A Year in Film: A Hollywood Suite Podcast

Guest Rachael Nisbet joins Becky and Cam to discuss the Italian horror genre giallo and examine the films The Pyjama Case Girl (AKA La Ragazza dal Pigiama Giallo) and The Psychic (AKA Sette Note in Nero). Rachael Nisbet is an Edinburgh-based writer specialising in Italian genre cinema, with a slant towards style and gialli. She maintains the Hypnotic Crescendos blog and is the co-host of the Fragments of Fear podcast, a show dedicated to the appreciation and discussion of the lesser-known gialli.

Becky and Alicia are joined by Emily Gagne to discuss two women-directed films that handle coming of age in tumultuous times with sensitivity and realism: French film Peppermint Soda (AKA Diabolo Menthe) and the indie Between the Lines. Emily is a film and TV creative who co-hosts We Really Like Her!, a screening series celebrating women in film at Toronto's Revue Cinema. She has written pop culture criticism for TV Guide Canada, Yahoo, The Mary Sue, Hello Giggles, and Dread Central. Find her on Instagram at @ladygagagne or @finalgirlfashion.

Anthony Oliveira joins Alicia and Becky to grapple with a pair of polarizing pictures: Herbert Ross' ballet drama The Turning Point and Martin Scorsese's period musical New York, New York. Anthony Oliveira is a National Magazine and GLAAD award-winning author, pop culture critic, and PhD living in Toronto. He is the film programmer for the Revue Cinema's DUMPSTER RACCOON CINEMA programme, and the host of the podcast THE DEVIL'S PARTY, examining Christian poetry through a queer readership lens. His first novel, Dayspring, is forthcoming from Strange Light Press in 2023.

Season 5 kicks off with a BANG as Brendan Ross joins Becky and Cam to investigate the wreckage of a pair of 70s disaster flicks: Airport '77 (directed by Jerry Jameson) and Rollercoaster (directed by James Goldstone). Brendan Ross is a Toronto-based film programmer, currently acting as host and curator of the Neon Dreams Cinema Club film series which he founded in 2015. He has programmed for various venues including The Revue Cinema, The Royal Cinema, and TIFF Cinematheque, and is an occasional podcast guest, content creator, and former film distribution guru. Learn more about Neon Dreams by visiting them on Instagram @neondreamscinema.

Take a sneak peek at Season 5 of Hollywood Suite's A Year in Film podcast, which will cover iconic films from 1977, 1988, 1991 and 2002. Catch new episodes every other week starting April 11, 2023, and look out for new episodes of the A Year in Film TV series coming in May 2023, exclusively on Hollywood Suite.

On the Season 4 finale, Becky, Cam and Alicia join forces again to tackle two polarizing returns to popular franchises: 2010's Predators (directed by Nimród Antal) and Tron: Legacy (directed by Joseph Kosinski).

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.