So Here's What Happened

In an almost chilling and unnerving serendipitous coincidence, Frimas the new short film by writer and director Marianne Farley was released for festival audiences, right at the time politicians in Texas passed a bill banning abortions past 6 weeks. Set in Montreal, Canada in the near future, Cara (Karine Gonthier-Hyndman) is a woman who has no choice but to make the extremely dangerous and heartbreaking choice of having an illegal abortion, after the medical procedure has been re-criminalized in the country. In the back of a meat truck, Cara's life forever changes as she comes face-to-face with the stark and grim reality of just how dangerous the abortion ban is. Surrounded by the hanging carcasses of pigs, she's left no choice but to put her trust in Dr. Hubert (Chantal Baril) a complete stranger, whose own fear of being caught and arrested causes friction during their interactions.Though set in Canada, the situation is one that too many women around the world are placed in daily as abortion is either still illegal, or allowed under very specific circumstances deemed appropriate by politicians who know nothing about the women's whose lives they want to control. In our discussion, Marianne and I spoke about the ways society continues to place pressure on women to conform to conservative and cruel ideals, the struggle for bodily autonomy, and women's reproductive rights all around the world.To learn more about FRIMAS, and Marianne's work visit MarianneFarley.comMarianne Farley is a director/screenwriter, producer, and actress from Montreal, Canada. Her second critically acclaimed short film MARGUERITE won over forty awards around the globe and earned an Academy Award® nomination for Best Live Action Short Film in 2019. Marianne is in the post production phase of her first feature film NORTH OF ALBANY (co-written with Claude Brie). Through her production company SLYKID & SKYKID she is also developing the feature films LA FAUCHE (written by Camille Trudel) and À DEMI- SOUPIR (co-written with Claude Brie).

Snakehead is the crime saga the debut feature film of writer and director by Evan Jackson Leong is as much about the gritty underworld of human trafficking, as it is about the emotional toll being an immigrant takes on the psyche. Through his main female characters Sister Tse (Shuya Chang) and Dai Mah (Jade Wu) audiences see the generational gap of the new and old.Desperate to find and reconnect with her daughter after eight years of separation, Sister Tse puts her life in the hands of Snakeheads - Chinese smugglers to traffic illegal immigrants - to the cost of $57,000. Refusing to repay the debt through sex work, Sister Tse works to get in good with the head of the criminal enterprise, Dai Mah , and earn her way out by using her street smarts, keen observational skills and will. As Sister Tse grows closer to Dai Mah she begins to consider whether the woman who has the power to get her killed is worth trusting, and Dai Mah learns that the way she thinks the way the world works, isn't necessarily true. As these two women get into a power struggle, Dia Mah's son Rambo (Sung Kang) begins to make his own moves, that could put everyone and everything in danger with their community and the law.In her conversation with Chang and Wu for Carolyn Talks..., they speak about playing their multi-dimensional characters who do what they can to stay on top in a world dominated by men. They also spoke about how being Women of Color and immigrants informed their performances, and helped them to relate to their characters, and working in the North American film industry.Snakehead released into theatres, on Digital and On Demand October 29, 2021.

Directed by Jesse. V. Johnson, and written by Katherine Lee McEwan and Roman Serir, Hell Hath No Fury, is a World War II action about the strength and determination of Marie DuJardin (Nina Bergman) to bring some justice for her family, when she's given the ultimatum of helping a small band of U.S. soldier find a hidden cache of gold, or be killed.In Hell Hath No Fury, Nina Bergman plays Marie DuJardin a real woman who who single-handedly stood against German forces, the French resistance, and a band of US infantrymen after she was branded a traitor by her countrymen. While the men around her seek to find treasure as their prize for taking part in a war they're tired of fighting, Marie is trying to find a way to bring peace and dignity to the memory of those who were heinously killed for simply being Jews.For this episode of Carolyn Talks...she speaks with Jesse about creating an action film where the protagonist, a woman is unable to use her physical strength to fight against her captors, and has to rely on her wits and their desperation to outsmart them, and how Nina does this through her impressive performance. Carolyn and Jesse also get into how war makes monsters out of men, and Jesse's philosophies as a director who give his actors the space to craft their character's stories.

In this new episode of So Here's What Happened! Carolyn and LaNeysha chat with comics writer and creator Stephanie Williams about her latest work, the highly anticipated story of Nubia and the Amazons, for DC Comics. The ladies chat about how Stephanie, co-writer Vita Ayala and their creative team use the story to speak to representation and issues affecting women, as well as the history of Nubia and Themyscria in issue 1 of this new chapter in DC canon.

September Episode of So Here’s What Happened! picks up withLaNeysha andCarolyndiscussing andreview everything theywatched and readduring the month. The September episode of the podcast features includeSquid Game, Midnight Mass, Yumi's Cells,andDetention.Featured series for this episode:Squid Game,Midnight Mass,TheTension, andYumi's CellsSquid Gameis aSouth Koreansurvival dramaseries streaming onNetflix. Written and directed byHwang Dong-hyuk, it starsLee Jung-jae,Park Hae-soo,Wi Ha-joon,Jung Ho-yeon,O Yeong-su,Heo Sung-tae,Anupam Tripathi, andKim Joo-ryoung.The series centers on a competition in which 456 players, all of them come from different walks of life, but the one thing they have in common is being deep debt. Desperate to win a ginormous cash prize of ₩45.6 billion (equivalent to $38.5 million USD), the contestants must play a series of children's games with deadly consequences if they lose.Midnight Massis an American supernaturalhorror limited seriesstreaming exclusively on Netflix. The series is created and directed by Mike Flanagan and starring Zach Gilford, Kate Siegel, Hamish Linklater, Samantha Sloyan, Rahul Kohli and Henry Thomas. The series is set on an isolated island whose inhabitants experience a series of supernatural events after the arrival of a mysterious and charismatic priest.Yumi's Cellsis a live action adaptation of the hit Webtoon series of the same name. The series follows Yu-Mi(played byKim Go-Eun) an ordinary single working woman. On the outside, Yu-Mi is not the best at expressing her feelings. Meanwhile on the inside the cells in Yu-Mi's brain represent different emotions like love, violence, rationality, good, and bad. These tiny cells in her brain work actively for her. They deal with her emotions and troubles. Through her romantic and work relationships, she grows as a person and finds happiness.Detentionis a Taiwanese supernatural horror drama streaming series, created for Netflix in collaboration with Public Television Service. The seriesis based on the originalvideo game of the same name developed by Red Candle Games. Thegame and series alike takes place during a period of martial law known as the White Terror in Taiwan.Detentionintertwines the suffocating political situations under martial law and heart-stopping legends of local deities, revealing a labyrinth of unspeakable oppression.The featured film on this month's episode is:Shang-ChiShang-Chiand the Legend of the Ten Ringsis a 2021 superhero film, based on the Marvel Comics character of thesame name.Shang-Chiis thesixth installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe'sPhase Four.The film is directed and co-written by Destin Daniel Cretton and stars Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, Awkwafina as Katy Chen, Meng'er Zhang as Xu Xialing, Fala Chen as Ying Li, Florian Munteanu as Razor Fist, Benedict Wong as Wong, Yuen Wah as Guang Bo, with Michelle Yeoh as Ying Nan. The film follows Shang-Chi as heconfronts the pasthe had left behind when he is drawn into conflict with the mysterious Ten Rings organization.

Screening at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, Snakehead the crime saga the debut feature film of writer and director by Evan Jackson Leong is as much about the gritty underworld of human trafficking, as it is about the emotional toll being an immigrant takes on the psyche. Through his main female characters Sister Tse (Shuya Chang) and Dai Mah (Jade Wu) audiences see the generational gap of the new and old.Desperate to find and reconnect with her daughter after eight years of separation, Sister Tse puts her life in the hands of Snakeheads - Chinese smugglers to traffic illegal immigrants - to the cost of $57,000. Refusing to repay the debt through sex work, Sister Tse works to get in good with the head of the criminal enterprise, Dai Mah, and earn her way out by using her street smarts, keen observational skills and will. As Sister Tse grows closer to Dai Mah she begins to consider whether the woman who has the power to get her killed is worth trusting, and Dai Mah learns that the way she thinks the way the world works, isn't necessarily true. As these two women get into a power struggle, Dia Mah's son Rambo (Sung Kang) begins to make his own moves, that could put everyone and everything in danger with their community and the law.In my conversation with Leong for Carolyn Talks..., we spoke about these two amazingly complex and relatable female characters played brilliantly by Chang and Mah. Both of their characters posses a ton of personal strength, but display moments of vulnerability and self-awareness that make them admirable and relatable. We discussed the importance of telling different immigrant stories, his use of imagery and the elements to give insight into his characters' emotions and experiences, as with those of Rambo.Snakehead releases into theatres, on Digital and On Demand October 29, 2021.