The YVR Screen Scene Podcast

Panta Mosleh’s queer interfaith comedy Pass the Salt tells the story of Parmiss, a young Muslim-Iranian woman from a traditional family who arrives in Vancouver and ends up falling head over heels for one of her roommates, a Jewish woman named Nava – which is all easier said than done, seeing as Parmiss’s family doesn’t actually know that she’s lesbian and her mom is determined to find her a nice Persian boy to marry. Pass the Salt – which premieres the week of November 2 as both a film on Hollywood Suite and a six-part series on OUTtv – is clearly a labour of love for its star, writer, and director Panta Mosleh. It’s also really funny, which should come as no surprise to anyone who is familiar with Panta’s work. She’s a graduate from the Groundlings School of Comedy in Los Angeles and a recipient of the 2021 SNL scholarship. On the eve of Pass the Salt’s release, Panta speaks with Sabrina about her long journey to bring these characters and this story to the screen, queer comedy, and unapologetic joy.YVR Screen Scene is a division of Fish Flight Entertainment. 

What’s really going on in the Vancouver film and television industry these days? Is it – as the Hollywood Reporter postulated in an article in May 2026 – “seeing [a] film and television production rebound”? Is it accurate to say – as the same publication stated just a month previous – that “U.S. film and television production in Canada rebounded in 2025 as the local industry finally put the devastating impact of the Hollywood’s year of strikes in 2023 in the rearview mirror”? Or is reality closer to the anecdotal stories that populate the comment sections of these and similar article? “2026 is slow in Van,” says one. “Those are the facts.” Says another: “Unfortunately Canadian actors are being left out of this equation in our own town. It’s frustrating. The talent in Vancouver specifically is obscene.”Beyond the anecdotes and comments, there are these other alarming trends: a collapse in production volume, the disruption caused by AI, and a volatile shift in viewing habits. Is this – as one Redditor in a Vancouver filmmaking sub so stated – the worst time in the industry since the 1950s? Or is this a time of rebound, of transformation, with blue skies and clearer sailing on the horizon?In this episode, Sabrina Rani-Kiperchuk Furminger explores these questions with longtime “friend of the pod” Omari Newton. Omari is an award-winning actor, writer, director, producer, TedX speaker, and head of department for the faculty of acting for film and television at Vancouver Film School. Omari is both an industry veteran and an educator who helps people who want to work in our industry obtain the tools they need to navigate it. Omari joins Sabrina to make sense of what is actually happening in our industry right now – and what might be waiting for us just over the horizon.YVR Screen Scene is a division of Fish Flight Entertainment.

Bethany Brown starred in one of the most highly anticipated features at the 2026 Vancouver International Film Festival: Gloria Mercer’s queer erotic crime thriller, A Safe Distance, which also stars “friend of the pod” Cody Kearsley and the phenomenally talented Tandia Mercedes. Bethany was nominated for a 2026 UBCP/ACTRA Award for her work in A Safe Distance playing a cubicle worker turned sexually adventurous, gun-toting badass – and she was also nominated (in the voice category) for her work in a very different kind of project: Colin Matthews’ blistering short film, Never Use Alone, about an overdose intervention hotline operator played by another longtime “friend of the pod” Chelah Horsdal and the cascade of life-or-death calls she handles over one harrowing night. One of those calls is voiced by Bethany. The film has already won a slew of awards – including four Leos earlier this year – and it will soon have its premiere on Telus Optik TV. Last year, Bethany fans rejoiced when she joined Murder in a Small Town in the incredibly nuanced role of corporal Laila Jackson, a dedicated but deeply flawed officer from Minneapolis. She’s also had some great roles in The Good Doctor, The Astronauts, The 100, and The Flash, as well as festive fare and thrillers. Animation fans know and love Bethany for her work in projects with Lego, as well as The Treebees, Strawberry Shortcake, and Littlest Pet Shop. In this wide-ranging conversation with Sabrina Rani-Kiperchuk Furminger, Bethany talks A Safe Distance, Never Use Alone, Murder in a Small Town (spoiler: she loves working with “BFF of the pod” Amanda Tapping), the fun of the voice booth, and the remarkable journey through this industry that brought her to this moment.  CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains frank talk about addiction. Please don’t use drugs alone. In Canada, call the National Overdose Response Service (NORS) 24/7/365: 1 888 688 6677 & https://www.nors.ca/YVR Screen Scene is a division of Fish Flight Entertainment. 

Filmmaker Joella Cabalu returns to the YVR Screen Scene Podcast to discuss her highly anticipated “rom-com documentary” First Comes Loves: Nakabingwit. This National Film Board of Canada production has its world premiere at the 2026 Vancouver International Film Festival. The film follows three Filipina–white couples whose whirlwind love stories unfold alongside hard conversations about race, belonging, and what it takes to stay together. The Tagalog word “nakabingwit” refers to catching a big fish but colloquially, it means you caught a rich white husband. When talking to other Filipino Canadians, our valiant filmmaker discovered this word carries complex feelings of both pride and shame. Framing these stories is Joella’s own meta-narrative. Through a playful voice-over and fictionalized scenes, she revisits racially charged moments from her romantic life, which are evocatively depicted by actors Gabrielle Jacinto and David Lennon in the style of popular romantic films like When Harry Met Sally and Before Sunrise. In this fun and fascinating episode, Joella speaks with Sabrina (a biracial women who is in a interracial marriage with a biracial man) about the joys and challenges of interracial relationships, the intergenerational healing that comes from having tough conversations, why she hired an actress to play her in this film, and what’s a rom-com documentary, anyway? YVR Screen Scene is a division of Fish Flight Entertainment. 

Few forests on Earth are as creepy as those located in the Pacific Northwest, for a slew of reasons: they cover a lot of territory, they’re ancient, and their unwieldiness inspires discomfort, uncertainty, and acts of evil (just consider the disproportionately high number of serial killers whose stories intersect with our West Coast forests). Sawtooth Mountain builds on the inherent creepiness of the Pacific Northwest. Written and directed by Matthew Kincses, the locally shot horror feature transports its audiences to a remote cabin in a dense PNW forest, where two paranormal-obsessed brothers, desperate to boost business for their Bigfoot-themed rental cabin, stage a sighting during a guided tour. But when a group of college students arrive for a weekend getaway, the prank takes a dark and dangerous turn, one the brothers never planned for.Sawtooth Mountain is thrilling. It’s scary. It honours the legend of Bigfoot while also skewering the cash grabs that have sprung up around it. And: it’s the perfect film for spooky season. In this fun episode, Sabrina speaks with Sawtooth Mountain’s married producer+actor team Nhi Do and Gabriel Carter about Bigfoot, adventures in indie filmmaking, the anatomy of fear, and why forests are so damn scary (but not as scary as people).YVR Screen Scene is a division of Fish Flight Entertainment. 

The iconic actress-director Amanda Tapping (Stargate SG-1, Sanctuary) returns to the pod for a freewheeling 95-minute conversation about – well, anything and everything: the magic of Murder in a Small Town (for which she won a Leo Award earlier this year); the story behind the viral Stargate SG-1 blooper (“I may have just lost my job”); how she holds onto her humanity in a difficult industry; the motivation behind her upcoming mental health book; her thoughts on the long-promised Stargate reboot; and why she doesn’t think of herself as an actor anymore. YVR Screen Scene is a division of Fish Flight Entertainment. 

Filmmaker Karen Lam is a bundle of delicious incongruities in human form. On one hand, Karen is a master of highly stylised horror. Films like The Curse of Willow Song, Evangeline, and Mrs. Chang’s Perfect Teeth are terrifying and thoughtful, gruesome and evocative – and you wouldn’t be faulted for thinking that the writer-director behind these films is a spooky word-slinger. But on the other hand, Karen is whimsical. She loves knitting and sewing, cats and Muppets, and does Manitoba proud with everything she does. She’s the least Karen Karen you’ll ever meet – and her latest film Armageddon Road might be the most unapologetically Karen Lam film she’s ever made. Armageddon Road is a darkly comic supernatural road trip set in 1976 Las Vegas where ambition, myth, and apocalypse collide. Steve, an ex-con with big dreams of building a theme-park empire from a desert parking lot, takes a simple job: driving Delilah, a mob boss’s girlfriend, through the Vegas night. But after a party spirals into chaos, Delilah dies—only to return possessed by one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. What follows is a delirious descent into prophecy and paranoia as Delilah—now something far older and far less human—commands Steve toward a predetermined rendezvous that will trigger the end of days. In other words: Armageddon Road is a helluva lot of psychedelic fun, which is appropriate, because so is Karen. Armageddon Road had its official Canadian premiere on August 5, and begins its cross-country tour in Toronto on September 3 – and it’s got some other screenings in other countries, too. Karen Lam joins Sabrina in the YVR Screen Scene Podcast studio to talk 1970s nostalgia, why Gen X reigns as the survivor generation, the giddy glee she experienced working with miniatures, and what she and her team found in Nevada when they went in search of that distinctive neon-drenched Vegas vibe. YVR Screen Scene is a division of Fish Flight Entertainment. 

Daniel Bacon has amassed a long list of credits: more than 150 credits in film and television and more than 20 in the theatre. He played Bonecruncher, one of the man-eating giants, in The BFG – which was directed by an up-and-coming indie director – maybe you’ve heard of him – Steven Spielberg. He appeared in The Smashing Machine and Secrets of a Marine’s Life. He’s guest starred on shows like The Irrational, Motherland Fort Salem, Limetown, and The Good Doctor. He played in all three seasons of Paranormal Solutions Inc., including an episode where his character – an injured member of the PSI team – is injured and nursed back to health by Sasquatch, played with the gentle touch of a Wookiee on Life Day by Dave Collette. He’s appeared in dozens of Hallmark Movies, and was mayor in at least eight of them. And all this, after getting his start in a boy band and touring malls across Canada (like contemporaries Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, and Robin Sparkles). All that is to say that Daniel has a lot of experience in the entertainment biz, and a lot of knowledge to share. On Wednesday, August 12, he’ll teach his very popular online workshop called “Own Your Audition” for The Drama Class, which you might remember is run by friends of the pod Cat Lough Haggquist and Bronwen Smith. Daniel’s class helps actors develop a process and a confidence in how to make choices that help your audition stand out – which, in this new era of self tapes, is especially important.In this fascinating and contemplative episode, Daniel talks about his boy band era, his time with Sasquatch, and how actors can make an impact with their self-tapes, and also shares his still-unfolding adoption story (which should be a movie all on its own). YVR Screen Scene is a division of Fish Flight Entertainment. 

Philip Granger returns to the #YVRScreenScenePodcast to discuss Backrooms, the feature-length horror film that enjoyed the biggest global opening weekend in A24’s history. Based on Internet lore, Backrooms takes place beyond a hidden doorway discovered in the basement wall of a failing furniture store, in an endless, unsettling dimension populated by office corridors, warped furniture, and echoes of reality. The film is a phenomenal depiction of liminal space, and conveys the thrill and the horror of places in transition. And the fact that the film is set during an especially liminal year – 1989, when the analog world would soon be replaced by a rapidly globalized digital one – and that we in the audience exist at yet another liminal threshold (post-pandemic and hurtling towards a world where AI will exercise even more sway over our lives) makes Backrooms even more thrilling and horrifying. Phil appears in a memorable role as the Meterman, a grounded character who, in Phil’s honest and compassionate hands, has garnered fans and inspired artwork around the world. In this fascinating and far-reaching conversation, Phil discusses his journey to and through Backrooms, including working with the exceptionally talented 20-year-old director Kane Parsons. Phil – who is head of the acting faculty at New Image College –also contemplates the changes sweeping the film and television industry, and offers some advice for actors who want to get unstuck. Also: honesty in acting; the importance of enduring friendships; the kids are actually alright; the unexpected lessons of the pandemic.YVR Screen Scene is a division of Fish Flight Entertainment. 

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 follows in her big brother’s footsteps pursuing a career in the trades. Jennifer shines as Chelsea, an ambitious young executive from head office who arrived in the first season and worked damn hard to become an essential part of the family. The third season premiered in early spring and in the season finale, Chelsea and Conch Industries as a whole are (no spoilers!) poised for real change.The Trades airs on Crave and is currently in the running for a whopping eight trophies at this week’s Canadian Screen Awards. On the eve of the CSAs, Jennifer (who was recently nominated for a Leo Award for her work as Chelsea) joins us to reflect on her adventures in television comedy, how her adventures in Chelsea’s shoes have impacted her adventures through this exceptionally fucked up world, and her adventures singing “Born to Be Wild” in a very special third season episode.Episode sponsor: Fish Flight Entertainment