Face 2 Face With David Peck

Viveka Melki   Viveka and I talked about her new film After Circus and about memory and recollection, about what defines us as we approach the dubious notion of retirement and how she loves performing and the circus. Watch the Trailer here. Synopsis AFTER CIRCUS is an utterly charming look at circus folk and their world. I’d qualify that by saying it’s actually about retired & semi-retired circus performers, but it quickly becomes clear, watching the film that circus people never really retire. The circus is in their blood. The film details the sense of community circus folk have with each other and their world. Many in this community have been circus people for many generations, passed down from parent to child. The film is about those family histories. It also touches on the fact that most circus people aren’t getting rich doing what they do – they do it for the love of performing and the love of community. And the film deals with the inexorable march of time, when performer’s bodies fail even as the pa

Best and Most Beautiful Things   Michelle Smith and I talk about authenticity, truth and transparency and the new film she stars in called Best and Most Beautiful Things. We’re also joined by some of the film team, Jeff Consiglio, Ariana Garfinkel and Jordan Salvatoriello and we chat about notions of the other, playing with you senses and that there are not just two types of people in the world.   Watch the Trailer here.   Synopsis   Off a dirt road in rural Maine, a precocious 20-year-old woman named Michelle Smith lives with her mother Julie. Michelle is quirky and charming, legally blind and diagnosed on the autism spectrum, with big dreams and varied passions.   Searching for connection, Michelle explores love and empowerment outside the limits of “normal” through a provocative fringe community. Will she take the leap to experience the wide world for herself?   Michelle’s joyful story of self-discovery celebrates outcasts everywhere.   Read more about the film here.   ----------   For more information abo

In part 2 Eden and I talk about the Genomic revolution, the double helix and Francis and Crick and where insights and innovation germinate. We chat about efficacious data, the move towards precision medicine and why biotech is not involved in “nice to haves.” Biography   Eden’s approach represents a progression in Investment solutions, applying options to source Income and returns through strategies not easily accessible to investors, while protecting their capital with hedges designed over his career. Eden’s experience includes two decades of Portfolio and Hedge Fund Money Management, Options Strategist, Derivatives & Biotech Analyst and Portfolio Manager.  He has managed and traded an options book spanning 250+ securities globally and 4 commodities, with open interest of 500,000 contracts in addition to 14 Covered Call ETFs (over $0.5 Billion AUM) in Canada, US & Australia employing his dynamic options writing discipline at Horizons Exchange Traded Funds. Eden possesses a Top Quartile 5-year, 5-Star

Eden and I talk about the Bio Tech industry and amazing innovations in the field of bio-logic pharmaceuticals. It’s remarkable what’s going on in the sector and Eden has plenty of insight to share. We talk about idiosyncratic risk, disease modifying drugs and why he believes this is a virtuous industry.   Biography   Eden’s approach represents a progression in Investment solutions, applying options to source Income and returns through strategies not easily accessible to investors, while protecting their capital with hedges designed over his career. Eden’s experience includes two decades of Portfolio and Hedge Fund Money Management, Options Strategist, Derivatives & Biotech Analyst and Portfolio Manager.  He has managed and traded an options book spanning 250+ securities globally and 4 commodities, with open interest of 500,000 contracts in addition to 14 Covered Call ETFs (over $0.5 Billion AUM) in Canada, US & Australia employing his dynamic options writing discipline at Horizons Exchange Traded Fund

  Alon talks about his new film Transfixed, activism and action, walking in the shoes of others and how it can help us to understand the world in a new and more inclusive way. Film Synopsis Martine Stonehouse and John Gelmon are middle-aged underdogs, living with Asperger Syndrome.  Despite their social challenges, both dream of getting married, but straight-identifying John refuses to tie the knot until transsexual Martine gets gender reassignment surgery. Will Martine and John find the happiness together that they deserve? Alon Kol has worked in film and television for seven years as a director and editor. He recently directed the "Holy Threads" episode of The Naked Archaeologist for the History Channel. Kol has written, directed and edited his own award-winning films, which have been shown on television and at numerous festivals. He is also a senior film editor who has edited for broadcasters such as Vision TV, History US, and National Geographic. Transfixed is a feature independent documentary film produc

  Sean and I talk about our role in serving others, why he’s more interested in what unites than what separates us and his definition of love and compassion.   Biography   Dr. Sean Campbell is Samaritan’s Purse Canada’s Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives. He began his career working in refugee camps in Thailand, before serving for several years as Samaritan’s Purse Canada’s Executive Director, then for a time at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s international headquarters in North Carolina, before returning to Calgary and assuming his current role. Sean’s career has revolved around a passion for excellence in charitable work and connecting people who want to make a difference with organizations that are changing the world.  He was involved with the launch of Operation Christmas Child, the global Samaritan’s Purse initiative that has provided gift-filled shoeboxes to more than 113 million children so far as part of the Christian international relief and development organization’s work in more

  Drolkar and I talk about finding happiness in all the wrong places, discipline, meditation, Buddhism and how it’s possible to bike from Toronto to Thailand.   Biography Drolkar McCallum is the North American regional coordinator for the FPMT, the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition - an international non-profit Buddhist organization. She also works with the ordained Sangha of the FPMT and is a volunteer with the Liberation Prison Project. Born and raised in Toronto, Drolkar earned a BA from the University of Western Ontario. She has traveled extensively and lived in India, France, Australia, Taiwan and Israel. A Buddhist since 1995, Drolkar spent seven years as a nun, attended many meditation retreats, and received teachings from many of the great masters including Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the spiritual director of the FPMT, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.   ----------   For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.   With thanks to

Ron Chapman  Ron and I talk about his beautiful new film The Poet of Havana, the magic of music, the generosity of poets like Carlos Varela and why piracy at one time was seen as a blessing in Cuba.  Film Synopsis Enter the world of internationally renown Cuban musician Carlos Varela…singer, song-writer, lyricist, one of the most influential and well-loved artists of his time as he celebrates his 30th anniversary in poignant performances.  Discover his cultural, political and social significance. How he was influenced by his country, politics and people, and how he has influenced them in return. His struggle for individual freedoms, and his efforts to build bridges between Cuba, the United States, disenfranchised Cubans, and the people of the world.  Shot in Havana, with unique access, exclusive interviews, stunning concert and insider back-stage moments. Varela is joined by international stars, his friends, Jackson Browne, Benicio del Toro, Ivan Lins, Luis Enrique, Juan and Samuel Formel, Diana Fuentes, X Al

Jacob talks today about Rush and music, “live looping”, why the hands are often like jokers to him, the difference between gifting and practice and why he has fosterd a heart for social justice. Biography Jacob Moon considers himself first and foremost to be a singer-songwriter. The songs he has written have gone on to win awards in International Song Competitions (Unisong, Great Lakes Song Contest, West Coast Songwriters, GMA Canada). His songwriting heroes include Jackson Browne, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Peter Gabriel and Rich Mullins, and Moon's timeless and eclectic style can be compared to those artists, among others. Likewise, his music is hard to pigeonhole, and Moon is okay with that. "My music is borne from all the listening I've done over the years, and I listen to a lot of different music. In a way it makes sense that what comes out would be a mash-up of all those different influences, and tough to pin a style on", Moon says. Though not exactly born with a guitar in his hands, Moon's own father ha

  Terry talks about “weaponized” religion, compound worldviews, about living in a “both/and” world, and unpacks notions of interdependence, integration and inter-relationship.   Biography Terry is Mi’kmaq / Acadian. He and his wife Bev are in their 44th year of marriage. They have three adult children – twin daughters and one son. In addition to being the Executive Director of Indigenous Pathways, he is also the founding Chair and current Director of NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community. Terry holds an interdisciplinary PhD from Asbury Theological Seminary, specializing in Theology and Anthropology. Terry serves as adjunct professor at George Fox Evangelical Seminary in Oregon, Acadia University and Divinity College in Wolfville, William Carey International University, and Tyndale University College and Seminary in Toronto, where he also resources the B.Ed. program. Terry has accrued over 38 years of community work in Native North American and global Indigenous contexts including as an educator in theolog

  Photo by Gini Fanter Esther talks about her love for knowledge, philosophy and wisdom, defective approaches to knowing, how “it’s all connected and why she is concerned about others as a philosopher.   Biography Esther L. Meek (Ph.D., Temple University; M.A., Western Kentucky University; B.A., Cedarville College) is Professor of Philosophy at Geneva College, and Visiting Professor of Apologetics at Redeemer Theological Seminary. She is also a Fellow with Artist Makoto Fujimura’s Fujimura Institute. Her 2003 Longing to Know: The Philosophy of Knowledge for Ordinary People (Brazos) is a book for people considering Christianity who have questions about how we know anything at all. Her 2011 book, Loving to Know: Introducing Covenant Epistemology (Cascade), proposes the interpersonal covenantal relationship as the paradigm for all human knowing. A Little Manual for Knowing (Cascade, Spring 2014) distills covenant epistemology into a how-to for any knowing venture in any field. Her website, www.longingtoknow.com,

Helen talks about her new film Hold Your Fire, about police violence, fear, the Sammy Yatim shooting and how 1 in 5 of us will suffer form a mental health crisis at some point in out lives.   Film Trailer   Film Synopsis   Hold Your Fire explores the reasons why officers who signed on to serve and protect somehow end up shooting a vulnerable person. The documentary looks at how police training and response to people in crisis went off track, and shows how progressive police forces, from Rialto, California to Leicester, U.K., are striving to get onto a better path. We travel with Canadian police mobile teams to calls involving people in emotional crisis, and meet a Hamilton mental health worker who responds to 911 calls and is quite possibly the only civilian in Canada to ever send home the tactical team.   Biography   In naming her one of BC’s 100 Most Influential Women, the Vancouver Sun said, “Helen Slinger’s filmmaking is all about taking a grabber of an event and turning it on its head. The documentarian

  Dayne Pratzky   Listen in as Dayne talks about why he’s called The Frackman, coal seam gas mining, why we all matter more than we know and how to be bold, brave and proud when becoming an activist.   TIFF and Human Rights Watch co-present the 13th annual Human Rights Watch Film Festival in Toronto, March 30 to April 7.   For more information about the festival go here.   Watch the Trailer Here.   And find out more info about the film here.   Synopsis   Dayne Pratzky loved the quiet life on his rural block in central Queensland. Then the coal seam gas company arrived, and that changed everything. Legally he couldn't stop them mining his land, but that didn't mean he wouldn't fight. And so began a David and Goliath battle against a $200 Billion industry. Along the way he found love, tragedy and triumph. Frackman is like no other Australian film. It aims to spark a broad national conversation about the risks of our headlong rush into massive coal seam gas development. Can we imagine any other issue that would

    Listen in as Michele talks about the new film The Uncondemned, rape as a war crime, why we have a responsibility to others and the “grace of fate.”   TIFF and Human Rights Watch co-present the 13th annual Human Rights Watch Film Festival in Toronto, March 30 to April 7.   For more information about the festival go here.   Watch the Trailer Here.   And find out more info about the film here.   Synopsis   "The Uncondemned" tells the gripping and world-changing story of a group of young international lawyers and activists who fought to make rape a crime of war, and the Rwandan women who came forward to testify and win justice where there had been none.   Up until this point, rape had not been prosecuted as a war crime and was committed with impunity. A courtroom thriller and personal human drama, "The Uncondemned" beautifully interweaves the stories of the characters in this odyssey, leading to the trial at an international criminal court--and the results that changed the world of criminal justice forever.

  Listen in today as Mark talks about falling in love with journalism, how too often it’s a business and not a calling, what “getting it first” versus “getting it right” is all about and why he’s still hopeful. Biography  Mark Bulgutch retired from CBC News in 2009 after a career that lasted more than 35 years. But he continued to produce every CBC TV News special event until 2012. In 2012 he wrote a weekly column on the web site of CBC’s chief correspondent, Peter Mansbridge (www.cbc.ca/petermansbridge). He graduated from Carleton University in 1974 with an honours degree in journalism. He was immediately hired by CBC News as a reporter in his hometown, Montreal. He became a line-up editor there, before moving to Toronto to work as a writer on The National. He soon became the program’s line-up editor, a position he held for 11 years. He became the senior producer of CBC News Specials, and then the Senior Executive Producer of CBC TV News and CBC NewsWorld (now CBC News Network). He was responsible for all l

    Listen in as Sophia talks about her new film Inside The Chinese Closet, LGBTQ rights here at home and in China, trust, transparency and why she’s still optimistic about the future. Festival Runs from: March 30 - April 7, 2016 For more information about the festival go here.   Watch the Trailer Here.   Synopsis   Andy devotes his days and nights to looking for a lesbian wife of convenience who could possibly bear his child; from online search to underground marriage markets, he is meeting all sorts of girls. Cherry has already married a gay man, but the quest for a baby proves to be a far more complex challenge. Will Andy and Cherry deny their own happiness and sexual orientation to satisfy their parents’ wishes? Inside The Chinese Closet follows Andy and Cherry in their search. Along the way, they clash with their parents’ hopes, their love partners and the partners of convenience. It is through these encounters that the film lays bare the challenges that confront gay people in China today.   Biography S

Listen in as Eileen talks about her new film A Jihadi In The Family, Islamophobia, brokenness, and the power of real community. See the trailer and Read more here.  Synopsis Overnight, Calgary mother Christianne Boudreau has a new identity, “mother of a terrorist,” when her son Damian is killed fighting with ISIS. “I never saw it coming”, she says, echoing hundreds of mothers in Europe and North America whose children have left home to embrace violent extremism. How and why young people, who have grown up in western countries, are being recruited to terrorist groups and the effect it’s having on the families they leave behind, is the focus of the new documentary A JIHADI IN THE FAMILY. Unlike many parents who fear to speak publicly about what happened to their children, Christianne’s response to this tragedy is to personally take on the battle against ISIS.  Driven to understand the destructive path her son chose, Christianne embarks on a journey to meet others who have a stake in the issue. Her quest for ans

  Listen in as Magali talks about Human Rights, the power of film to work towards social change and why she might be a cynic at heart, but still eternally hopeful.   For more information about the festival go here. Biography Simard is the Manager of Film Programmes at TIFF, working on new releases, TIFF Cinematheque, the Human Rights Watch Film Festival and ongoing film series. Bringing her experience in the Canadian film industry and deep knowledge of Quebec cinema, she sits on the programming team for the Toronto International Film Festival’s Canadian feature films.   She co-programmed the Festival’s Short Cuts Canada section for five years. Simard has served on juries for the Berlinale Teddy Awards, Rio de Janeiro’s Curta Cinema, the Festival du Nouveau Cinema and the Sundance Film Festival.    ----------   For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.   With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.       See acast.com/privacy for privacy

Peter talks about the ”dialectics of violence”, why cooperation will be essential to our survival as a human race, why he makes films for himself and how capitalism is a killer system. Biography Villon Films was founded by Peter Davis, who has written, produced, and directed more than seventy documentaries. His work has been shown on every major television network on the globe including CBC, CTV, BBC, CBS, NBC, Swedish Television, German Television, and NHK Japan. Davis was born and raised in England. He completed his masters studies at Oxford University before emigrating to Sweden and then North America. His early career included positions as scriptwriter for the National Film Board of Canada; director-cameraman for BBC, CBC, Swedish TV, Danish TV, Australian Broadcasting, and WNET; as well as producer for Swedish TV, London’s Rediffusion Television, BBC, CBS, CBC, CTV, Polytel (West Germany), WNET, the United Nations, UNICEF, and C.A.R.E. The Villon Films collection includes biographies of spies such as CIA

 Gilad Cohen and Amar Wala   Listen in as Gilad and Amar talk about why they think that human rights needs to be rebranded, their new podcast The Hum and why there is always a reason to hope.   The Hum Podcast Check out the trailer here The term ‘human rights’ often brings up images of pain, oppression and injustice.  It’s easy to forget that at the core of every human rights story are real human beings - people who are smart, funny and more like us than we think. The Hum is a podcast that goes straight to the hearts of these people and their stories. Each week, guests open up about their personal journeys in ways they never have before. They will shock you, inspire you, and even make you laugh. But most of all they’ll open your eyes to the human rights stories that exist all around us.     Biography   Amar Wala   With his debut feature The Secret Trial 5 (2014), Amar Wala established himself as a daring new voice in Canadian cinema. A graduate of York University's acclaimed Film program, he believes deepl