazz Mavericks (Where the Blackbird Sings), Lady Laistee (Ooh, Child) and Amai Kuda et les bois (Better Way).

My chat with Tapestry Opera's Michael Hidetoshi Mori about directing the 60 minute opera "Rocking Horse Winner" based on D.H. Lawrence's short story. Runs until Nov 12 at Crow's Theatre, 345 Carlaw.

Music on the show includes works from Rocking Horse Winner composer and librettist Gareth Williams and Anna Chatterton; Nathaniel Dett Chorale (Listen to the Lambs cd), and soprano, Denise Williams (Soulphisticated.)

Kirk Cooper joins me to talk about The Durham Regional International Film Festival + arts and culture writer Heidy M of hyemusings.ca and cinephile, Gordon G and I share our TIFF2023 faves.

#TIFF2023 coverage continues...

I never dreamed that I would ever get the chance to interview Hiam Abbas, let alone meet her director daughter, Lina Soualem. But it happened this year, and it's one of my moments of gratitude. "Gaza Mon Amour" was my favorite film at TIFF2020, and I've long admired Hiam for her work in films like "Satin Rouge," "The Syrian Bride," "Munich," "The Lemon Tree," "The Visitor," etc. However, many of you may know her from HBO's "Succession". "Bye Bye Tiberias" is not about Hiam's films; it's about Lina's personal journey through four generations of the women in her family, with the starting point being her mother's departure from Palestine to pursue an acting career.

Director Sara Summa and I discuss "Arthur And Diana", a brother-sister road movie through Germany, France, and Italy. It's a family affair since Sara (Diana) and Arthur (Robin Summa) are siblings in real life. Along for the ride is Sara's toddler, Lupo. It was my first time meeting Sara, and I enjoyed our conversation about filming this fictional biography.

Sara and I are both short. We had a good laugh trying to find the right spot on a daybed-sized couch that would accommodate our lack of height. 😊

@touchwoodpr

@lanstephen

@tiff_net

Toronto International Film Festival coverage with directors Hanna Slak (Not a Word) and Sara Margrethe Oskal (The Tundra Within Me).

TIFF DESCRIPTIONS

Not A Word: On a barren island, a mother and son confront years of silence and misunderstandings in writer-director Hanna Slak’s formidable fourth feature film starring Maren Eggert, scored by Amélie Legrand, and shot by Claire Mathon.-Dorota Lech

The Tundra Within Me: In Sara Margrethe Oskal’s debut feature, set amongst the reindeer herds of northern Scandinavia, a Sámi artist returns to her hometown where she confronts her past demons and finds an unexpected new love. -Jason Ryle

At first, I was turned off by the subject matter of Designer $hit but after watching it and chatting with director, Saffron Cassady, I think this is a topic that's not only important, but also a film that's immensely watchable. Infusing humour, animation and pixelation into her film, Saffron minimizes the ick factor and eases viewers into empathizing with her personal struggle and learn about fecal microbial transplant from a medical and pharmaceutical perspective.

Director's Statement (edited)

"As an ulcerative colitis sufferer, fecal transplant had been on my radar for years. But when I broached it with my gastroenterologist I was immediately shut down. “We simply don’t have enough research yet” he responded, while writing me prescriptions for the less-than-effective drug regimen I’d been on for nearly a decade. As with many of my doctor appointments, I walked away with no real answers to my burning questions, and no new options for getting myself out of an on-going cycle with this chronic illness. I was determined to find out more about this promising new treatment and if I didn’t have my doctor’s support, I was willing to go it alone. This film does not shy away from the difficult reality of what it means to be a person living with a chronic illness. Themes of love and caregiving, guilt and shame, are all touched upon...There are currently 416 active clinical trials studying the potential of fecal transplants in the treatment of various diseases ranging from inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, autism, bi-polar depression, cancer and COVID...In the end, our goals with this film are to give a voice to those suffering from chronic illnesses and to help alleviate some of the shame and embarrassment around something we all deal with everyday."

"In present-day Karachi, a medical student struggles to keep her family together while being stalked by forces she can’t entirely understand." -Norm Wilner, TIFF programmer

I'm joined by director Zarrar Khan and producer Anam Abbas to discuss their film In Flames and their fresh interpretation of genre films.

TIFF has public screenings which most of you are familiar with, however, there is parallel industry section where delegates buy and sell films--some of these films are available first industry eyes only.

The heist sequel, Umbrella Men Escape from Robben Island screened in the Industry section and I was invited you screen the film because of my past interview with the director, John Barker about the film that set it all off: The Umbrella Men. I'm joined by (right to left) Keenan Arrison, Shamilla Miller, Bronte Snell. Absent: Jaques De Silva.