Viola Davis stars as the leader of a fierce female army from the kingdom of Dahomey, which was built on slavery. Dancer, choreographer and director Esie Mensah joins us to discuss the movie's alternate and perhaps fanciful take on history and w

NOW What EP194: Horror comedy The Blackening comes to TIFF

Sep 9th, 2022 23m 33s

Comedian Dewayne Perkins and actor Antoinette Robertson tell us about heir TIFF Midnight Madness movie The Blackening, a horror comedy that lands somewhere between Scary Movie and Cabin In The Woods. The Blackening is about college friends reun

Women Talking with Sarah Polley and Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers

Sep 7th, 2022 1h 4m

In a conversation between two filmmakers, Sarah Polley tells Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers about adapting Miriam Toews novel Women Talking and unpacking the implications of its conversations on justice and forgiveness.

NOW What EP192: Black Ice checks racism in hockey … and Canada

Sep 4th, 2022 36m 57s

In a special TIFF episode, Black Ice director Hubert Davis, producer Vinay Virmani and hockey player Saroya Tinker discuss the relationship between hockey and Canadian identity and what it means to be excluded from the game.

NOW What EP191: I Like Movies challenges film bro culture

Sep 4th, 2022 34m 37s

I Like Movies director Chandler Levack discusses her look back at early-2000s video store culture, the makings of a toxic film bro and how she found a sympathetic and redemptive arc for a character that had the makings of an incel.

NOW What EP190: This Place filmmakers share their Toronto queer love story

Sep 4th, 2022 25m 14s

In a TIFF special episode we have the team behind This Place, a queer love story that stars Mohawk actor Devery Jacobs and Tamil-Canadian writer Priya Guns. Guns, co-writer and director V.T, Nayani, co-writer Golshan Abdmoulaei and producer St

NOW What EP190: This Place filmmakers share their Toronto queer love story

Sep 4th, 2022 39m 14s

Reservation Dogs star Devery Jacobs pens a love letter to her community

Aug 16th, 2022 16m 33s

Reservation Dogs star Devery Jacobs discusses co-writing season two episode four, which was directed by Danis Goulet, paying tribute to the joy in her community, how the series handles trauma and uplift and bringing her old new film This Place

Jo Koy spreads the word on Easter Sunday

Aug 4th, 2022 20m 53s

Jo Koy joins the NOW What podcast to explain why he had to pay his own way to get comedy specials on Netflix, how his humour builds bridges between communities, why colonized people compete when it comes to religion and resurrecting Tia Carrere

Soca in the backyard with Kes the Band

Jul 22nd, 2022 39m 53s

Kes The Band lead singer Kes discusses why his music breaks through in a changing soca and Carnival landscape and what to expect from IzWe at Markham Fairgrounds and J'ouvert in Toronto.

NOW What EP186: Nailah Blackman (re)defines soca and Issa Rae and Syreeta Singleton on women in rap and WAP

Jul 20th, 2022 1h 8m

Soca royalty Nailah Blackman and her producer Anson Soverall explain what two years locked down in Trinidad looked like, how Carnival season is bouncing back hard, the new music they’ve been working on while we’ve been in our bubbles and what t

NOW What EP185: Space invaders in Slash/Back and Obi-Wan Kenobi

Jun 23rd, 2022 30m 58s

Slash/Back director Nyla Innuksuk discusses her Inuit alien invasion thriller (hint: it's a metaphor for colonization) and Obi-Wan Kenobi director Deborah Chow and actor Hayden Christensen talk about going from Toronto to a galaxy far, far away

NOW What EP184: The wealth gap on AppleTV+ series Loot and Director X’s upcoming Robyn Hood

Jun 22nd, 2022 38m 19s

Loot co-creators Allan Yang and Matt Hubbard explain how their series starring Maya Rudolph searches for laughs in the wealth gap. Plus: Director X (who also has a new show tackling the wealth gap) and LeSean Harris recollect movie memories for

NOW What EP183: Fatuma Adar takes Dixon Road to the theatre

Jun 8th, 2022 42m 47s

Writer and performer Fatuma Adar discusses representing the refugee experience and the Somali-Canadian community in her moving musical Dixon Road with writer Huda Hassan and NOW What host Radheyan Simonpillai. Read more about Dixon Road, which

NOW What EP182: From Markham to Marvel with Iman Vellani

Jun 1st, 2022 20m 13s

Ms. Marvel star Iman Vellani discusses her love of artsy foreign films, going to the same Markham high school as Hayden Christensen (aka Darth Vader) and reconnecting with her roots by playing Kamala Khan, the first Muslim superhero

NOW What EP181: The Kids In The Hall keep their comedy alive through a pandemic and in a whole new climate

May 14th, 2022 40m

Old classics are returning to the streamers: a new take on Cinderella called Sneakerella co-starring Brantford's Devyn Nekoda arrives on Disney+ and The Kids In The Hall brought a new season 27 years after the last to Prime Video Canada. Nekoda

NOW What EP180: Turned onto Modern Whore, the ”engorged” edition

May 7th, 2022 55m 53s

Author Andrea Werhun and photographer Nicole Bazuin discuss expanding the sex work memoir Modern Whore with stories from a Toronto strip club and even more stunning imagery. Plus, Stephanie and Rad get into the 20th anniversary of Spider-Man, t

NOW What EP179 - David Simon on The Wire, We Own This City and Defund The Police

Apr 30th, 2022 1h 33m

The Wire creator David Simon joins to discuss his new series We Own This City, the dystopia created by the war on drugs and why defunding the police may be the right thing to do in some cases. Culture writer Stephanie Hinds joins to discuss Jas

Angelica Lisk-Hann is changing the Canadian stunt scene

Apr 6th, 2022 42m 25s

Angelica Lisk-Hann is nominated for a Canadian Screen Award in the Best Stunt Coordination category that she had a hand in creating. Lisk-Hann joins us to discuss her journey from performing stunts on movies like AVP to becoming the first Black

NOW What Ep177 - Hello, Hello (Again)

Mar 31st, 2022 39m 42s

Norm and NOW editor Radheyan Simonpillai talk to stars Alex Mallari Jr. and Rong Fu and co-creator Nathalie Younglai about what their new CBC Gem series Hello (Again) hopes to do for Asian-Canadian representation, and the challenges of creating

NOW What Ep176 - Sarah Polley Is Running Towards The Danger

Mar 4th, 2022 34m 8s

NOW editor Radheyan Simonpillai talks to actor turned filmmaker turned author Sarah Polley about her new book Run Towards The Danger: Confrontations With A Body Of Memory, and how after 14 years behind the camera she’s finally thinking about ge

NOW What 175 - BLK and LOL

Feb 26th, 2022 49m 15s

This week’s podcast was so packed we had to break it into two episodes. In this one, Norm talks to Jennifer Holness and Sudz Sutherland about their new documentary series BLK: An Origin Story, and then checks in with Last One Laughing Canada pl

NOW What Ep174 - Akintoye Is the TikTok Rapper Toronto Needs

Feb 25th, 2022 51m 32s

For this week’s Sound Of Toronto Right Now issue, NOW editor Radheyan Simonpillai talks to TikTok rapper Akintoye about coming up, finding his voice, building a brand and being absolutely, one hundred percent himself through all of it.

NOW What Ep173 - Creating CBC’s The Porter

Feb 18th, 2022 36m 1s

Building onto his cover story this week, Norm talks to Arnold Pinnock, Annmarie Morais, Marsha Greene, Charles Officer and RT Thorne – the creative team behind the new CBC drama The Porter – to explore the genesis of the show and what it means

NOW What Ep172 - Love and Sex 2022: Still Dating Through the Pandemic

Feb 11th, 2022 31m 54s

With NOW’s annual Love and Sex issue on the stands this week, Norm and NOW’s managing editor Glenn Sumi invite Colin Asuncion, Haley McGee and Bee Quammie to expand on their conversations about what it’s like to be single and dating with COVID