Face 2 Face With David Peck

Mark Critch, Tim McAuliffe and Face2Face host David Peck talk about their new CBC TV series Son Of A Critch, photo bombs, family life, growing up, why socializing at a wake might be a good idea and what comedy can do for us.Watch the show on CBC Gem.Synopsis:Based on Mark Critch's award-winning, best-selling memoir, SON OF A CRITCH (13x30) is the hilarious and very real story of 11-year-old Mark coming of age in St. John’s, Newfoundland in the 80s. It’s a heartfelt window into the life of a child - much older inside than his 11 years - using comedy and self-deprecation to win friends and connect with the small collection of people in his limited world. Filmed in St. John’s, Newfoundland, the comedy stars Critch as his father; Benjamin Evan Ainsworth (The Haunting of Bly Manor, Pinocchio) as young Mark; and Golden Globe nominee Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange) as Pop. Additional cast members include Claire Rankin (Molly’s Game) as Mark’s mother, Mary, alongside newcomers Sophia Powers and Mark Rivera, cla

Ron Chapman and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new films Shelter and From Earth to Sky, architecture, tradition and Turtle Island, xenophobia, collaboration, and common ground, and why it’s better to give than to receive. Synopsis:From Earth To Sky is a unique and inspiring story of a proud and accomplished collective of Indigenous architects, driving a movement as climate change threatens the planet. They are world leaders in aesthetic, form, sustainability and ultimately protecting mother earth. Their stories have never been more important.Shelter is the inspirational story of how these brave Jewish immigrants survived religious persecution in their homelands to build wildly successful real estate and land development businesses and help shape a growing metropolis by making it a refuge for all newcomers to Toronto.About Ron:Director and producer Ron Chapman is an award-winning Toronto filmmaker. His feature documentaries have garnered acclaim worldwide and have aired on major networks and pla

Richard Wiseman and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new book David Copperfield’s History of Magic, humour as a tool, Dale Carnegie, sticky ideas, tunnel vision, a need for mystery, bored and fascinated silence, and why it’s quite handy to be likeable. David Copperfield’s History of Magic Buy it where you usually buy your books.Synopsis:An illustrated, illuminating insight into the world of illusion from the world’s greatest and most successful magician, capturing its audacious and inventive practitioners, and showcasing the art form’s most famous artifacts housed at David Copperfield’s secret museum.In this personal journey through a unique and remarkable performing art, David Copperfield profiles twenty-eight of the world’s most groundbreaking magicians. From the 16th-century magistrate who wrote the first book on conjuring to the roaring twenties and the man who fooled Houdini, to the woman who levitated, vanished, and caught bullets in her teeth, David Copperfield’s History of Magic take

Gian Cassini and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new film Comala, friendship and family, truth and ambiguity, “the war on drugs”, violence and responsibility, and how intimate stories can be universal.TrailerSynopsis:Director Gian Cassini grew up the only child of a single mother in Monterrey, Mexico. His father, with whom he had only intermittent contact, had left when he was a child and started a parallel family, giving Gian a brother and sister that he came to know as he got older. In Comala, the filmmaker’s powerful and daring debut documentary, Cassini puts his magnifying glass to the ground as he embarks on an intimate true-crime odyssey that criss-crosses Mexico, stops over in Cuba, and settles in San Antonio, Texas.One family member at a time, Cassini puts together the puzzle pieces that form an image of his late father — El Jimmy, a small-time hitman and drug trafficker in Tijuana — allowing him, and the rest of his family, to make sense of the man that made them who they are.Comala, named a

Barry Avrich and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new film Oscar Peterson: Black & White, generosity, fear and confidence, music as a universal, the civil rights movement and Oscar’s Hymn To Freedom, and the alchemy of music.Learn more about Barry here and watch the film streaming Crave and HBO.Synopsis:Oscar Peterson: Black & White is a ground-breaking “docu-concert” that deeply explores the life and legacy of jazz icon and composer, Oscar Peterson: his sound, stardom, and cult of virtuoso. Oscar Peterson is the one jazz figure who had, and still has, the larger-than-life quality of jazz royalty. Other jazz artists from Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole to Duke Ellington and John Coltrane became legends but Oscar, like Picasso or Mozart, had an undeniable style rooted not just in his genius but in his relentless performances and personality. The documentary delves into the seven-decade career of the musical genius: from his days as a child prodigy to the development of his signature sound on

Wi Ding HO and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his poetic, compelling and intimate new film Terrorizers, challenging the status quo, fragmented headlines, choice and responsibility, perspective, sympathy and loneliness and why we’re all just looking to be loved.Synopsis:“A slashing incident connects a group of disillusioned youths, in director Wi Ding HO’s powerful look at the truth beyond the headlines. A splendid, tragic fresco of the lost life of youths in pre-COVID Taipei, Terrorizers is his latest film. Ho returns to directing with a complex, multiple-narrative work that defies genre definitions and classic film structure. Reality can be captured through cinema, but there is a gap between what an image shows and what really is — between representation and the real world. What lies behind the headlines, what happens around tragedy, forms the prism of events at the core of Ho’s story of passion, love, and vengeance — illuminated fragments of scattered lives.Terrorizers is a powerful sto

Bianca Stigter and Face2Face host David Peck talk about her new film Three Minutes - A Lengthening, Kodak memories, human stories and faces as traces, film as a record, family and history and why everyone wants to be seen.Synopsis:Three Minutes - A Lengthening presents a home movie shot by David Kurtz in 1938 in a Jewish town in Poland and tries to postpone its ending. As long as we are watching, history is not over yet.The three minutes of footage, mostly in colour, are the only moving images left of the Jewish inhabitants of Nasielsk before the Holocaust. The existing three minutes are examined to unravel the human stories hidden in the celluloid.The footage is imaginatively edited to create a film that lasts more than an hour. Different voices enhance the images. Glenn Kurtz, grandson of David Kurtz, provides his knowledge of the footage. Maurice Chandler, who appears in the film as a boy, shares his memories.Actress Helena Bonham Carter narrates the film essay.About Bianca:Bianca Stigter is an historian a

Mourad Zaoui and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new film The Forgiven, idealism and access, the truth found in parables, the magic of newfoundland, walking the journey little by little and acknowledging and respecting others.Synopsis:Jessica Chastain, Ralph Fiennes, Caleb Landry Jones, Christopher Abbott, Saïd Taghmaoui, and Marie-Josée Croze lead a stellar ensemble cast in this wild foray into opulence, sin, and reckoning set deep in the Moroccan desert.On the verge of divorce, wealthy couple David (Fiennes) and Jo (Chastain, also appearing at the Festival in The Eyes of Tammy Faye) are on their way to a lavish weekend party, and accidentally run over and kill a young Moroccan man trying to sell fossils by the roadside. They put his body in their car and arrive at the party at a mansion hosted by a worldly gay couple. Once the body is tucked away in the bowels of the villa, the partygoers return to the circus of dancing, drugs, and debauchery. The next morning, David’s buzz becomes a hangover

Kathryn Bertine and Face2Face host David Peck talk about her new book Stand, activism, social change, the gender gap, beacons of hope, mental health and why things are not always as they seem.Buy the book here and learn more about Kathryn here.STAND: A memoir on Activism. A manual for progress. What really happens when we stand on the front lines of change.“I don’t have time for a blurb, but congratulations on your book!”Malcolm Gladwell.“When confronted with injustice, Kathryn Bertine didn't quit, and she didn't back down: she poured her heart and soul into confronting this injustice, and she emerged victorious. Kathryn's story is one of hope and perseverance despite the odds being stacked against her. Every girl and woman who's been told they can't play or keep up with the boys will take heart from this inspirational, life-affirming story.”Gabby Giffords, U.S. Congresswoman, Survivor & Activist.“On and off the bicycle, Kathryn Bertine has always chosen the challenging road. Whether it was her tenacious

Brett Gaylor and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new film Discriminator, serendipitous creativity, privacy laws, facial recognition, digital ethics and human rights, data sets, remix culture, surveillance technology and automated decision making.TrailerWATCH the film here.Find out more about Brett and his work here.Synopsis:Discriminator, Brett Gaylor’s latest cautionary tale about life online, looks at the sea of faces we’ve willingly uploaded to social media and the consequences of our oversharing.As the Internet has evolved, so has documentarian Brett Gaylor’s attitude towards it. The filmmaker, who imagined a utopian future of shared creativity in 2008’s hit documentary feature RIP: A Remix Manifesto, began to sound the alarm in 2015 with his Peabody award winning series on digital privacy Do Not Track. Last year’s CBC documentary The Internet of Everything explored the implications of the Internet moving off of our screens and into the world around us with the Internet of Things.And in his lates

Trevor and Ellen Scherer Crafts and Face2Face host David Peck talk about Street Gang, revolutionary ideas, the definition of genius, lightening in a bottle, TV as a wasteland and Kermit the Frog.TrailerFind out more about Street Gang here.Synopsis:Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street takes us inside the minds and hearts of the Sesame Street creators, artists, writers, and educators who, together established one of the most influential programs in television history.In late 1960s, Joan Ganz Cooney, a socially conscious female television executive was working in the fledgling world of public television. She was asked by friend Lloyd Morrisett, who worked for the Carnegie Corporation of New York and who specialized in the psychological studies of pre-school children, to take on revolutionary experiment. Could Joan create a children’s show that would "master the addictive qualities of television and do something good with them?"Inspired by the civil rights movement, Joan and Lloyd took this exp

Tracey Deer and Face2Face host David Peck talk about her new film Beans, bridges under construction, storytelling and changing the world, persistence, forgiveness, how anger can guide us for good, listening well and why trauma doesn’t need to define us.TrailerFind out more about the film here and Tracey here.Synopsis:Beans is a coming-of-age story, inspired by co-writer/director Tracey Deer’s own experience as a 12-year-old Mohawk girl who had to grow up fast during the 1990 Oka Crisis, a 78-day armed stand-off between the Quebec/Canadian governments and the Mohawk who were peacefully protesting a golf course expansion that would desecrate their burial ground.Since debuting at TIFF 2020, the film has reaped many accolades – among them, Berlin’s Generation Kplus Crystal Bear for best film, two CSAs (Best Motion Picture and Best First Feature), TIFF Emerging Talent Award (Deer), TIFF Rising Stars (actor Rainbow Dickerson), TIFF’s Canada Top Ten, VIFF’s Best Canadian Film, VFCC’s One to Watch (actor Kiawentiio),

Saul Williams, Motion and Face2Face host David Peck talk about their new film Akilla’s Escape, extended family, lived experience, existence as resistance, racialized capitalism, poetry, art and pushing boundaries and why it may not be a great idea to dabble in hope or cynicism.TrailerFind out more about the film here.Synopsis:Akilla’s Escape weaves the present and past in a crime-noir about the urban child-soldier. Set in Toronto and New York where over 450,000 Jamaicans reside, the story speaks to the historical criminalization of black boys that modern society overlooks.Akilla Brown is forty years old and for the first time in his life, the clandestine cannabis grow operation he runs is legit. Only one year into government approvedlegalization, the pendulum of hypocrisy takes a toll and Akilla decides to cash out. While making a routine delivery on a cool, summer night, destiny takes anunexpected turn when Akilla confronts a firestorm of masked youths in an armed robbery.In the aftermath of the heist, Akill

Nicole Dorsey and Face2Face host David Peck talk about her new film Black Conflux, identity and uncertainty, empathy, attitude and ego, staying present, humility in asking good questions and why what you do next really matters.Watch the film now online.TrailerFind out more about Nicole and the film here.Synopsis:“The lives of an anxious teenage girl and a troubled man converge fatefully, in Nicole Dorsey’s vivid debut exploring womanhood and toxic masculinity.“Black Conflux is a constant visual delight.” –Stephen Dalton, The Hollywood ReporterSet in suburban Newfoundland in 1987, Nicole Dorsey’s debut feature is a dreamy account of two converging lives.Fifteen-year-old Jackie (Ella Ballentine) is navigating the tricky transition between vulnerable adolescence and impending adulthood. The film opens with Jackie auditioning for her school choir with a gorgeous rendition of “Hey, Who Really Cares?”, by obscure early-’70s psychedelic folk singer Linda Perhacs. It’s a symbolic overture for a promising young w

CJ Hunt and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his film The Neutral Ground, memory and racial justice, rewriting history, propaganda, troubling stories we tell and why it’s time to be honest, out loud and in public.TrailerFind out more about CJ and the film here and you can watch the film here on PBS and through WNED in Canada.Synopsis:An official selection of the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival, The Neutral Ground begins in 2015 as Hunt documents a raucous New Orleans City Council meeting about the removal of four Confederate monuments. It quickly becomes apparent just how divided white and Black residents are on the meaning of the city's statues. This tension between what to Hunt seems obvious – that the statues should be removed – and the fervor with which so many people oppose this view opens an opportunity for him to try and understand the mythology of the Confederacy and why Americans are willing to put so much on the line to guard its stone remnants.When death threats halt the removals in New Orleans

Marc Silver and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his film 3.5 minutes, cities designed to separate, bridge building, racism, gun violence, fact versus fake news, vertical learning curves and justice through storytelling.TrailerFind out more about Marc here and stream the film here.Synopsis:Black Friday 2012: four boys in a red SUV pull into a gas station after spending time at the mall buying sneakers and talking to girls. With music blaring, one boy exits the car and enters the store, a quick stop for a soda and a pack of gum.A man and a woman pull up next to the boys in the station, making a stop for a bottle of wine. The woman enters the store, and an argument breaks out when the driver of the second car asks the boys to turn the music down.3½ minutes and ten bullets later, one of the boys is dead.About Marc:Marc Silver is an award-winning filmmaker and director of the Oscar shortlisted and Emmy nominated feature doc, 3 ½ Minutes, Ten Bullets. It premiered at the Sundance Festival 2015 winnin

Aidan Turner and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new TV series Leonardo, mystery and wonder, curiosity, nature versus nurture, solving puzzles, ego, painting the details and why humility is underrated.TrailerSynopsis:A compelling look at one of the most restlessly brilliant men of all time, Leonardo gets inside the mind of the genius, showing the drama behind his art, and exploring a tantalizing mystery left unexplained by biographers – the nature of his relationship with the model Caterina da Cremona.Caterina’s apparent murder – and the painting’s disappearance – make for a mystery full of twists and turns that takes us through the key years of Leonardo’s artistic life, leading to a thrilling climax nearly as ingenious as one of Leonardo’s own creations.About Aidan:Aidan Turner was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1983. After graduating from the Gaiety School of Acting in 2004, Aidan appeared in a number of stage productions, many with Ireland's national theatre, The Abbey. Such produc

Yung Chang and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new, memorable and hopeful film Wuhan Wuhan, empathy, universals, hatred and division, humanizing statistics and tragedy, everyday heroes and the poetic history of a city.Find out more about the film here.Synopsis:Wuhan Wuhan is an observational documentary unfolding during February and March, 2020 at the height of the pandemic in Wuhan city, where the coronavirus began. With unprecedented access at the peak of the pandemic lockdown, Wuhan Wuhan goes beyond the statistics and salacious headlines and puts a human experience into the early days of the mysterious virus as Chinese citizens and frontline healthcare workers grappled with an invisible, deadly killer.The film focuses on five heart-wrenching and endearing stories: a soft-hearted ER doctor and an unflappable ICU nurse from the COVID-19 hospital; a compassionate volunteer psychologist at a temporary hospital; a tenacious mother and son who are COVID-19 patients navigating the byzantine PRC healthca

Cody Westman and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new film Hell or Clean Water, the environment, activism, awareness, confidence and doubt, how change takes time and how one person can make a difference and why everyone should try.TrailerSynopsis:Shawn Bath is an unlikely environmentalist. Just 10 years ago he was throwing garbage out his truck window. But as a commercial diver in Newfoundland, Shawn has seen ‘everything that mankind doesn’t want’. The harbours in the province are full of tires, bottles, boat parts and fishing equipment, a world-wide problem that is ‘out of sight, out of mind’.After meeting his girlfriend Staunene, Shawn has a change of heart and is now hell bent on cleaning up the trash that’s littering the bottom of the Atlantic. He quits his job and devotes all his time and energy into his new cause Clean Harbours Initiative, relying solely on donations while he tries to secure government funding.The problem? He only has $9 in his bank accoun

Jason Sherman and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new film My Tree, fresh starts and gifts, staying inquisitive, conscience and push back, mysteries that unfold, belief systems and stories that are used to suppress.Synopsis:Jason Sherman, a Canadian Jew, searches for the tree that was planted in his name in Israel many years earlier.His travels take him to parks and forests throughout the country, where he learns a number of surprising facts about his tree: that it was likely a pine; that it was chosen because it grows fast; that it was completely wrong for the Israeli climate — and that it is sitting atop the remains of a Palestinian village that was captured and destroyed in 1967.Deeply disturbed by his findings, Jason returns home, determined to learn how it is he never knew these things — and what he should do now that he knows them.About Jason:Jason Sherman is one of Canada’s most influential and prolific playwrights, with a multi-award-winning body of work that has been produced around the worl