For filmmakers, both across Canada and abroad, it really doesn’t get much better than having your creative work premiere at Hot Docs.

The 31st edition of the renowned Toronto Canadian International Documentary Festival will be held April 25 to May 5, but for Peterborough filmmaker Rob Viscardis, two dates hold the most significance.

On Thursday, May 2nd at the Hoc Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, his film My Dad’s Tapes will have its world premiere. That 2 p.m. screening will be followed the next day — Friday, May 3rd — with a 2 p.m. showing at TIFF Lightbox 2.

“It has been a dream for a while,” says Viscardis of the screening of his work at Hot Docs that, since 1993, has advanced and celebrated the art of documentary while creating production opportunities for filmmakers.

“It feels really good, especially after how long I worked on the film. It’s definitely been a labour of love. To get that validation is worth it, in the sense that it will now hopefully reach more audiences than it would have if it didn’t get into Hot Docs.”

“We spend all this time making films. It can take years and years, and then you never know how many people are going to see it. Is it going to be a dozen, or is it going to be 100 or more? There is now the potential that the film could have a life (after Hot Docs) and be seen by many more people. That’s pretty exciting.”

VIDEO: “My Dad’s Tapes” trailer

Filmed mostly in Courtice just east of Oshawa, My Dad’s Tapes is an 82-minute film that chronicles director Kurtis Watson’s discovery of a trove of home videos recorded by his father Leonard during the time prior to his August 9, 2009 suicide, and Watson’s subsequent painstaking search for some answers in connection with his father taking his own life.

In doing so, Watson not only draws from the tapes’ recorded moments but also relies on testimonials from family members and others connected to the tragedy on some level.

Viscardis came to be involved as the film’s writer, producer, and editor after Watson first mentioned the storyline to him back in 2019.

“It was right around the time when his mom had handed him a thumb drive with all the tapes on it,” recalls Viscardis of his initial introduction to the idea. “He mentioned that he was thinking about making a film about him trying to find out more about his dad and why he committed suicide. Nobody had any idea Kurtis was struggling with it. He’s a super happy guy but, yeah, he was thinking about it.”

“It kind of sparked a bit of interest in me. I thought there was a story there. It was early 2020, right before the pandemic, that we decided to actually start developing it together. I worked on a few projects during lockdown and this was one of them.”

Through his production company Outsideinside, Viscardis says ideas and topics for documentaries regularly cross his desk, making it “difficult to decide what to commit to.” That said, he says the timing of Watson’s approach was a key factor in getting things started.

“With the pandemic and where I was at the time, I was looking for things to do and I didn’t have any ideas of my own (for a film),” he says. “It wasn’t necessarily the personal element of the story that attracted me, but that’s something I know I can do because I’ve done it a lot in the past. I worked with Lester Alfonso on his film Birthmark, which is a very personal journey story, and Megan Murphy on her film Murphy’s Law, which is another one.”

“So it’s definitely a type of story that I’m used to telling and maybe saw that in this one. There was an opportunity for some intriguing investigating of his dad and these tapes, but also that it would turn into this big cathartic journey for him (Watson) and his family.”

While wary of giving away too much about the film, Viscardis says it’s “conclusive personally” for Watson, adding “It’s beneficial for him to have opened up on this story together with his family — to get it out and talk about it, regardless of what he found. But sometimes, the things that we don’t find out end up telling us something on their own.”

Viscardis, who will attend both Hot Docs screenings with Watson and will host post-screening question-and-answer sessions, says it’s his hope that audiences will relate to the themes in My Dad’s Tapes.

“It’s about family relations, which is such a common thing for everybody. We all have these interpersonal relationships with our families. Regardless of the themes around suicide, a lot of this film is about connection — caring for each other and being there and checking in and what not. In a broader way, the film raises awareness of mental health issues which, as a filmmaker, is a goal of mine.”

Despite having done what he does for a long time, Viscardis admits he’ll have some butterflies at the premiere screenings.

“It’s a super nerve-wracking thing and it’s super exciting as well,” he says of the debut of any of his films. “It’s this weird dichotomy for me. I get really nervous and clammy, and I’m sweating and I want to sit in the back (of the theatre) or just leave, but I want to be right there and be able to see how everyone’s reacting.”

Meanwhile, for as much success as he’s had as a filmmaker — a journey that began in earnest in 2012 when he worked as an editor for a television series — Viscardis says learning and becoming better at his craft is an ongoing process that continues to this day.

“It’s still a big mystery as to how to make this work as a career but, yeah, I’ve come a long way,” Viscardis says. “Technically, it does get easier, and maybe it’s just faster now. I still get the same excitement out of it as I did at the beginning, but now I’m a little more focused on what I want to do and on what I’m good at.”

“I’m feeling optimistic about where I’m at and where my company is at, specifically for documentaries. I feel really good about where that’s going and pursuing things with more focus.”

Beyond Hot Docs, Viscardis hopes to hear from one or more of the numerous film festivals he’s applied to for acceptance of My Dad’s Tapes for screening. That outreach includes ReFrame, Peterborough’s annual film festival that will be held early in 2025.

As for future projects, Viscardis is launching one called “A New Story” on Wednesday, May 1st, which combines documentary storytelling with active advocacy to help transform public perceptions of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

At the project’s heart are three documentaries: Kirby’s House (which screened at this year’s ReFrame Film Festival), Advantage Gained, and Power Of The Walk. Following A New Story’s launch, the website anewstory.ca will go live, where everyone is invited to engage with its content as well as join a conversation around the themes of inclusion, respect, and empowerment.

For more information about Viscardis and his work, visit outsideinside.tv. For more information about this year’s Hot Docs Festival, including the full schedule and ticket details, visit www.hotdocs.ca.

Globus Theatre in Bobcaygeon is kicking off its 2024 season with a special dinner theatre show on Mother’s Day weekend featuring actor, singer, and storyteller Mark Whelan.

Running for three performances from May 10 to 12, including a matinee show on Mother’s Day, An Evening with Mark Whelan: Raised on Songs and Stories is an intimate cabaret performance where Whalen — through personal story, music, and song — takes the audience on a colourful journey through his formative years as a boy in Dublin, Ireland.

Originally from Dublin and a graduate of the Irish College of Music, Whelan is an accomplished film, television, and stage actor. Although perhaps most recognizable to the general public for his role as the narrator in commercials for Sleeman Breweries a decade ago, he has appeared on the screen in Republic of Doyle, Murdoch Mysteries, The Divide, Sunday at Tiffany’s, Pompeii, and more.

As well as being a founding member of The Irish Stage Company, Whelan has also written and produced a one-man live performance production called Is This Love that examines the power and effect of love through the spoken word and song (he is a trained tenor). A Globus audience favourite, his previous appearances at the Lakeview Arts Barn include Stones in his Pockets, Sunshine Express, and last year’s Tip of the Iceberg.

An Evening with Mark Whelan: Raised on Songs and Stories takes place at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 10th and Saturday, May 11th with a noon matinee on Sunday, May 12th (Mother’s Day). The $100 ticket price (plus tax and fee) include dinner — lunch on Sunday — and the show.

Tickets are available online at globustheatre.com or by calling the box office at 705-738-2037 (toll free at 1-800-304-7897).

VIDEO: “Pirates” with Mark Whelan

Mark Whelan’s show is one of 13 productions at Globus Theatre this season, including 10 mainstage shows as well as two more special events.

“Thirteen shows is a lot certainly, but there isn’t a single one I’d want to take out of the mix — they are each so different from each other and unique in their own way,” says Globus Theatre’s artistic director Sarah Quick. “Combined, they form a really great eights months of theatre with some of the best performers on stage today.”

The first mainstage show of the season is the world premiere of The Dating Game, a romantic comedy by award-winning playwright Peter Quilter running from May 29 to June 8. Then, from June 14 to 16, one of Canada’s most popular sports podcasts will come to the Globus stage with This Day in Sports by Sandy Jobin-Bevans, Mike Shara, and Matt Kippen.

From July 3 to 13, Globus presents Kristen Da Silva’s Where You Are, a hilarious and poignant comedy about love and family, followed by the concert Bond, James Bond: The Songs of 007 by Rebecca Perry from July 17 to 21.

Globus Theatre’s popular interactive murder mystery dinner experiences return from July 24 to August 3 with Who Killed The King, about a murder at the Elvis Festival. A season at Globus would not be complete without a play from Canada’s most-produced playwright, and Norm Foster’s golf comedy The Ladies Foursome will run from August 14 to 24.

Coinciding with the Ontario Plowmen’s Association’s International Plowing Match being held in the Kawartha Lakes this year, Globus is presenting Buying the Farm, a comedy by Shelley Hoffman and Stephen Sparks, from September 25 to October 5. Leisa Way, another Globus mainstay, returns to the Lakeview Arts Barn from October 15 to 19 to present the music of legendary singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot in Early Morning Rain.

From November 13 to 23, Globus will be presenting the second interactive murder mystery of the season with Murder at the Snowball Ball. Capping off the mainstage shows of the 2024 season will be Globus Theatre’s annual traditional British panto, with Sarah Quick’s Aladdin running from December 4 to 15.

Other special events in 2024 include the annual hit comedy Girls Nite Out on August 9 and 10 and a reading of Poster Boy, a new play by Norfok County’s Chris Rait, Jeannine Bouw, and Mark Williams — whose first play, the musical comedy Tip of the Iceberg, ran at Globus last August — on September 14.

Along with tickets to individual shows, Globus Theatre also offers subscription packages, ranging from the full season (all 10 mainstage shows and three special events), all 10 mainstage shows, or a selection of four, five, or six shows. To purchase subscription packages, call the box office at 705-738-2037 (toll free at 1-800-304-7897).

“If this is your first year joining us, talk to our lovely box office people and they will guide you in the right direction as to which shows would be good for you,” Quick says.

When the Northern Light Writers first formed 25 years ago, all creative work was done with pen and paper. But while many of their individual processes now include keyboards and wi-fi, the group remains the same in their unwavering commitment to their art and to each other.

The Bancroft-based writers’ group is now celebrating their 25th anniversary with the release of their latest collection, The Art of Being Short: A Pocketful of Stories. Together, the group will be celebrating the book’s release with a launch, book sale, and author reading at 7 p.m. on Friday (April 26) at Tweed and Company Theatre’s Bancroft Village Playhouse.

With refreshments and appetizers available, the free-admission event will be extra special as two of the featured writers are also launching their own independent books: Being by Gail Manion and Unfiltered by Robert Pearson (aka krys bradley).

“Those who get there early can get a glass of wine and sit up in the theatre and then afterwards come down and meet the authors — and hopefully we get some people to buy books, too,” says Pearson, who is also a visual artist and did the cover design of the new anthology. “This is the biggest launch we’ve done yet.”

Pearson has been a member in the group since it formed in 1998, alongside Doris Douglas and leader and instructor John Keith. Other members have come and gone from the group over time, with Gail Manion, Maureen O’Hara, Sue Malloy, Beth Weaver, and Susie Hedley currently rounding out the writers’ circle.

With contributions from seven of the writers in the Northern Light Writers group, The Art of Being Short: A Pocketful of Stories includes more than 50 short stories and flash fiction stories ranging in themes and genres from historical fiction to humour and science fiction.

“You have seven different people and seven different mindsets — some dark, some hilarious,” says Pearson. “It’s full of weird and wonderful stuff and is just all over the place. Think of (Jackson) Pollock, the artist who threw paint against the canvas. That’s what we have here.”

Though the book itself is not quite as pocket-size as its title suggests, each of the stories included in the anthology are intrinsically short in length and made to be read while waiting in line, sitting in a café, or taking a short mid-day break.

“The idea is trying to write stories that can be written in two or three pages,” says Pearson. “The art of being short is being able to produce 50-some odd stories that you can pick up, read, and set down and think ‘Oh, that was cool. I like those two stories. I wonder what I’ll pick up tomorrow.”

After starting out as a creative writing class led by Keith at Loyalist College, the Northern Light Writers have grown into much more over the past 25 years. When there wasn’t enough enrolment for the class to continue, the group got together on their own, holding meetings in the local library, the hospital, members’ homes, and virtually during the pandemic.

Now, 25 years later, Keith still sits in as the instructor, guiding the others on tools for writing prose and a range of poetic forms including haikus, sonnets, and villanelles. The group then shares their pieces, critiquing and editing each other’s for publication.

“John always comes with an agenda and there’s always homework,” says Pearson. “Without John, there is no Northern Light Writers.”

While Pearson and the group have certainly learned from Keith and one another, most of all, the writing group is meant to encourage each individual to stay dedicated to their art.

“The whole idea is if you want to be a writer, you write every day,” Pearson says. “If you look at professional writers, that’s their job. That’s what they do for a living and that’s how they come up with these wonderful and prolific stories.”

Throughout its 25 years, the group has previously published three other collections of work: Selected Poems and Prose (2001), Quill and Grill: The Writer’s Cookbook (2015), and Black and White: Poems and Reflections (2017).

Some of the writers have also published independently, including Manion who will be reading from her memoir Being, and Pearson, who will read from his collection of poetry. Aptly named, Unfiltered is a curious collection of several dozen poems ranging from themes of war and motherhood to the human body and cigars.

“Whatever I decided to write, I wrote — that’s how I express myself,” says Pearson. “It’s a very personal thing, to write. You better be willing to let your heart onto the page. If you’re prepared to, as John says, dig as deep as you can and let it just come from the bowels, then you’d be surprised what comes out.”

Pearson is already eagerly preparing to read some of his poems and stories at the Bancroft Village Playhouse, recognizing that a stage performance of spoken word is something that he doesn’t get to do often.

“I won’t say poetry is a dying art, because there are all sorts of people out there that like poetry, but people are more in tune with streaming services and books and theatre,” he says.

“In the late 1800s, people would go to poetry readings and sit around in coffee shops and snap their fingers when someone was done their reading, and that’s not something we see a lot anymore.”

Fortunately, Pearson adds, Tweed and Company Theatre has always been supportive when it comes to showcasing and giving a space for all kinds of artists, no matter their art forms.

“Tweed has been absolutely outstanding allowing our group to use the theatre and supporting us all the way,” Pearson says. “They are amazing and they’re not just doing Valdy and things like (Becoming) The Beatles — by the way, everything (they do) is absolutely outstanding and totally professional — but they are also a part of the community and supporting local.”

For more information on the launch, visit www.villageplayhouse.ca. No tickets are needed to attend.

Following the April 26th book release, copies of The Art of Being Small: A Pocketful of Stories will also be available for purchase in Bancroft at Ashlie’s Books (65 Hastings St. N., 613-332-2946) and The Muse (23 Bridge St. W., 613-334-1573) or by emailing Pearson at krysbradley_13@icloud.com.

Trent Valley Archives Theatre has announced the full cast of its inaugural history play Tide of Hope, coming to downtown Peterborough’s Market Hall Performing Arts Centre on May 15 and 16.

Written by Peterborough playwright Ed Schroeter and directed by Gerry McBride, the play is a prequel to the immigration story of Peter Robinson, the 19th-century politician in Upper Canada who administered the passage and settlement of over 2,500 poor Catholic families from Ireland to what is now eastern Ontario.

Tide of Hope follows the fortunes and misfortunes of David Nagle, an Irish land agent and rent collector forced to flee to Upper Canada in 1825 when Irish rebels fighting against English tyranny brand him a traitor.

According to McBride, most of the cast and crew are experienced members of the Peterborough theatre scene.

The cast includes Lauren Murphy, Nathan Govier, June Govier, Brogan McKellar, Lucas Pronk, Carling Dulder, Drew Mills, and Elaine Day, along with newcomer Paul Baines.

Along with McBride, the crew includes stage manager Marilyn Robinson and musician Michael Ketemer.

Ketemer, a Peterborough multi-instrumentalist best known for his performances in the annual In From The Cold Christmas fundraising concert, will be providing live musical narration for the play using the tin whistle, concertina, and hammered dulcimer.

“This idea is a stroke of genius by our director,” says Schroeter in a media release. “We are lucky that such a celebrated and talented local musician as Michael has joined our team.”

As for the cast, Lauren Murphy and father and daughter Nathan and June Govier have previously performed in Trent Valley Archives’ cemetery pageants. Murphy plays the part of Mary, Nathan performs as Lord Kingston, and June — a Grade 7 student at Adam Scott Intermediate School — performs as Elizabeth.

Millbrook resident Brogan McKellar, a Grade 8 student at Crestwood Intermediate School, takes on the role of The Stage Manager. McKellar most recently appeared in last year’s remounting of Robert Winslow’s The Cavan Blazers at 4th Line Theatre in Millbrook.

The role of Peter Robinson is filled by Lucas Pronk, who will be familiar to local audiences for his 2019 and 2020 appearances at 4th Line Theatre. Pronk has also appeared in a CIBC commercial and the TV series Disasters at Sea (2018), My Paranormal Nightmare (2020), and The Haunted Museum (2021).

Carling Dulder, who plays Lady Mount Cashell (aka Margaret), has performed on stage at the John Candy Box Theatre at Second City Toronto, Blackfly Theatre (Too Many Cooks), and the University of Guelph (Swollen Tongues).

Drew Mills, who plays David Nagle, directed the St. James Players 2015 production of Pied Piper: The Musical and performed as The Scarecrow in the St. James Players 2016 production of The Wizard of Oz.

Another cast member who will be familiar to local audiences is Elaine Day, who plays the role of The Descendant.

Along with these experienced actors, Paul Baines will take to the stage for the first time as Patrick. While he is new to acting, he has experience with the performing arts. Coordinator of the Blue Communities project for the Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, Baines was the Canadian coordinator for the 2020 Being Salmon/Being Human Tour, a unique storytelling performance from Norway combining original music, traditional tales, poetry, and contemporary philosophy.

With rehearsals under way, both the cast and crew are preparing to present Trent Valley Archives Theatre’s inaugural production to Peterborough audiences, which includes two public performances and a school group performance.

“It’s always exciting to watch actors take characters from the page and make them their own throughout the rehearsal process,” McBride says.

Tickets for the two public performances of Tide of Hope at the Market Hall — at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 15th and Thursday, May 16th — are $40 for assigned cabaret table seating or $30 for regular assigned seating.

Tickets are available in person at the Market Hall box office (140 Charlotte St, Peterborough), by phone at 705-775-1503, or online at tickets.markethall.org/tide24. Suitable for audiences aged 12 and older, the play runs for around 95 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission.

Prior to the two public performances, there will be a performance of Tide of Hope for school groups at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, May 15th, at a subsidized rate of $10 per student. Teachers can book their classes by calling Mary Conchelos at 705-872-6557 or emailing her at trentvalleyarchivestheatre@gmail.com.

More information, including educational resources, is available at trentvalleyarchives.com/tvat/.

kawarthaNOW is proud to be a media sponsor for Tide of Hope.