Contra Zoom Pod

The 45th edition of the Vancouver International Film Festival ran from October 1st to the 11th and we talk about some of our favourite films that played. Joining the show is Darren Zakus, lead reviewer from Movie Scene Canada and Todd Pengelly, critic at For Reel . We talk about La Bola Negra , Freaks Part 2 , The Debut , Wild Horse Nine , Behemoth! and Paper Tiger . Read Dakota's review of Ye...

The 51st edition of the Toronto International Film Festival ran from September 10-20th and we look at the award winners and discuss some of our favourite films that played. Joining Dakota and Jeff is Thomas Stoneham-Judge, the owner of ForReel . The trio look at the People's Choice Award winner La Bola Negra , the International PCA Elsinore , the Best Canadian Feature Film Sunburn and more. Da...

Canadian filmmaker Matthew Rankin ( Universal Language , The Twentieth Century ) is back with a psychedelic documentary about the 18th Prime Minister of Canada, Brian Mulroney, tracking his rise in politics leading up to being elected. Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney had it's world premiere on September 13th in the Midnight Madness portion of TIFF. Jeff Bulmer chats with Rankin who talks...

The 51st edition of the Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 10-20th and Dakota and Jeff preview four films each they are excited to see. Dakota's picks: Bunker , Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother , The Stunt Driver and Alpha Gang Jeff's picks: Misty Green , Once Upon a Time in Harlem , Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney , and Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People? Stay tu...

Recently The Big Picture Podcast visited TIFF headquarters and did a Canadian film draft, unfortunately it missed the mark for us at CZP. So we are here to rectify things. Joining Dakota on the draft is Matthew Simpson, Bil Antoniou host of BGM and Riviera Rats , and Matt Sheardown host of Cinema on a Shelf and I Can't Believe You Haven't Seen . Dakota's team: Cronenberg - Crash Egoyan...

The 2026 edition of the Fantasia Festival, which was held from July 16th-August 2nd in Montreal and celebrates the best in horror and genre cinema. We look at six films that played and give our thoughts on them. Joining the show is Jeff Bulmer, host of Classic Movies Live and Matthew Simpson, editor of Northern Reel. We review Home Bodies, Dance Freak, Sour Minnows, Tight Lettuce, The Specials and...

Aruku is a new documentary about the pilgrimage Japanese Buddhists make where they travel to Shikoku Island and visit 88 temples along their journey. The film had its North American premiere at the Toronto Japanese Film Festival and Jeff Bulmer had the opportunity to chat with the films director Shiho Kataoka. Read Jeff's review of Aruku and check out other reviews he wrote from TJFF including...

It is a yearly tradition for host Dakota to celebrate his birthday by making a fun list. Back on episode 309: Best Films By City he picked 10 North American cities to name the best film from. He continues the theme this year by picking 10 new cities to name his favourite. Joining once again is Bil Antoniou, the host of the BGM Podcast and Riviera Rats . Here are their picks, with Dakota’s first an...

The Academy Awards recently announced a whole slate of new rules and regulations to take effect immediately for the 99th Oscars next year. We discuss how actors can now be nominated twice in the same category, the different route a film can take to be nominated for Best International Film, the organizations stance on AI and much more. Joining the show is Elysia Brenner , host of ⁠The Lorehounds⁠ p...

Our first director ranked episode since episode 175: Wes Anderson Ranked we look at the films by Paul Thomas Anderson in celebration of his 10th film being released and him winning Best Picture and Best Director at the Oscars. Dakota and Jeff rank all 10 films and give out awards. Here are our PTA Rankings: 10. Hard Eight 9. Punch-Drunk Love 8. Licorice Pizza 7. Inherent Vice 6. Magnolia 5. The Ma...

The 2026 Canadian Screen Awards concluded their week long celebration. The big film winners were 40 Acres, Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie and Honey Bunch. Matthew Simpson joins the show as we discuss the big winners, losers and snubs. Read our CSA nominated reviews mentioned on the show: Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie , Wrong Husband , The Things You Kill , Endless Cookie , 40 Acres and...

MySpace is a new documentary about the rise and fall of the once all encompassing social media site MySpace and the effect it had on the world. Jeff Bulmer had the chance to talk with the director of the film Tommy Avallone about trying to get Tom Anderson involved, picking the right guests and how the full scale cut out of Tom came to be. Follow Tommy Avallone on Instagram . Read Dakota Arsenault...

The 2026 Hot Docs film festival, celebrating the best in documentary cinema from around the world has come to a close. We discuss eight films that played including The Seoul Guardians , My Foreign Land , Replica , Gimme Truth , The Ballad of Judas Priest , Whispers in May , Public Access and Myspace . Joining Dakota Arsenault and Jeff Bulmer is Pedro Lima and Rach Epstein. Read Jeff's review o...

Jeff Bulmer had the chance to interview Amalie Atkins, the director of the new documentary Agatha's Almanac , which stars her aunt who runs a 64 acre farm in rural Manitoba. They discuss the importance of 16mm film, how to maximize the footage shot and the impact of having a great cinematographer. Read Jeff's reviews of For Worse , Ballistic and Akashi . Follow Jeff's podcast Classic M...

Now that Oscar season has come and gone, it is finally time to put a bow on the films from 2025. We rank our top 10 films of the year. Joining the show is Matthew Simpson . We also feature voicemails from friends of the show who name their favourite film of the year. Dakota's List: 10. The Secret Agent 9. Train Dreams 8. Predator: Badlands 7. The Alabama Solution 6. Is This Thing On? 5. Sentim...

The nominations for the 14th annual Canadian Screen Awards have been released. 40 Acres, Nirvana The Band The Show The Movie and Blue Heron are some of the heavy hitters this year. We discuss the new rule changes implemented, our favourite nominated films and what movies are now on our radar to watch. Matthew Simpson and Jeff Bulmer join the show. Check out Jeff's Letterboxd list to track how...

Jeff Bulmer had the chance to interview Alireza Khatami the director of the new film The Things You Kill , which was submitted by Canada to be their entrant to the Best International Film at this year's Oscars. They talk about changing the dialogue from Farsi to Turkish, the use of mirrors and the importance of translation. Read our review of the film by Ryan Beaupit. Follow Jeff's podcast...

The 98th Academy Awards are now behind us! One Battle After Another was the big winner with 6 prizes, we had a tie for the first time since 2012 and Conan O'Brien dressed like Aunt Gladys! Alex Southey joins the show to discuss the big moments, winners and losers from Hollywood's biggest night. Watch our interview with Alison McAlpine , the Oscar nominated director of Perfectly A Strangene...

The Oscar's are a week away, so it is time to put our reputation's on the line and predict who will come away with all the awards at this year's ceremony on March 15th 2026. Joining Dakota in getting bold is Thomas Stoneham-Judge⁠⁠ , the owner of For Reel. Below are our picks of who we think will win: Best Casting - Sinners (D), One Battle After Another (T) Best Cinematography - Sinner...

Jeff Bulmer interviews Alison McAlpine, the director of the Oscar nominee for Best Documentary Short, Perfectly a Strangeness . They chat about blending narrative and fiction, working with donkeys and being able to think quickly on your feet. Watch Perfectly a Strangeness on Crave in Canada. Follow Jeff's podcast Classic Movies Live on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

We are back with our fourth annual Oscar Draft. It is very simple, each person selects 5 movies that are nominated at this year’s Oscars and whoever gets the most awards, wins! Joining Dakota is ⁠Thomas Stoneham-Judge⁠ , Darren Zakus and Todd Pengelly . Stay tuned to the Oscar Wrap Up podcast to see who the winner was! Check out the 2025's Oscar Draft , ⁠2024's Oscar Draft⁠ and the ⁠2023 Draft too...

We finish our yearly journey looking at all the Best Picture nominated films and the odds they have to win each of their awards. On this second episode of 2026, we look at Frankenstein , Marty Supreme , The Secret Agent and Train Dreams . Joining the show is Jeff Bulmer co-host of Classic Movies Live . Listen to episode ⁠323: Sinner's Hamnet of F1⁠ and 324: One Sentimental Bugonia After Another ou...

We continue our yearly journey looking at all the Best Picture nominated films and the odds they have to win each of their awards. On this second episode of 2026, we look at One Battle After Another , Sentimental Value and Bugonia . Joining the show is Elysia Brenner, host of The Lorehounds podcast. Listen to episode 323: Sinner's Hamnet of F1 , our first Best Picture podcast. Check out Elysia...

We begin our yearly journey looking at all the Best Picture nominated films and the odds they have to win each of their awards. On this first episode of 2026, we look at Sinners , Hamnet and F1 . Joining the show is expert Paulo Bautista host of the Oscars Death Race Podcast . Check out Paulo's written review of Cutting Through Rocks , the Oscar nominated documentary. Follow Paulo on ⁠⁠⁠Twitte...

We have a special video episode where Jeff Bulmer takes the reigns to interview Paying For It writer and director Sook-Yin Lee. They talk about adapting Chester Brown's graphic novel, casting actors to play real people in her life and creating fully formed sex worker characters. Read Jeff's review from TIFF 2024 . Read Pierre Frigon's review from VIFF 2024 . Catch Paying For It in US t...