David Alpay and Sara Canning in a scene of Prodigals. (Photo: LevelFilm) By Jorge Ignacio Castillo A character drama disguised as a procedural, Prodigals gives a fresh coat of paint to the proverbial return to the hometown, in this particular case, Sault Ste. Marie (The Soo). There are no plain heroes and villains in this story, just a group of peo…

Scooter Corkle, director of Hollow in the Land. By Jorge Ignacio Castillo Interior British Columbia is having a moment. Two indie thrillers shot in sleepy communities east of Vancouver are hitting the screen this winter. Sweet Virginia, filmed in Hope, and Hollow in the Land, shot in Castelgar. The director of the latter, Scooter Corkle, grew up in…

Credit: George Pimentel, Wireimage Getty for TIFF By Jorge Ignacio Castillo The 42nd edition of Toronto International Film Festival gave a fresh and diverse crop of Canadian filmmakers a chance to showcase their work. The most notable success story was the winner of Best First Feature Film, Wayne Wapeemukwa’s Luk’ Luk’I. The Best Canadian Feature A…

By Jorge Ignacio Castillo A new edition of the HotDocs Film Festival is upon us. This year's affair includes 230 features from 58 countries, among them, films by Joe Berlinger, Alex Gibney and Nick Broomfield. Ahead of the event, The Canadian Crew had the opportunity to talk with the festival’s Canadian programmer, Aisha Jamal. We discussed selecti…

Window Horses: The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming By Jorge Ignacio Castillo A superb animated drama that proves you don’t need piles of money or Pixar-like precision to trigger an emotional response, Window Horses: The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming is my favorite Canadian film from last year. The aforementioned Rosie (voiced by Sandr…

Regina's favourite daughter, Tatiana Maslany stars in The Other Half. By Jorge Ignacio Castillo The Other Half is an intense drama starring Tom Cullen and Tatiana Maslany that follows two damaged people as they find their way to each other: One is a surly expat grief-stricken over his brother’s disappearance. The other one is a bipolar artist as co…

Andrew Gillis and Bhreagh MacNeil in Werewolf. By Jorge Ignacio Castillo A terrific feature debut by Canadian filmmaker Ashley McKenzie, Werewolf is a gritty look at a couple of opioid addicts trying to ‘get better’ in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. While not the most original idea, the film is interesting as it shows the twosome navigating Canadian bur…

Left photo: Janice Poon collection. Right photo: Brooke Palmer/NBC Universal Hannibal's food consultant, Janice Poon joins us in this week's Canadian Crew podcast. Poon discusses her career, her experience on set, how food presentation became a staple on the show and her upcoming book, "Feeding Hannibal". Bon appetit!…

Connor Jessup wears interesting makeup as Oscar Madly in Closet Monster. The director and the lead actor of Closet Monster visit The Canadian Crew Podcast this week. Stephen Dunn and Connor Jessup discuss the challenges of tackling a coming-of-age story with surrealistic undertones and psychological baggage. Closet Monster is now playing in Toronto…

Is kitschy wallpaper the missing ingredient to make a restaurant successful? The director of the documentary The Missing Ingredient: What Is the Recipe for Success, Michael Sparaga joins us in a new edition of The Canadian Crew podcast. Not long ago a producer and scriptwriter of fiction (Servitude, Sidekick), Sparaga has veered into documentary fi…

Maxim Gaudette and Karelle Tremblay are father and daughter in Les Êtres Chers. The writer-director of the superb Quebecois drama Les Étres Chers (Our Loved Ones), Anne Émond, visits The Canadian Crew podcast. We discuss how to get a complex family drama off the ground, distribution woes and her upcoming film, Nelly, already in post-production.…

Siren Jorgensøn considering her options in Revenge (Hevn). The director of the Canadian-Norwegian coproduction Revenge (Hevn), Kjersti Steinsbø, is the first guest of The Canadian Crew podcast. Revenge opens today at the TIFF Bell Lightbox and expands to Vancouver next June 3rd.By Host: Jorge Ignacio Castillo