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David Peck Live

TIFF17 David Peck: Face2Face with Sam Pollard (I’VE GOTTA BE ME)

September 8, 2017 by Steve Norton Leave a Comment

Sam Pollard – “I’ve Gotta Be Me”

Face2Face, the podcast covering magic, philosophy, keynote speaking, human rights and everything in between, hosted by David Peck

 

Sam and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new film premiering at TIFF race relations in America, courage and why Sammy Davis Junior was the greatest entertainer of the 20th century.

Biography

Sam Pollard is an accomplished feature film and television video editor, and documentary producer/director whose work spans almost 30 years. His first assignment as a documentary producer came in 1989 for Henry Hampton’s Blackside production Eyes On The Prize II: America at the Racial Crossroads. For one of his episodes in this series, he received an Emmy. Eight years later, he returned to Blackside as co-executive producer/producer of Hampton’s last documentary series, I’ll Make Me A World: Stories of African-American Artists and Community. For the series, Pollard received a Peabody Award.

Between 1990 and 2010, Pollard edited a number of Spike Lee’s films: Mo’ Better Blues,

Jungle Fever, Girl 6, Clockers and Bamboozled. Pollard and Lee also co-produced a

number of documentary productions for the small and big screen: Spike Lee Presents Mike Tyson, a biographical sketch for HBO for which Pollard received an Emmy; Four Little Girls, a feature-length documentary about the 1963 Birmingham church bombings that was nominated for an Academy Award; and When The Levees Broke, a four-part documentary that won numerous awards, including a Peabody and three Emmy Awards. Five years later, he co-produced and supervised the edit on the follow up to Levees, If God Is Willing And Da Creek Don’t Rise.

Since 2012, Pollard has produced and directed Slavery By Another Name (2012), a 90-minute documentary for PBS that was in competition at the Sundance Film Festival; August Wilson: The Ground On Which I Stand (2015), a 90-minute documentary for American Masters; Two Trains Runnin, (2016), a feature-length documentary that premiered at the Full Frame Film Festival; and The Talk: Race in America (2017) for PBS.

Synopsis

Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me is the first major film documentary to examine Davis’ vast talent and his journey for identity through the shifting tides of civil rights and racial progress during 20th-century America. Sammy Davis, Jr. had the kind of career that was indisputably legendary, so vast and multi-faceted that it was dizzying in its scope and scale. And yet, his life was complex, complicated and contradictory.

Davis strove to achieve the American Dream in a time of racial prejudice and shifting political territory. He was the veteran of increasingly out-dated show business traditions trying to stay relevant; he frequently found himself bracketed by the bigotry of white America and the distaste of black America; he was the most public black figure to embrace Judaism, thereby yoking his identity to another persecuted minority.

Featuring new interviews with such luminaries as Billy Crystal, Norman Lear, Jerry Lewis, Whoopi Goldberg and Kim Novak, with never-before-seen photographs from Davis’ vast personal collection and excerpts from his electric performances in television, film and concert, Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me explores the life and art of a uniquely gifted entertainer whose trajectory blazed across the major flashpoints of American society from the Depression through the 1980s.

———-

 

Image Copyright: Sam Pollard and Thirteen Productions. Used with permission.

Filed Under: Film, Interviews, TIFF Tagged With: David Peck, David Peck Live, I Gotta Be Me, Sam Pollard

David Peck: Face2Face with Kelita

August 14, 2017 by Steve Norton Leave a Comment

Kelita

 

Kelita and Face2Face host David Peck talk about country music, trauma, suicide, resilience, and the importance of story telling, listening and how we can break the “cycle”.

More about Kelita’s new album project here.

Biography

KELITA writes, sings and speaks from her own life experiences, sharing her powerful and inspiring healing journey. Coming from a life of countless tragedies and family dysfunction, she shares the lessons of overcoming and victory with an endearing transparency and honesty that engages, encourages and inspires.

Her ability to touch and penetrate the hearts of audiences is what drives her success. KELITA’s is a message that rings true and pours out through the words she shares from her inner being. She has the innate ability to write, sing and speak what others are feeling.

From her imaginary stage in the hayloft of the big barn of her parents’ Claresholm, Alberta ranch, she began to sing at the age of four under the yard light that was her first “spotlight”. Her love of music and performing were KELITA’s escapes from many significant traumatic family experiences and abuse during her early childhood and teen years. In fact, it was those escapes that fine-tuned a dream that she would “one day be a star” – a reality that continues to expand after decades of performance.

Talent, captivating performance and charisma is what attracts the following that KELITA has garnered over her career. From hilarious character comedy delivered by her host of zany unique characters to beautifully written and sung folk/pop/kinda ‘gospelly’ songs to heart wrenching ballads that deeply stir emotions, KELITA’s versatility and diversity causes her to captivate the hearts of her listeners and open up minds to messages with universal appeal.

While climbing to the top of her field, a near fatal automobile accident saw KELITA’s personal life and music career take a dramatic turn. Combining a pending recording contract with Capital Records, Nashville, lost as a result of Capital’s corporate restructuring, along with dissolving a thirteen-year relationship with her husband/manager, you would think that would be enough to crush anyone’s dreams. Instead, it was a time of great soul-searching for KELITA and out of the ashes, a stronger, more resilient and transparent singer, songwriter emerged.

The songs she began to write were not only skillful, but honest, open-hearted and reflective. This new resonance with the heart attracted collaborations with Canadian greats; Michael Burgess, Susan Aglukark (KELITA helped Susan write the hit song “Breaking Down” and “Kathy I” for her Triple Platinum Album “This Child”) and others, as well as a number of notable organizations.

A few years later KELITA met and married multi-talented musician/producer/arranger Gord Lemon, who then became her producer and co-writer. Musically, their first project garnered them KELITA’s signature hit country song “The Strong One”. Together they have created and produced all of KELITA’s award winning music including Juno nominated “Naked Soul” and Canadian Gospel Music Association’s Inspirational Album of the Year, “Because of Love”.

Inspired by her deep understanding of the hurt and pain associated with childhood trauma, KELITA has developed a passion for women, children and social justice. Over a period of several years, led by her dedication and humanitarian efforts, her critically acclaimed album “Heavenly Night” and initiative project of the same name raised both awareness and $250,000 for the rehabilitation of young children rescued from child exploitation in Cambodia. KELITA has also contributed to the healing of childhood wounds for men and women around the globe through her Award-Winning songs “Bella” and “Deep Dark Secret”.

KELITA speaks to the acknowledgement, empathy and the very real struggle of overcoming adversity. It has become commonplace for her audience to bestow virtues on KELITA for her music helping them through hardships, illness or seemingly insurmountable life challenges. As more than one of her fans have proclaimed; “Your music literally has saved my life!” KELITA is not just an immensely talented singer, songwriter, speaker and comedienne, she is an exceptional woman who is a compassionate artistic vessel who is used to powerfully impact and touch the human spirit.

Learn more about Kelita here.

Image Copyright: Kelita. Used with permission.

Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: David Peck, David Peck Live, Kelita

David Peck: Gerry Flahive

June 7, 2017 by Steve Norton Leave a Comment

Gerry Flahive and Face2Face host David Peck talk about secrets, story, the “D” word, why he’s a 2001 fanatic and how a “real life” can be intimidating.

Biography

Gerry Flahive is a Toronto-based writer, producer and creative consultant at his media arts company, Modern Story. Until May 2014, Flahive was Senior Producer at the National Film Board of Canada, which he joined in 1981. He has done creative and storytelling consulting, strategic planning, course development and speechwriting for clients, including the Toronto Maple Leafs, Cirque de Soleil, Telefilm Canada, MaRS, TVOntario, Humber College and Giants of Africa.

His productions have won many international awards including 2 Emmy Awards, a World Press Photo Award and a Peabody Award for HIGHRISE (highrise.nfb.ca), a global interactive documentary. He produced & co-produced more than 80 documentary projects on a wide range of subjects. Major projects include the international co-production PARIS 1919, the ground-breaking Filmmaker-in-Residence multi-media project at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, the NFB-Canadian Film Centre Feature Documentary Program, and short films for the Governor-General’s Performing Arts Awards, working with such recipients as Bryan Adams and Rush.

In the early 1990’s, as Senior Communications Manager, he managed NFB involvement in the Oscars and the Sundance Film Festival, as well as corporate communications and corporate branding.

Flahive is a frequent contributor to the Globe and Mail and has been published in Time, The New York Times and The Walrus, and many media industry publications, and is a National Magazine Award nominee for humour. He is a member of the boards of the Pages Unbound literary festival, the Toronto Irish Film Festival and the Seneca College Documentary Film Institute, and was on the Advisory Board for the MIT Open Documentary Lab report “Interactive Documentary and Digital Journalism”.

He has been a guest speaker, presenter and mentor at many international events and institutions, including MIT, the I-Docs Lab in Switzerland, the MEDIMED Documentary conference in Barcelona, and the New York Film Festival.

You can stream David at davidpecklive.com

Filed Under: Film, Interviews Tagged With: David Peck Live, Dvid Peck

David Peck: Shimon Dusan (The Settlers)

June 5, 2017 by Steve Norton Leave a Comment

Shimon Dutan and Face2Face host David Peck talk about the “settlement enterprise”, racism, empathy, the West Bank and absolutes, Israel and why there’s reason for hope.

IMDB

Synopsis

Of the grievances and grudges that plague the Middle East, no issue is more incendiary than the Jewish-only settlements that have dotted the occupied West Bank for a half-century.

Canadian/Israeli Shimon Dotan’s acclaimed documentary The Settlers sets out to illustrate – through first-person accounts, historical footage and expert witness – how 400,000 motivated Israelis ended up in communities almost strategically placed between, and sometimes within, Arab Palestinian cities populated by the millions. It is a confounding tale of religious zeal and secular hatred, where an olive tree is an amorphous territorial border, and the burial of a stillborn baby amounts to a claim of political sovereignty over a city.

A Fellow of the New York Institute of the Humanities, he is an award-winning filmmaker with thirteen feature films to his credit. His films have been the recipients of the Silver Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival (The Smile of the Lamb), numerous Israeli Academy Awards, including Best Film and Best Director (Repeat Dive; The Smile of the Lamb), Best Film at the Newport Beach Film Festival (You Can Thank Me Later) and the Special Jury Prize at Sundance (Hot House).

Dotan has taught political cinema at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute of New York University since 2003. He also teaches at The New School in New York City. He has previously taught at Tel Aviv University and at Concordia University in Montreal.

Dotan is the writer and director of The Settlers, which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2016, and opened in Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City on March 17.

You can listen to David Peck at DavidPeckLive.com

Filed Under: Film, Interviews Tagged With: Canada, David Peck, David Peck Live, Israel, Shimon Dotan, The Settlers

David Peck: Bronwen Hughes (THE JOURNEY IS THE DESTINATION)

May 17, 2017 by Steve Norton Leave a Comment

Bronwen Hughes and Face2Face host David Peck talk about her new film The Journey is The Destination, Dan Eldon, the “global tribe”, living a life of “crowded hours”, and having no sense of the other.

IMDB

More about Dan Eldon here.

More about Creative Visions here.

Synopsis

The Journey is the Destination is based on the remarkable true story of the life of Dan Eldon, a photographer, artist, and adventurer.  By the age of 22, he had travelled to more than 40 countries, created fine art journals, worked with refugees, been hired as the youngest photojournalist at Reuters, fallen in love  — and accumulated more life experience than most in a lifetime.

Inspiring and irreverent, the film tell the story of a young man coming of age to realize his purpose, and his belief that we can all create positive change.

This film is 23 years in the making and we could not be more proud to have Kathy’s original dream become a reality.  This would not be possible without the phenomenal group of producers, the incredible director Bronwen Hughes, the cast, crew and everyone who has been part of this journey.  The journey continues…

Biography

Bronwen Hughes is a New York and Hollywood-based feature film director of Canadian and British origin.

She is currently at work on the feature film The Journey is the Destination, based on the life of artist and photographer, Dan Eldon. This epic adventure tells the story of Dan who spent his life traveling and photographing in 42 countries, inspiring young people to follow him. Like Dan, Hughes started photographing and traveling the globe from a very young age.

Hughes’ feature Stander is based on the true story of a notorious and brilliant bank robber in 1970’s Johannesburg. This charismatic criminal became a popular hero, often robbing 4 or 5 banks in a single day. Ultimately, he was apprehended and revealed to be the captain of the South African Police. Stander stars Thomas Jane (The Punisher, Boogie Nights) and Dexter Fletcher (Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels). The shoot took place in Johannesburg and the Townships of Soweto and Tembisa, where Hughes directed thousands of extras in a re-creation of the riots of the apartheid struggle.

Her previous feature, Forces of Nature, starring Sandra Bullock and Ben Affleck, was made for Steven Spielberg’s Dreamworks. It is a stylish and unique romantic comedy about two strangers thrown together on a wild ride battling the elements, both trying to make it to Savannah on a deadline. Noted for its special effects sequences of slow-motion hail storms and surreal hurricanes, Forces of Nature was the Number One film in the weeks of its National and International releases.

Hughes came to the attention of Spielberg who asked her to direct Forces of Nature after seeing her first feature film, Harriet the Spy, starring Rosie O’Donnell. Made for Paramount Pictures, Harriet was released to critical and box office success, and won international prizes.

She currently has several films in development: Romeo Spy, the true story of John Symonds, one-time London policemen who became an international seducer-of-women for the KGB in the 1970’s; Firecracker Boys for Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way, a truth-stranger-than-fiction story of Alaskan Eskimos exposing the nuclear conspiracy of the Atomic Energy Commission; The Dictator’s Lover, the true story of three generations of female spies; and Tropicana, a large-scale musical based on the legendary Havana nightclub.

Her production experience has taken her all over the world, from Iceland and Norway, to East and Southern Africa, to Central American Mayan ruins, and the remote peaks of the Andes. Her award-winning documentary for The Discovery Channel, Cinenova’s Machu Picchu: The Search for Lost Worlds was filmed in the jungles of inland Peru.

For television, Hughes’ prestigious pilots White Collar and Fairly Legal, both for USA Networks and Fox TV Studios, are now hit series for the network.

Hughes completed an action-packed episode of Breaking Bad, which has received Emmy’s for AMC, and several episodes of the HBO series Hung, starring Thomas Jane, who also starred in her feature film, Stander.

 

You can download David Peck on iTunes or stream his interview here:

Bronwen Hughes – Episode 292

 

Filed Under: Film, HotDocs, Interviews Tagged With: Bronwen Hughes, David Peck, David Peck Live, The Journey is the Destination

David Peck: Vaishali Sinha (ASK THE SEXPERT)

May 13, 2017 by Steve Norton Leave a Comment

Vaishali Sinha and Face2Face host David Peck talk about her new film Ask The Sexpert, cultural context, “women as allies”, a Doctor as a 90-year-old pioneer and the latent effects of colonialism.

IMDB

Synopsis

ASK THE SEXPERT is a feature length documentary about a highly popular 93-year-old sex advice columnist for a daily newspaper in Mumbai. Despite sex being a taboo topic in that country, the column’s brand of non-moralistic advice and humor has emboldened many to write in with their questions, the vast majority of whom seek basic information.

The columnist gains popularity even while a ban on comprehensive sex education in schools is adopted by approximately one third of India’s states.

Biography

Vaishali Sinha Co-Directed/Produced the feature documentary MADE IN INDIA about the personal stories behind the phenomenon of outsourcing surrogate mothers to India. The film premiered at Hot Docs Film Festival and aired on PBS in 2012.

The film received several Jury awards at festivals and is currently a case study at Harvard Business School for their class on ethics. ASK THE SEXPERT is Vaishali’s second feature length documentary; a presentation by her company Coast to Coast Films.

Vaishali has also produced numerous shorts. She has received support for her films from ITVS, the MacArthur Foundation, Tribeca Film Institute, Catapult Fund, Firelight Media, Playboy Foundation, Chicken & Egg Pictures, The Fledgling Fund, Center for Asian American Media, Mozilla, Ford Foundation, Nextpix and more.

Vaishali also freelances at Videoline Productions founded by Peabody award-winning filmmaker Richard Wormser (Rise and Fall of Jim Crow). Vaishali speaks regularly at events and has acted as jury member at film festivals. In the past she has worked with women’s right group Point of View, in Mumbai. She is originally from Mumbai, and now resides in Brooklyn, NY with her husband Fred Lassen, a Music Director and their two-year-old son Luca.

You can download David Peck on iTunes or stream the podcast here:

Vaishali Sinha – Episode 291

Filed Under: Film, HotDocs, Interviews Tagged With: Ask the Sexpert, David Peck, David Peck Live, Vaishali Sinha

David Peck: Egil Larsen (69 MINUTES OF 86 DAYS)

May 12, 2017 by Steve Norton Leave a Comment

Egil Larsen and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new film 69 Minutes of 86 Days, The Refugee crisis, making sense of time, polarization of real issues, childlike wonder and why he still has hope.

Hot Docs Review – calls it “Essential viewing.”

Find out more about the film here.

Synopsis

Every day, about 90 Syrian refugees arrive in Canada.

40,081 have been welcomed since November 4, 2015. (Data as of January 29, 2017)

The war in Syria has now lasted six years.

According to UNICEF, one in three of today’s Syrian children have never experienced anything but war and flight. Every week hundreds of families flee. 69 Minutes of 86 Days is the part of the story that hasn’t been told. Follow three-year-old Lean’s journey from an unfamiliar port in Greece on the edge of a beach, through passport controls, congested trains, tents, and a large field, to the quiet streets of Uppsala, Sweden.

At an unspecified port, we are lead into a crowd of people through a trail of discarded lifejackets. Part of a new wave of documentaries that depict the various elements of the Syrian crisis, 69 Minutes of 86 Days takes a poignantly humanistic approach. In its quiet beauty, it unravels the physical and emotional challenges that refugee families face every day: millions of people on the run, thousands who have lost their lives and a patchwork of political power games. With this serving as the entry point to the story, the camera moves onward. Walking along a Greek highway, a little girl stands out from the crowd. Three-year-old Lean is brimming with curiosity and childlike energy. Her playful nature engages us, in stark contrast to the intimidating backdrop of Europe. Without any background information on the child and her family, one can only guess where they’ve travelled from; we naturally assume they have crossed the ocean and already seen many things. While Lean may not fully understand what she’s experiencing, her strength and optimism shine through, giving hope to those who need it the most.

Filmed from one metre above the ground, the camera captures the story from the viewpoint of the child. We are with her and her little “Frozen” backpack amongst the legs and bags belonging to the adults around her. We realize that she understands the seriousness of the journey and is on her way to a new future, but through the journey she holds onto her childlike ability to normalize her days. She sings, plays, shares a lollipop with her little sister, washes the face of her uncle and sleeps in the arms of her parents when she gets tired. The landscape changes continuously as national borders are crossed. Lean is on her way to her grandfather in Sweden and she dreams of learning to swim.

Biography

Egil Håskjold Larsen has worked as a cinematographer and director since finishing his studies in 2008. Studying fine art photography in Turkey, and finally documentary filmmaking in Norway. In 2016 he released his first documentary film Ad Astra. 69 Minutes of 86 Days is his first feature length documentary film

You can download David Peck on iTunes or stream it here:

Egil Larsen – Episode 290

Filed Under: Film, HotDocs, Interviews Tagged With: David Peck, David Peck Live, Egil Larsen, Syria, UNICEF

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