A Year in Film: A Hollywood Suite Podcast

Podcaster Petula Neale teams up with Becky and Cam as they take on 2010's obsession with over-the-hill action flicks including The Expendables (directed by Sylvester Stallone) and Red (directed by Robert Schwentke). In the beforetime, Petula hosted her podcast at In a TIFF about films and the Toronto International Film Festival. Now she is the co-host for Back Issue Bloodbath, a podcast about comic books. You can enjoy those alone at home. 

Becky and Alicia invite Laura Desiree to the AYIF stage to discuss the silly, yet sultry Burlesque and Elektra Luxx. Raised on a healthy diet of classic hollywood cinema and her father’s room-sized vinyl collection, Laura Desiree has always had curiosity for all things sex and sensuality. While attending The New York Film Academy in 2008, she was seduced by nightclub culture and spent the next 5 years as a bar top Go-Go dancer and Burlesque Performer touring the USA, Canada and Europe. In 2013, Laura relocated to her home Toronto, Canada to create erotic art performances for the stage as the Creative Director at Toronto's Candyland. In 2016 Laura joined the web + TV series Naked News as their lead anchor, credited show writer and segment producer. Laura has produced a number of series for the network’s Love, Sex and Culture segments, including investigations into sexual behaviors, trends in sex and the pursuit of great sex. She has interviewed adult industry performers and leading medical experts around the world and covered events including the AVN Awards, Pornhub Awards, XBiz Awards and Toronto International Film Festival. Laura was one of the hosts and creators of the CAM4 podcast A Mouthful with Laura + Romi, found on all streaming platforms. Her current podcast Licked&Loaded features weekly episodes all in favor of prioritizing pleasure! Laura's latest YouTube series Red Umbrella Talk is a 5-part talk show filmed at New York’s Museum of Sex, that breaks down the misconceptions of Sex Work by presenting questions from the general public to actual industry service providers. Check out the full series on YouTube today!

Animation expert Luc Chamberland helps Becky and Alicia draw some conclusions about 2010 films The Illusionist (directed by Sylvain Chomet) and A Cat in Paris (directed by Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli). A multi-award-winning filmmaker, Luc Chamberland was born in St. Lambert, Montreal, and was raised on an intense diet of films, television and comic books. He studied Cinema at Concordia University. He has lived and worked, directing commercials, in Paris, London, Berlin, Munich, Budapest, and Rome. His animation credits include Asterix, Fievel Goes West, We’re Back, and Space Jam and he was the director of animation for the Dreamworks film Joseph: King of Dreams. Thanks to Seth's confidence, he directed the award-winning feature Seth’s Dominion. Meanwhile, he completed a Master’s in film at Raindance-Staffordshire University, UK. Now, back in lovely Montreal, this bon vivant filmmaker concocts many films projects, while living with his exquisite partner, Chantal, and their daughter, Lilith. 

Becky and supervising producer Emily Gagne are joined by Jordan Hayles as they get emotional about 2010's Boy (directed by Taika Waititi) and Submarine (directed by Richard Ayoade). Hailing from Scarborough, Ontario, Jordan Hayles is a television and film editor who has taken pride in his attention to detail which has lead to his ascension in his career. His diverse array of work has spanned from Lifestyle, Doc-Style, Sports, and Narrative, with his work appearing on networks such as VICE, NBC, HGTV, Food Network, CBC, CTV, and with the various teams owned by Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment (MLSE). He’s also an advocate for diversity, understanding that in his position there are not many who are fairly represented across the board, and it’s his mission to give back to others, and hopefully break in more talent through the doors as his career advances.

Becky, Cam and special guest Allison Dore kick off the 2010 series with two movies about, well, kicking ass: Kick-Ass and MacGruber. Allison is host of the entertainment-focused, daily talk radio show The Breakdown, on SiriusXM channel 167. In 2018, Allison founded Howl & Roar Records, a female-centric comedy record label with a mandate to focus 70% of their output on women in the industry. In the remaining 30% priority is given to men in marginalized communities.

Becky and supervising producer Emily Gagne welcome Tananarive Due aboard as they take a deep dive on two beloved sci-fi flicks from 1999: Galaxy Quest and Deep Blue Sea. Tananarive Due is an award-winning author who teaches Black Horror and Afrofuturism at UCLA. She is an executive producer on Shudder's groundbreaking documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror. She and her husband/collaborator, Steven Barnes, wrote "A Small Town" for Season 2 of Jordan Peele’s The Twilight Zone on Paramount Plus, and two segments of Shudder’s anthology film Horror Noire. A leading voice in Black speculative fiction for more than 20 years, Due has won an American Book Award, an NAACP Image Award, and a British Fantasy Award, and her writing has been included in best-of-the-year anthologies. Her books include Ghost Summer: Stories, My Soul to Keep, and The Good House. She and her late mother, civil rights activist Patricia Stephens Due, co-authored Freedom in the Family: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights. She and her husband live with their son, Jason.