From Samuel Leighton-Dore of SBS Pride:
Link: Australian actor JayR Tinaco’s role in ‘Another Life’ helped them come out as non-binary
“It was so important to the creator, Aaron Martin, that Zayn’s identity was not be a topic of conversation or a story arch. The show takes place 50-70 years in the future, so he just believed that, like any cis-gender person, the LGBTQ+ identities would be free to exist without question or a second thought.” Continue reading.Â
From Norman Wilner of Now:
Link: TV review: Netflix’s Another Life is a fun disaster-a-minute sci-fi series
Sometime in the not too distant future – at a point when we’ve achieved faster-than-light space travel, but also still have social media – an alien ship crashes to Earth and turns itself into a weird glittery formation, its origin and purpose a total mystery. Who sent it? What do they want? And who’s brave enough to find out? Continue reading.
From Heather M. of TV Goodness:
Link: Previewing Netflix’s Another Life
Netflix taps the science fiction well again when it drops the ten-episode first season of Another Life this Thursday. Headlined by Katee Sackhoff, who also produces, and starring a deliciously diverse cast, the series is both a deep dive into space and the humanity of people who leave their real lives behind to go there. Continue reading.Â
From Samantha Nelson of The Verge:
Link: Netflix’s Another Life starts as Arrival, then turns into Star Trek
Set in the relatively near future where humanity has developed spaceships that can travel faster than light, and technology that puts people in stasis for long journeys, the story of the 10-episode first season (four episodes were provided for previews) largely follows Niko Breckinridge (Katee Sackhoff), a veteran astronaut who was involved in a disastrous mission to Saturn nine years before that left half the crew dead. Continue reading.
From Tia Gooden of Den of Geek:
Link: Another Life Review
Galactica nostalgia may be enough to intrigue some sci-fi lovers’ but, if the first two episodes are any indication, the premise won’t do much to retain their attention. Continue reading.
From Kevin Yeoman of Screen Rant:
Link: Link: Another Life Review: Netflix Offers Up A Dissatisfying & Derivative Sci-Fi Thriller
Netflix’s new sci-fi thriller Another Life has a great hook: It brings Katee Sackhoff back to outer space on a television series for the first time since her run as Starbuck ended on Battlestar Galactica. Continue reading.Â
From Adam Rosenberg of Mashable:
Link: Another Life is an unhinged ‘so bad it’s good’ Netflix sci-fi series
Space is where things get really wild, though. The young crew faces a never-ending string of disasters as they journey toward their destination, and yet in the midst of all the horror they still make time for petty squabbling and lustful pursuits. Continue reading.Â
From Remus Noronha of Mea Worldwide:
Link: Netflix’s ‘Another Life’ star Elizabeth Faith Ludlow shares how Katee Sackhoff helped her get through a ‘panic moment’ during the shoot
“Katee was right there and she has done it before so she came over to me and was talking me through it and letting me know everyone’s going to be right here if you need anything.” Continue reading.Â
From Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter:
Link: Another Life review
The best thing actors have going for them when they’re in something that is, let’s just say, less than stellar, is their own history. If they’ve done good work, you know they can act. Give them good words and the best actors will make them great. Continue reading.
From Daniel D’Addario of Variety:
Link: Another Life Review: Katee Sackhoff stars in Netflix show
Netflix’s new series “Another Life†brings Katee Sackhoff back into space, a decade after the conclusion of “Battlestar Galactica,†the beloved series on which she starred. Continue reading.Â
From Nathan Smith of Daily Grindhouse:
Link: Forget about American Horror Story, try Netflix’s Slasher instead
For those of you who favor more deliberate, compact and intimate storytelling complete with flawed characters that deeply resonate, when they’re not being filleted in broadcast unfriendly scenes of slaying, then check out Netflix’s (formerly Chiller’s) SLASHER created by DEGRASSI: THE NEXT GENERATION alum Aaron Martin. Continue reading.
When I last spoke to Paula Brancati, it was at the end of a bug-infested day near Orangeville, Ont., on the set of Slasher: Guilty Party, where she played a character named Dawn.
Now Brancati is back—along with several of her Guilty Party co-stars—in Slasher: Solstice, the third season in the franchise created by Aaron Martin. Slasher: Solstice keeps the franchise’s cast intact by reuniting several actors from past seasons in Dean McDermott, Joanna Vannicola, Brancati, Erin Karpluk, Jim Watson, Jefferson Brown and Paulino Nunes with new faces in Baraka Rahmani, Lisa Berry, Mercedes Morris and Salvatore Antonio.
And, like the franchise, Solstice meets up with these characters as awful things happen in present-day to match a truly terrible occurrence in the past. We spoke to Brancati about playing Violet.
It’s exciting times for everybody, thanks to Netflix. The reach for a Canadian series like Slasher is worldwide instantly.
Paula Brancati: It’s really exciting, I think, especially with something like Slasher where it’s an anthology, and so each season really has its own identity, and they feel like they can have their very unique stamp on them, each shot by a different director. I feel like we’re doing something new every year with the show. I’m overwhelmed in the best way with how big the reach is, and I always forget how many people can actually access the show and watch it in perpetuity, all over the world. It’s mind-blowing, and the response has been super-positive.
What I like about the Slasher franchise and what Aaron started is that, yes, it’s a horror anthology. Yes, there are gory deaths, but the deaths mean something, and there’s emotion attached to these characters.
PB: I completely agree with you. I think the reason I was so delighted when Aaron came to me with this in Season 2 with that character was that I’d never worked in horror before. I think I had certain ideas about what the genre was like. I was pretty thrilled to see that in Season 2, and then in Season 3 as well, that the characters don’t fulfil these horror movie tropes in the same way.
I would be delighted to watch a show with any one of these characters leading it. To get to have so many complex characters, to see such an incredible, diverse cast that looks like the city we’re actually in, that has female characters that are so complicated and so exciting, I think that that’s what the show does really well, and then horror is just another element to it. It makes me very proud to be a part of this particular horror franchise.
Violet thinks she’s helping. She’s a lonely character, and there’s definitely some sadness to her because the only real connection that she feels is with this anonymous group of people that watch her videos.
PB: I ingested a lot of YouTuber footage before bed, and I would leave the Kardashians on in the background because I think they aesthetically for her are a huge influence, as they are for a lot of millennials. I think she wishes she was Nancy Grace, too. She’s listened to Serial over and over again. She watches and listens to, I think, current things, and probably would also be very dated in some of her references. It was a lot of fun to build her from the outside in as well, and play with her voice.
She’s so much fun. There are so many directions you can take it in. [Director] Adam [MacDonald] was very clear about wanting to make sure it felt very much like a real person. I think that’s the danger with someone like that, with a character like that is I was worried that maybe people wouldn’t believe that she exists on this planet. I think from the response we’ve been getting, people seem to know her well. I don’t know if that’s frightening or not, but it’s what they’re saying.
The other thing that struck me was this relationship between Joe and Angel, obviously, but also Angel, Joe, and Violet. It was a complicated relationship between the three of them. I thought it was really well written, really well done, and didn’t feel forced in the middle of a show where people are being killed off every episode either.
PB: Thanks for saying that. I agree with you. I think it was so well written, and it’s a real testament to the writers. Somehow amidst this 24-hour crazy killing spree, it felt so honest. I think that’s also a testament to Ilan Muallem and to Salvatore Antonio, who played Joe and Angel, respectively, because you really feel right away when you meet them, you feel like you’re right in something.
I think Ilan does such a nice job. I really feel like he absolutely had a real love for Violet and that they probably did have so much fun for a very long time. She’s in a whole other planet really, really far away from him. Those scenes behind, you know that door? There’s a scene where he’s locked her into the bathroom. That stuff was really exciting and very challenging to shoot. I found that stuff really very like it pushed us in directions with each other. I really think Adam, again, treads a really great line of keeping everything energetic but also feeling really real.
I think those things can go off the rails if you don’t have a director who’s really tasteful. I felt really in very, very good hands.
What are you working on now? Do you and Michael Seater still have your production company?
PB: Yeah. We do. We’re developing a couple of TV things. I went off to Italy and shot a feature that I produced and was in, called From the Vine. Wendy Crewson played my mom in it. Joe Pantoliano is the lead and it was directed by Sean Cisterna. We’re just finishing post-production on that right now. There’s a sci-fi feature that’s doing a festival run that I was a lead in with Erin Berry, who was one of our producers on Slasher, called Majic. Paulino Nunes is in it. That’s doing a festival run right now.
Slasher: Solstice is on Netflix now.
Images courtesy of Shaftesbury.
From a media release:
Today, at the 2019 Banff World Media Festival, Netflix joined imagineNATIVE, The Indigenous Screen Office (ISO) and Wapikoni Mobile to announce a suite of partnership programs that aim to develop the next generation of Indigenous creators across Canada. These programs range from screenwriting intensives to apprenticeship programs, joining the 11 existing partnership programs Netflix has funded to nurture the next generation of Canadian creators from underrepresented communities.
“Indigenous communities in Canada are rich with unique stories, and organizations like imagineNATIVE, The Indigenous Screen Office (ISO) and Wapikoni Mobile are vital to ensuring these voices are heard,†said Stéphane Cardin, Director of Public Policy, Netflix Canada. “Netflix is proud to help launch these three programs, which will reach Indigenous communities across the country.â€
imagineNATIVE
The game-changing Netflix-imagineNATIVE partnership will demonstrate an unprecedented level of support for Indigenous filmmakers in Canada, who have urgent needs for professional development programming designed from Indigenous perspectives and delivered within Indigenous contexts by an Indigenous-run organization. Over the next three-and-a-half years, imagineNATIVE will undertake or expand six distinct activities aimed at Indigenous screenwriters, directors and producers through its Institute department:
“We are thrilled to partner with Netflix to offer an unprecedented series of professional development initiatives at imagineNATIVE,†says Jason Ryle, executive director of imagineNATIVE. “This funding is a significant investment in opportunities for Indigenous directors, producers, and screenwriters in Canada, and marks one of the largest sponsorships in imagineNATIVE’s history.â€
The Indigenous Screen Office (ISO)
The ISO-Netflix Production Mentorship and Apprenticeship Program will provide second phase support for Indigenous projects that may have received development support through other programs such as those offered by imagineNATIVE Institute, Hot Docs, Banff World Media Festival, or Whistler Film Festival, as well as others. The Program will include two streams: Key Creative Apprenticeships and Cultural Mentorships for directors, producers, screenwriters and showrunners.
“ISO spent the last year in consultations with Indigenous creators and this fund responds to their expressed need for new funding opportunities that will advance work and career opportunities, as well as allow them to follow protocols and practices that are central to Indigenous ways of working,†says Jesse Wente, director of the Indigenous Screen Office.
Wapikoni Mobile
Mentoring and coaching are at the heart of the unique Wapikoni Mobile development experience, and increased accessibility of tools, spaces and trainers are offered through the mobility of its studios. Wapikoni’s approach is centred around the belief that it is essential for the next generation to be inspired by the success of their community. With this new partnership, Wapikoni will be able to coordinate its important collective of emerging filmmakers, organize the numerous opportunities, and structure a program of both continuing education and professional coaching which will have a profound and lasting impact on the next generation of Indigenous creators.
At the centre of Wapikoni’s priorities is the intent to highlight a significant collection of audiovisual works and an immeasurable cultural heritage of artistic expression and Indigenous identity while promoting:
“At Wapikoni, we believe that many young Indigenous artists are isolated from opportunity. When travelling to them locally to offer tools and resources to create short films, we discovered that this journey also leads to supporting the development of talented, emerging filmmakers. Learning from the creative process is at the heart of important social transformations, especially in terms of personal growth, community development, community involvement. We are proud to support the emergence of unique artistic and cultural signatures which will have an invaluable contribution to new audiovisual productions,†explains Odile Joannette, from the Pessamit First Nation of Quebec, and executive director at Wapikoni. “The support from Netflix will allow us to continue to foster narrative sovereignty and cinematographic excellence, and we are absolutely thrilled to count Netflix as a partner, not only for our organization but also for the voices of Indigenous youth,†she added.
Netflix’s support of these programs comes from its fund to develop the next generation of Canadian creators and talent, focused on underrepresented communities in the screen industry. This announcement marks the 11th, 12th and 13th partnerships since the fund was announced in September 2017. Other recent announcements in 2019 include partnerships with the Inside Out Film Festival, RIDM (Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal), and the Alliance des producteurs francophones du Canada (APFC).
