The Firecracker Department with Naomi Snieckus

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Agam Darshi Mar 09, 2022

Show notes

Our guest this week is Los Angeles-based, born in England, raised all over Canada, award-winning actor and filmmaker AGAM DARSHI!

You may recognize Agam from her role as Radha in Oscar-nominated director Deepa Mehta's film FUNNY BOY. For Radha, she was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role and a LEO Award for Best Supporting Performance by a Female in a Motion Picture! Due out this Spring 2022, Agam will be in Emmy-winning Ava Duvernay's HBO Max pilot episode of DMZ, she is playing the role of Mia Frankin.

DONKEYHEAD is Agam's directorial debut and she also wrote the film. It's about Mona, a failed writer who carves out a life of isolation while caring for her ailing traditional Sikh father. But when he has a debilitating stroke, her 3 successful siblings show up on her doorstep to take control of the situation. DONKEYHEAD is Executive Produced by Deepa Mehta and Kim Coates. Its World Premiere was the opening gala of the 2021 MOSAIC INTERNATIONAL SOUTH ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL at the TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX, in Toronto, where it won best Feature Film!

You can see DOCKYHEAD in the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand on Netflix. It opens theatrically, in Canada, on Friday, March 11, 2022, in Regina, Saskatoon, Toronto and additional cities coming soon.

Agam is one of co-founders of the VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL SOUTH ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL. Currently in its tenth year, this film festival focuses on bridging the gap between South Asian talent and mainstream audiences, by breaking stereotypes and expanding North American views on South Asian culture.

Twitter: @DarshiAgam Instagram: @agamdarshi

Facebook/website: https://www.facebook.com/officalagamdarshi https://www.agamdarshi.com/

DONKEYHEAD @donkeyheadthefilm #donkeyheadthefilm

VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL SOUTH ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL https://visaff.ca/

Firecracker Department Scriptwriting Workshops Beginning April 10, 2022 https://tinyurl.com/2s7zavd3

Level Film @levelFILM

Route 504 PR @route504pr

Podcast Team Head Producer and Editor: Winnie Wong @wonder_wong Editor: Shayne Stolz @shaynestolz Graphic: Vicki Brier @brier2019

To listen to the podcast: https://linktr.ee/firecrackerdept Subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.firecrackerdepartment.com and follow us @firecrackerdept!

Shasha Nakhai Mar 02, 2022

Show notes

Our guest this week is Toronto-based award-winning producer, director and storyteller SHASHA NAKHAI! Shasha's storytelling work has taken her all over the world, like the Hawaiian coastline in THIRTY EIGHT MINUTES, a Cold War bunker in THE HOLE IN RESERVOIR HILL, the engine room of a decaying ship in THE UNSINKABLE CAPTAIN JOHN, the Philippine sugar mills in THE SUGAR BOWL and the front lines of Nigeria's energy crisis with TAKE LIGHT. Shasha's received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Web Program or Series, Non-Fiction for LOVE LETTERS FROM EVEREST. She and her partner Rich Williamson, received another Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Short Documentary for FRAME 394. It was named TIFF's Top 10 and shortlisted for an Academy Award for Best Short Documentary. With over a decade of documentary experience, Shasha directed her first drama feature with partner, Rich Williamson, called SCARBOROUGH. It was adapted from the award-winning novel by Catherine Hernandez. Shot documentary-style over the course of a school year, the film follows 3 children from a low-income community that find compassion, community, and resilience in an unlikely place. At TIFF 2021, SCARBOROUGH was first runner up for the People's Choice award, received an Honourable Mention for Best Canadian Feature and won the Shawn Mendes Foundation Changemaker Award! Now, SCARBOROUGH has 11 Canadian Screen Award nominations! For Best Motion Picture, Achievement in Direction, Adapted Screenplay, John Dunning First Feature Award, and so much more!

Twitter: @ShashaNakhai SCARBOROUGH: @ScarbFilm

Instagram: SCARBOROUGH: @scarbfilm

Facebook Fan page/website: SCARBOROUGH: @ScarbFilm Scarbfilm.com

Kenya-Jade Pinto https://www.kenyajade.com/

SCARBOROUGH's Canadian Screen Award Nominations Best Motion Picture, Achievement in Directing, Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, Performance by an Actress in Supporting Role, John Dunning First Feature Award, Achievement in Cinematography, Achievement in Casting, Achievement in Sound Mixing, Achievement in Sound Editing, Adapted Screenplay @thecdnacademy https://www.academy.ca/nominees/?utm_source=nominees_announced&utm_medium=linktree_link&utm_campaign=nominee_announcement

Level Film @levelFILM

Route 504 PR @route504pr

Podcast Team Head Producer and Editor: Winnie Wong @wonder_wong Editor: Shayne Stolz @shaynestolz Graphic: Vicki Brier @brier2019

To listen to the podcast: https://linktr.ee/firecrackerdept Subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.firecrackerdepartment.com and follow us @firecrackerdept!

Martha Chaves Feb 23, 2022

Show notes

Our guest this week is Toronto based award-winning comedian, actor, activist, emerging playwright and podcaster - MARTHA CHAVES!

Martha describes herself as, "the most famous LGBTQ-Nicaraguan-Canadian stand-up comic in the world."

Martha first came to Montreal to study at Concordia University and when her student VISA expired she couldn't return to Nicaragua to reunite with her family because they had to flee during the Contra War. She had to claim refugee status in Montreal and has been in Canada since.

Martha has two national comedy specials: CBC's COMICS! and SOMETHING ABOUT MARTHA on the Comedy Network. She makes regular appearances on: CBC's LAUGH OUT LOUD, the Just For Laughs Festival, Winnipeg Comedy Festival, and CBC's THE DEBATERS. She's also a regular on the hit CBC show, BECAUSE NEWS.

You may also recognize Martha on the big screen with Denzel Washington in JOHN Q, with Chris Rock in DOWN TO EARTH and with Fifty Cent in GET RICH OR DIE TRYING.

As an emerging playwright, Martha has written and performed several successful One Woman Shows like STAYING ALIVE and IN TIMES OF TROUBLE, featured in the Soulo Festival and the Aluna Theatre Festival in Toronto. AND she took THE DIARIES OF A YOUNG LEZBO to New York City's SOLOCOM. Martha won Stand-up Comic of the Year at the 2018 Canadian Comedy Awards. Her album, CHUNKY SALSA, was featured among the 11 Best Comedy Albums of 2019 in Interrobang Magazine.

WHEN FEMINIST RULE THE WORLD is Martha's podcast series where she talks to international feminist guests about the future that they are creating.

Twitter: @TheMarthaChaves

Instagram: @comedianmarthachaves

Facebook Fan page: @ComedianMarthaChaves

WHEN FEMINIST RULE THE WORLD https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/when-feminists-rule-the-world/id1485407600 https://www.feministsruletheworld.com/

Podcast Team Head Producer and Editor: Winnie Wong @wonder_wong Editor: Shayne Stolz @shaynestolz Graphic: Vicki Brier @brier2019

To listen to the podcast: https://linktr.ee/firecrackerdept Subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.firecrackerdepartment.com and follow us @firecrackerdept!

Susan Messing Feb 16, 2022

Show notes

Our guest this week is Chicago-based award-winning actor, improviser, comedian and teacher SUSAN MESSING! Susan is a New Jersey native and a graduate of Northwestern University's Theatre School. She has been an improviser and comedian for over 35 years! Susan is an alumna of Chicago's beloved iO Theatre and The Second City's Mainstage. Susan is a founding member of Chicago's Annoyance Theatre. It's an infamous theatre and associated ensemble that deals with absurd and outrageous humour. Some of her notable performances are with Blaine Swen in BLESSING at the iO, with Norm Holly in MOLLY, the critically acclaimed MESSING WITH A FRIEND at The Annoyance and with The Boys at The Second City. She was in the lineup for the TBS Just For Laughs festival all 5 years of its residence in Chicago. She presented BRAVING THE UNKNOWN at an independently organized Ted X event at the University of Chicago. Susan's standup act with her puppet, JOLLY, has been featured at the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, on Comedy Central's PREMIUM BLEND and NBC's LATE FRIDAYS. Her most impressive bit movie role was as a bad stripper in a halo brace in LET'S GO TO PRISON! Susan created and taught her curriculum at Chicago's iO and LA's iO West, along with The Annoyance Theatre, The Second City and around the world. She was an adjunct instructor for Chicago's Loyola University at DePaul University, The School at Steppenwolf, and now she teaches at The University of Chicago.

Twitter: @MessingSusan

Instagram: @susanalicemessing

World Comedy Expo, March 25-27, 2022 in Chicago, Susan will be performing with "Messing with Mason" and also the lady supergroup "1Zs".

https://worldcomedyexpo.com/show/landry-and-summers-messing-with-mason/

https://worldcomedyexpo.com/festival-lineup/

Podcast Team Head Producer and Editor: Winnie Wong @wonder_wong Editor: Shayne Stolz @shaynestolz Graphic: Vicki Brier @brier2019

To listen to the podcast: https://linktr.ee/firecrackerdept Subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.firecrackerdepartment.com and follow us @firecrackerdept!

Liesl Lafferty Feb 09, 2022

Show notes

Our guest this week is Vancouver-based scriptwriter, story editor, award-winning director AND our co-head of our Writing Department LIESL LAFFERTY! Liesl focuses mainly on creating and developing new works. In 2020, she facilitated scriptwriting workshops in Vancouver with WET INK COLLECTIVE, a writer-driven initiative for women, WESTERN GOLD THEATRE, a premier company that fcouses on sharing and celebrating the talents of senior professional theatre artists and REALWHEELS THEATRE, a threatre that creates and produces performances that deepens understanding of the disability experience. At REALWHEELS in 2020, Liesl was the dramaturg for their inaugural Playwright in Residence.

Liesl performed THE REPUBLIC OF INCLUSION, a short autobiographical one-person comedy about the isolation of disability, at Judith Fair 2020. She won the Jessie Richardson – Larry Lillo Award for Outstanding Direction of a Play for directing HOUSE, by Daniel MacIvor, and directing A TOWN CALLED HOCKEY at the Arts Club Theatre, which she also co-wrote. Liesl was dramaturg for Fugue Theatre's VIA BEATRICE, by Jenn Griffin, which was nominated for a 2019 Jessie Richardson Outstanding Original Script Award. Liesl received Jessie nominations for directing and producing DRINKING WITH PERSEPHONE by Jenn Griffin, and for co-writing and directing BLOODLINE.

While Liesl was studying for her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia, she created and produced the first six episodes of the LIESL LAFFERTY PODCAST where she interviewed theatre artists from around the world, including Canadian theatre greats Brad Fraser, Alison Kelly, and Yvette Nolan.

https://liesllafferty.com/

Write on the Clock @writeontheclock http://writeontheclock.com

Firecracker Departmnet Save the Cat Book Club Thursdays - Thu Mar 10 to Thu May 12 (except Apr 07 and May 05) Time: 7:15pm to 8:30pm ET. Application deadline: Thu Mar 03 To register: https://forms.gle/YeHuVzefjqyJ9KP56

Podcast Team Head Producer and Editor: Winnie Wong @wonder_wong Editor: Shayne Stolz @shaynestolz Graphic: Vicki Brier @brier2019

To listen to the podcast: https://linktr.ee/firecrackerdept Subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.firecrackerdepartment.com and follow us @firecrackerdept!

Nelu Handa Feb 02, 2022

Show notes

Our guest this week is Toronto-based screenwriter, producer and actor NELU HANDA! Nelu wrote for and performed on multiple seasons of award-winning comedy series including: CTV and HULU's JANN, PBS's ODD SQUAD, CBC's TALL BOYZ, and CBC and IFC's BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW. Nelu won a 2021 Canadian Screen Award for Best Writing, Variety or Sketch Comedy for BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW. She is a Writer and Consulting Producer for CBC's RUN THE BURBS, CBC and HBO MAX's SORT OF. Nelu was a Staff Writer for Season 2 of NBC's A LITTLE LATE WITH LILLY SINGH, with sketches that had 100+ views. She has been featured in episodes of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY on CBS, Amazon's THE EXPANSE, ABC's THE BOLD TYPE, and plays recurring character Jade on CBC and Netflix's Emmy Award winning show WORKIN' MOMS. You can also see her on some web series including Out TV's AVOCADO TOAST and CBC Gem's DECOYS. Nelu is a dedicated advocate for increasing diverse representation in the industry. In 2015, Nelu created MIRCHI COMEDY that is a live variety comedy night to amplify the funny voices of Women of Colour. This monthly groundbreaking show has featured hundreds of diverse voices, from first-time stand ups, to seasoned pros. Month after month it has brought in sold out audiences and thousands of laughs, even now on Zoom.

Twitter: @NeluHanda

Instagram: @neluhanda

Facebook: @neluhanda https://www.neluhanda.com/

MIRCHI COMEDY @mirchicomedyto https://www.facebook.com/MirchiComedyTO

Podcast Team Head Producer and Editor: Winnie Wong @wonder_wong Editor: Shayne Stolz @shaynestolz Graphic: Vicki Brier @brier2019

To listen to the podcast: https://linktr.ee/firecrackerdept Subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.firecrackerdepartment.com and follow us @firecrackerdept!

Jasmine Renée Thomas Jan 26, 2022

Show notes

Our guest this week is Toronto-based actor and professional dancer JASMINE RENÉE THOMAS! You may recognize Jasmine from her starring role as Stacey in Disney's Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 1, 2 and 3. By the age of 4 she was taking Acro, Jazz, Ballet, Hip-Hop, Lyrical, Contemporary, and Tap. After graduating high school, Jasmine knew she wanted to pursuit a professional career in dance and she developed her career with full-time training in Canada, Los Angeles and all across the U.S. Jasmine's career as a professional dancer expanded to performing for major music artist, films, movies and television episodes, like FX's WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS, Netflix's GRAND ARMY and CBC's FRANKIE DRAKE MYSTERIES. Her live stage performances include projects with amazing music artists such as Nick Jonas, Meghan Trainor and Fifth Harmony. Most recently, Jasmine starred, as Kelly, in Lifetime's SECRETLY SANTA.

Twitter: @JasmineRT Instagram: @jasminert Facebook: @JasmineRTOfficial

DISNEY Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 1, 2, 3 @disneyzombies

Let's Heal This Shit - @letshealthisshit Lunar New Year Celebration: Astro Map of 2022 - February 1, 2022 $10 discount code for Firecrackers: Fireup https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lunar-new-year-celebration-astro-map-of-2022-tickets-229009803487

https://www.letshealthisshit.com/

Podcast Team Head Producer and Editor: Winnie Wong @wonder_wong Editor: Shayne Stolz @shaynestolz Graphic: Vicki Brier @brier2019

To listen to the podcast: https://linktr.ee/firecrackerdept Subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.firecrackerdepartment.com and follow us @firecrackerdept!

Alanis Obomsawin Jan 19, 2022

Show notes

Our first guest of 2022 is singer, songwriter, artist, director, producer, one of Canada's most distinguished filmmakers and member of the Abenaki Nation ALANIS OBOMSAWIN! Her 53rd film in her 54 year career is HONOUR TO SENATOR MURRAY SINCLAIR ! It made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and shares the powerful speech Senator Sinclair gave when he accepted the WFM Canada World Peace Award and interspersed with the heartbreaking testimonies from former students imprisoned at residential schools. Alanis's other films include: JORDAN RIVER ANDERSON, THE MESSENGER (2019) is a 7-film cycle devoted to the rights of Indigenous children and Peoples, which began in 2011 when she conducted her first interviews for THE PEOPLE OF THE KATTAWAPISKAK, KANEHSATAKE: TWO HUNDRED SEVENTY YEARS OF RESISTANCE that documents the 1990 Mohawk uprising in Kanehsatake and Oka, as well as her groundbreaking INCIDENT AT RESTIGOUCHE, a behind-the-scenes look at Québec police raids on a Mi'kmaq reserve. Alanis awards include: TIFF's 2021 Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media, DOC institute Honour's 2020 Rogers-DOC Luminary Award at the DOC Institute Honours, Glenn Gould Prize, and she was honoured at The Gala Québec Cinéma with the IRIS HOMAGE 2020.

Twitter: @thenfb

Instagram: @onf_nfb

https://www.facebook.com/nfb.ca https://www.nfb.ca/directors/alanis-obomsawin/

The Children Have to Hear Another Story – Alanis Obomsawin Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin January 23 to April 18, 2022 https://www.hkw.de/en/programm/projekte/2022/alanis_obomsawin/start.php

Virtual Red Carpet Team: Producer/Host - Naomi Snieckus @snieckus Head Producer/Director - Winnie Wong @wonder_wong Technical Producer - Anna Gustafson @goosegustafson Co-Producer - Juli Strader @rawsugarpr

Podcast Team Head Producer and Editor: Winnie Wong @wonder_wong Editor: Shayne Stolz @shaynestolz Graphic: Vicki Brier @brier2019

To listen to the podcast: https://linktr.ee/firecrackerdept

Subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.firecrackerdepartment.com and follow us @firecrackerdept!

Kylee Russell Dec 22, 2021

Show notes

Our guest this week is California-based actor, singer, songwriter and dancer KYLEE RUSSELL! She starred as Karin Daniels in Disney Channel's "JUMP IN!", along side HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL's Corbin Bleu and SCREAM QUEEN's Keke Palmer. Kylee landed the lead role of Young Kari Peterson, with WESTWORLD's Tessa Thompson playing the Adult Kari Peterson, in Tina Mabry's award-winning film MISSISSIPPI DAMNED. Kylee's love for singing shone through when she starred as Hayden Chase, a pop star sensation in the BAFTA children's award, and International Emmy Kids award nominated film HANK ZIPZER's CHRISTMAS CATASTROPHE. Kylee also sang on the film's soundtrack. In 2018, Kylee debuted her role as ELIZA ZAMBIE, the empowering activist rebel zombie, in Disney's "Z-O-M-B-I-E-S". In 2020, she reprised her role in "Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 2". Kylee is featured on both Movie Soundtracks and Official Music videos. Kylee also voiced SCORN, a purple and gray symbiote, in Marvel's animated series SPIDER-MAN. Kylee is a singer-songwriter who has a single that was just released at the beginning of 2021 called STITCHES. Kylee also collaborated with her younger sister, HALLE RUSSELL and they wrote and performed "My Christmas Love" for TV-One's ROYAL CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY. And look out for her in Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 3!

Twitter: @kylee_mrussell Instagram: @kyleerussell Facebook: @kyleemrussell https://kyleemrussell.com/

Kylee and Gavvin YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnrEamulT7SQWZzLalIML0A

Kylee's song STITCHES https://open.spotify.com/track/7CKGlXCAdzX71bRLYzYquY?si=2365235b4af842fa

Halle Russell Instagram: @halle_russell

DISNEY ZOMBIES @disneyzombies

Podcast Team Head Producer and Editor: Winnie Wong @wonder_wong Editor: Shayne Stolz @shaynestolz Graphic: Vicki Brier @brier2019

To listen to the podcast: https://linktr.ee/firecrackerdept

Subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.firecrackerdepartment.com and follow us @firecrackerdept!

Reel Women's Network Spotlight: Joanne Hock Dec 15, 2021

Show notes

Our 13th Reel Women's Network spotlight guest is North Carolina-based, award-winning writer, director, producer and cinematographer - JOANNE HOCK! She directed features including: THE ULTIMATE LEGACY, DISCARDED THINGS, ANGELS UNWARE, TRINITY GOODHEART and REDNECK ROOTS. One of her latest features WHEN WE LAST SPOKE premiered in theatres October 2020. Set in 1966, it stars Academy Award winner Cloris Leachman, Melissa Gilbert, Darby Camp and Corbin Bernsen. She also directed over 30 episodes of true crime television, including Discovery's SOUTHERN GOTHIC, FBI CRIMINAL PURSUIT, ICE COLD KILLERS and HAPPILY NEVER AFTER. Her documentary projects for Amazon and PBS include: CHARLES A. CANNON: A MIND OF BUSINESS A HEART FOR PEOPLE and FROM POVERTY TO POWER: THE JAMES B. DUKE STORY. She directed pop-culture documentaries, one is the award-winning audience favorite, PURPLE DREAMS, which premiered to a sold-out crowd at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and MARTIN HILL: CAMERA MAN, a film introduced by Leonard Maltin at its world premiere at the Modern Film Fest in 2012. CHILD OF THE FOREST is her latest project in development. It's a seven-part limited series based on the book of the same name about a child that evaded the Nazis and survived alone in the woods for two years evading capture and became on the greatest living witnesses to the Holocaust.

Twitter: @JHockfilmmaker

Instagram: @joanne.hock

Facebook: @JoanneHockFilms https://www.joannehock.com/

REDNECK ROOTS on Reel Women's Network https://watch.reelwomensnetwork.com/redneck-roots

Reel Women's Network Twitter: @ReelWomensNetw1 Instagram and Facebook: @reelwomensnetwork https://reelwomensnetwork.com/

Podcast Team Head Producer and Editor: Winnie Wong @wonder_wong Editor: Shayne Stolz @shaynestolz Graphic: Vicki Brier @brier2019

To listen to the podcast: https://linktr.ee/firecrackerdept Subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.firecrackerdepartment.com and follow us @firecrackerdept!

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