Contra Zoom Pod

ImagineNATIVE is the world's biggest Indigenous film and arts festival. This year the fest ran from October 17-22nd in Toronto and from October 23-29th online. We discuss I'm Just Here For The Riot, Fancy Dance, Hey Viktor!, Tautuktavuk: What We See, Red, White and Brass and Inky Pinky Ponky.

Listen to our review of I'm Just Here For The Riot back on episode 235: Hot Docs 2023.

Read Dakota's reviews of I'm Just Here For The Riot and Tautuktavuk: What We See...

To celebrate Halloween this year we have brought on Kyle Edward Ball, the writer and director behind the hit horror film Skinamarink. As both a Canadian and a horror filmmaker, who better to bring on! We asked Kyle about 3 classic films and he selected Black Christmas, Rituals and Scanners to discuss. We also chat about Skinamarink and how his life has changed since its release. Stay tuned to the end where Kyle talks about how his follow up project is going...

We've got a bonus episode this week, Paulo Bautista host of the Oscars Death Race Podcast attended the New York Film Festival, which ran from September 29th-October 15th this year. Paulo recorded his immediate reactions...

Back in 1978 John Carpenter made his third feature film, Halloween for only $300,000. It went on to be a massive box office hit and spanned a franchise that has released 13 films. The film came out 45 years ago October 17th, 1978 so we celebrate the enduring legacy of the film. Joining is our resident Halloween super-fan Brodie Cotnam.

Check out this handy guide to understand how the Halloween franchise works...

We wrap up our Vancouver International Film Festival coverage with two excellent interviews. First is Caitlyn Sponheimer, the writer, director and lead actor from Wild Goat Surf. We follow that up with Olga Petsa, an actor from I Used To Be Funny.

Check out our VIFF Wrap Up podcast.

Read our reviews of Aitamaako’tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun and Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person.

Read our reviews from the New York Film Festival by Paulo Bautista...

The 2023 Vancouver International Film Festival just concluded and we wrap up some of the films we saw. Joining the show again is Todd Pengelly who was last heard just two shows ago on 253: 2023 VIFF Preview. We talk about Anatomy of a Fall, The Promised Land, The Royal Hotel, The Teachers’ Lounge and The Zone of Interest.

Check out the full list of Canadian award winners at VIFF.

Watch Thomas Stoneham-Judge's interview with the director of Asog...

October is Filipino American Heritage Month and to celebrate we are looking at the contributions that The Philippines have made to cinema. We specifically are looking at three films Manilla in the Claws of Light, Ma' Rosa and Islands along with namedropping plenty of other titles. Joining the show to lead the discussion is Paulo Bautista host of the ⁠Oscars Death Race Podcast...

The 2023 edition of the Vancouver International Film Festival runs from September 28-October 8th. We preview our most anticipated films that are playing. Joining the show is Todd Pengelly a critic from For Reel.

Dakota's picks include: I Used to Be Funny, Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe, Monster, Only the River Flows and The Teachers' Lounge.

Todd's picks include: Anatomy of a Fall, Goodbye Julia, On the Adamant, Priscilla and The Royal Hotel...

We wrap up this year's Toronto International Film Festival by talking about the big hits and misses, our favourite films and the award winners. Joining the show to help us break it all down is Jeff Bulmer, one half of the Classic Movies. Jeff also contributed some festival movie reviews to Contra Zoom.

The films we review include: The Holdovers, Woman of the Hour, Dream Scenario, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person, Hit Man and Motherland...

In lieu of a full episode this week, we bring you the ninth in our series of bonus episodes, ⁠Better Know a Contributor⁠, where we ask frequent guests of the show 10 Contra Zoom Pod movie questions so you can learn more about your favourite voices. On this show is Bil Antoniou, the host of the Bad Gay Movies Podcast and authoring of the monthly Criterion Shelf column (a column Dakota often contributes to as well)...