The YVR Screen Scene Podcast

Genre-hopping actress Jennifer Spence returns to the pod to discuss the third season of Canada’s spiciest workplace comedy, The Trades . Set in a blue-collar community where the high stress of working in a refinery is balanced by the comedic antics of its plant workers, The Trades centres around general foreman Todd Stool (Robb Wells), and his sister and roommate, Audrey (Anastasia Phillips), who...

Vertical dramas originated in China in the late 2010s, and they’ve only grown in popularly since then: in 2024, revenue from vertical dramas in China surpassed traditional Chinese film box office receipts. Worldwide, they’re an $11 billion dollar industry, and the industry is only growing. Shot in 9:16 (specifically for phones) for apps like ReelShort and DramaShort, episodes of these serialised d...

Actress and filmmaker Nat Boltt (Penelope Blossom on Riverdale ) returns to the YVR Screen Scene Podcast to discuss Holy Days , her feature film directorial debut that screened at the venerable Toronto International Film Festival and is currently wowing crowds around the world. Based on the acclaimed novel by Dame Joy Cowley,  Holy Days  is a joyful adventure about faith, friendship, and...

Next week, Family Law takes its final bow after four critically acclaimed seasons on Global Television and Stack TV. The Lark Productions comedy-drama series – which follows a group of flawed family members who reluctantly work together at their father's law firm in Downtown Vancouver – was the brainchild of showrunner and award-winning author Susin Nielsen. Susin is an exceptionally gifted s...

Filmmaker Corey Payette swings by the YVR Screen Scene Podcast to talk about Starwalker , his critically acclaimed movie musical about drag queens in East Vancouver. Starwalker is the story of Star, an Indigi-Queer Two-Spirit call boy, who becomes entranced by the House of Borealis, a popular drag house in East Van. Blending drag performance with their grounded cultural spirit, a new, powerful per...

Sachin Sahel and Dhirendra return to the #YVRScreenScenePodcast for a raucous chat anchored in A Nice Indian Boy , the 2025 American romantic comedy film directed by Roshan Sethi and based on Madhuri Shekar's play of the same name. The film follows Naveen, an Indian-American doctor, who brings his fiancé, Jay Kurundkar, a white man adopted by Indian parents, to meet his traditional...

Supinder Wraich returns to the YVR Screen Scene Podcast to chat all things Allegiance , the wildly popular CBC crime procedural that is both filmed and set in Surrey, British Columbia. Supinder is Sabrina Sohal, a brilliant and empathetic detective in the serious crimes unit of the CFPC who is simultaneously a bright light in her department and a serious threat to anyone who traffics in corruption...

Filmmaker Zach Lipovsky visits the YVR Screen Scene Podcast to reflect on his past, present, and future. His past includes placing fifth out of 12,000 on Steven Spielberg's filmmaking competition show  On the Lot ; collaborating with Adam Stein on the 2018 genre hit Freaks , numerous episodes of genre television, and 2025’s Final Destination Bloodlines , the last of which was the first Final...

Kashif Pasta returns to the YVR Screen Scene Podcast to talk about his new short film, The Muslim Guide to Prayer in Space , which screens this weekend at the DGC BC’s Spotlight Directors Conference. The Muslim Guide to Prayer in Space stars friend of the pod Osric Chau as a Malaysian astronaut endeavouring to find a direction to pray in orbit, where there is no up or down. Kashif’s film is inspir...

Filmmaker Kate Green ( NarcoLeap ) returns to the YVR Screen Scene Podcast to discuss Menopause: Coming In Hot , her audacious documentary that was produced through Telus Originals and has its world premiere this week at the 2025 Whistler Film Festival. Inspired by Kate's own journey through menopause, Menopause: Coming in Hot features candid personal accounts and expert insight about perimenopaus...

Jay Brazeau is an icon of the Vancouver film and television scene, and he’s got the filmography to prove it. He’s appeared in iconic television series like The X-Files, Supernatural, Stargate SG-1, Da Vinci’s Inquest, and 21 Jump Street, Hollywood fare like Watchmen and Best In Show, and critically acclaimed indie fare like Eadweard, Down River, and Carl Bessai’s Fathers and Sons. He actually won...

Filmmaker and screenwriter Ken Kabatoff ( Travelers ) took home the big prize at the DGC BC’s Greenlight competition a couple of years ago, and the short film he created with that financial backing – The Doukhobor – is one of the most impactful horror films our host has ever seen. The Doukhobor draws its inspiration from the story of the Freedomite Doukhobors, and the abysmal treatment this group...

The wildly talented multi-hyphenate Mayumi Yoshida returns to the YVR Screen Scene Podcast to discuss her long-awaited feature film directorial debut, Akashi , which is inspired by Mayumi’s own experience of living in the space between cultures. Ten years after moving to Vancouver, struggling visual artist Kana (that’s Mayumi) returns to Tokyo to attend the funeral of her beloved grandmother. Arri...

What has the Taliban’s shocking return to power meant for Afghan women? Brishkay Ahmed’s new documentary In The Room hands the mic to Afghan women who’ve stepped onto the world stage and reclaimed their homeland and identity. This includes Brishkay herself, who literally steps through the looking glass and confronts and contextualises her own identity. At times dreamlike and always impactful, In T...

Today’s episode of the YVR Screen Scene Podcast is both another instalment in our ongoing #IndustryBFFs series AND our season opener! Sabrina is joined in the podcast studio by two powerhouse actresses who are uplifting women in film via their new project, the Liberated Actresses Playground: Aliyah O’Brien and Priscilla Faia. Returning guest Aliyah O’Brien is beloved for her work on Rookie Blue ,...

Earlier this month, Angela’s Shadow won two awards – for best screenwriting and best production design – at the 2025 Leo Awards. It was the latest in a string of successes for the film, which won the Panorama Audience Award at the 2024 Vancouver International Film Festival, kicks off a theatrical run in Toronto this weekend, and is acclaimed Cree filmmaker Dr. Jules Arita Koostachin’s highly antic...

Bronwen Smith was nominated for a UBCP/ACTRA Award for her scene-stealing dramatic turn in Laura Adkin’s feature film directorial debut, Re: Uniting . Catherine Lough Haggquist (who received the Lorena Gale Woman of Distinction Award from UBCP/ACTRA in 2020) garnered a globe-spanning fanbase for her role as the ass-kicking General Bellweather on Motherland: Fort Salem . Separately, they are powerh...

Inedia is a disquieting and psychologically charged dramatic feature exploring a young woman’s descent into a dangerous online fasting movement. Filmed on Salt Spring Island, Inedia tells the story of Cora (Amy Forsyth), a desperate young woman who signs up for an alternative lifestyle community to escape her mounting food allergies. At Sun Haven, they practice “breatharianism,” subsisting on ligh...

Beloved Vancouver actor Alex Zahara swings by the YVR Screen Scene Podcast studio to discuss his wildly entertaining turn as Uncle Howard (RIP) in Final Destination: Bloodlines and his own remarkable career on stage and screen. The funny and fascinating conversation covers a lot of territory: how Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein’s critically acclaimed, blockbuster contribution to the Final Destination...

Simon Barry ( Warrior Nun , Continuum ) returns to the YVR Screen Scene Podcast to discuss his latest series. Bet – 10 episodes of which dropped on Netflix in May 2025 – draws its inspiration from the manga Kakegurai – Compulsive Gambler . The series tells the story of Yumeko (portrayed by Miku Martineau), a young woman who enrols in an exclusive boarding school to avenge the murder of her parents...

The Vancouver-shot Dil Rakh: Gloves of Kin tells the story of Sukh Sidhu, a South Asian man who spent 20 years in jail for a crime he didn't commit. Upon his release, he returns to the small predominantly white town where his life went sideways, where racism abounds and where his son Dayton is in deep with a group of petty criminals who barely conceal their contempt for his brownness. Dayton is pi...

This special episode features four of the producers and three of the world-class athletes showcased in Beyond The Podium: Celebrating Canadian Women Champions . The juggernaut documentary – which was directed by Brenda Whitehall – hands the mic to 15 of Canada’s top women winter athletes and invites them to delve deep into the issues that are intertwined with their journey to the podiums: iss...

Five years ago, actor Giles Panton swung by the YVR Screen Scene Podcast to talk about voicing Iron Man in Marvel Battleworld: Mystery of the Thanostones , the sleighful of Christmas movies in his filmography, what he learned playing the minister of propaganda for the American Reich in Amazon Prime’s critically acclaimed dystopian series The Man in the High Castle , and the Barbie commercial that...

Baljit Sangra’s new documentary issues its central question in its title: Have You Heard Judi Singh? If you have to think about it, the answer is no, because once you’ve heard Judi Singh sing, you’ll remember it – her clarity, her lyricism, the ease with which she scat and sang bebop and standards and original music – you’ll remember that you’ve heard Judi Singh sing for the rest of your life...

House of David on Amazon Prime tells the story of the shepherd boy who brought down a giant Philistine warrior with a slingshot and a stone and, ultimately, became king. But the story of David – outcast David, underdog David, King David – is more than a single parable – and the first season of House of David lays out David’s journey from childhood until moments after he felled Goliath wi...