In The Seats with...

Relationships change. On this very special episode we dive into one of our favorite Canadian films of the last calendar year which is now playing at the Scotiabank Theatre; it's time for 'Paying For It'. 'Paying For It' is a live-action adaptation of acclaimed alternative-cartoonist Chester Brown’s best-selling graphic novel. In the late 90s, Chester and Sonny are a long-term, committed, romantic couple. When Sonny wants to redefine their relationship, Chester, an introverted cartoonist, starts sleeping with sex workers and discovers a new kind of intimacy in the process. 'Paying For It' is about love, sex and non-monogamy for adults. It deals with the complicated subject of the exchange for sex-work versus the complications of romantic love. Adapted from the graphic novel of the same name by Chester Brown this is such a sweet and honest examination of the ever evolving nature of intimacy and one of the reasons that it hits so darn well is because a lot of it is pulled from the life of the films writer/director, the one and only Sook-Yin Lee. Before the film debuted back at TIFF, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Sook-Yin to talk about the nature of the story, the personal and broader elements of it all as she brought this passion project to screen. 'Paying For It' is in select theatres across Canada now.

Sometimes it's fun to be the contrarian... Dropping on Paramount Plus we get the fresh entry the Federation of Planets in 'Star Trek: Section 31'. Emperor Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) joins a secret division of Starfleet. Tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets, she also must face the sins of her past. I can't lie, I dug this as the Star Trek universe is trying to spread it's wings a little bit.  Plus Michelle Yeoh chewing the scenery and supporting some Canadian made Star Trek in our own back yard is never a bad thing. I got the pleasure of sitting down with director Olatunde Osunsanmi who is a veteran of this franchise about dovetailing this story from 'Star Trek: Discovery' into it's own thing, Canada's connection to Star Trek and so very much more....

Hope finds a way to keep going.... On this very special episode we dive into the powerful new documentary which is available on VOD platforms now; In The Shadow of Beirut. In Sabra, one of Beirut’s toughest urban slums, sectarianism and violence is a permanent way of life. Rabia, a 38-year-old hardworking but undocumented Lebanese mother, cannot afford to admit her chronically ill daughter to hospital, leaving the life of her innocent child hanging in the balance. Father of five, Ayman is preparing the way for his daughter Sanaa’s engagement to a local man as his way of protecting her in the neighborhood as he labors to provide the most basic essentials for his family to survive. Young father Aboodi is struggling to kick his drug habit, which has brought him to prison before, as he battles to find a new path in life that will make him a better parent to his toddler son. In nearby Shatila, Abu Ahmad, an 8-year-old, angelic-looking but mischievous Syrian boy who fled ISIS, labors hard to feed his family while forging an unlikely friendship with a civil war veteran and fruit stall owner. In the Shadow of Beirut weaves these four compelling storylines together in a searing portrait of a people and a city struggling to survive amidst some of the most difficult living conditions imaginable. In this failing state, it is the vulnerable who suffer the most. This is an undeniably poignant piece of cinema that allows audiences to see a glimmer of hope and humanity in a place where no one would blame us for thinking that those ideals had been abandoned long ago. We had the pleasure of talking with filmmakers Garry Keane and Stephen Gerard Kelly about the challenges of making a film like 'In The Shadow of Beirut' and so very much more.

The music NEVER stopped. On this episode we dive into one of the better pop culture documentaries that we have seen in recent memory in 'Disco's Revenge'. In the early 70s, the beat child of New York’s Black and LGBTQ+ communities was born on the city’s underground dance floor. Disco emerged as an exuberant musical genre, a vital social movement and a vibrant culture before enduring a vicious backlash nearly a decade later. In our collective pop-culture imagination, Disco's merely a fad relegated to soft-focus memories of  Saturday Night Fever and Studio 54.    It is a pulsating deep dive into the very soul of disco music and its enduring impact across genres and history, told by the people who created it, nurtured it, and in turn, discovered themselves on the dancefloor. The film asks: Why does disco matter and, in these divisive times, why does disco matter now more than ever?    Featuring interviews and performances by Nile Rodgers and Chic, Billy Porter, Nona Hendryx and LaBelle, Grandmaster Flash, Fab Five Freddy, Nicky Siano, Earl Young and The Trammps, Jellybean Benitez, Kevin Saunderson, Sylvester and Martha Wash and many others.  Never has a film really got as anthropological when looking at a slice of music culture and that's what makes 'Disco's Revenge' so damn special.  With sit down with writer/direcfor's Omar Majeed and Peter Mishara to get deep into the groove of it all. 'Disco's Revenge' is on all VOD platforms.

Paranoia crosses all cultural lines.... On this episode we dive into one of the better pieces of cinema to come out in recent memory in the Iranian gem; 'The Seed of the Sacred Fig'. Investigating judge Iman grapples with paranoia amid political unrest in Tehran. When his gun vanishes, he suspects his wife and daughters, imposing draconian measures that strain family ties as societal rules crumble. Filled with relatable family drama and political tension so palpable you could cut it with a knife and even at a herculean run time of 2hr and 46 min; 'The Seed of the Sacred Fig' is hard to look away from. Shot in secret in Iran we had the pleasure of talking with writer/director Mohammed Rasoulof (with the help of a translator) about the origins of the story and so very much more, 'The Seed of the Sacred Fig' is playing in Toronto now and rolling out across the country in the coming weeks.