Ali's life in Canada as a young immigrant turns upside down when his naïve cousin Omid arrives from overseas under mysterious circumstances to live with him in a newcomers settlement house. On the cusp of achieving his goal to settle in Toronto, a tide of misadventures derails Ali's plans, costing him his job opportunity and romance, which ultimately drives him to his wits’ end.

Neema Naz is an Iranian-Canadian stand up comedian, actor, and content creator. During the fall of 2014 he launched his comedy career in Toronto. His inaugural headline stand up comedy tour in 2022, “I’m Your Sugar Daddy" welcomed over 15,000 fans from Los Angeles to Vancouver, New York to Montreal, San Francisco to Toronto, and many more. He has also headlined shows in Sydney, Berlin, and Melbourne.

Neema has toured with and supported several comedy greats including Russell Peters, Theo Von, Howie Mandel, Omid Djalili, and Maz Jobrani. His online presence has garnered him over 1.5 billion views and has been co-signed by the likes of Gary Vaynerchuk, David Goggins, Gordon Ramsay, Kevin Hart, and Andrew Schulz. Neema has several acting credits for The Boys (Amazon Prime)

Egghead & Twinkie is a colorful teen road movie directed by Sarah Kambe Holland and starring Sabrina Jie-A-Fa and Louis Tomeo. Known as the first feature to successfully crowdfund on TikTok, this indie production has taken the film festival circuit by storm.

Available now on VOD in North America

On the night they move from the city into a sprawling suburban home, parents Josh (Ben Foster, Finestkind, TIFF ’23) and Rachel (Cobie Smulders, High School, TIFF ’22) are jolted by a car crashing into the tree on their front lawn, killing the driver and injuring his passengers. And once Josh discovers the accidents are a regular occurrence due to the design of the road, he becomes obsessed with being ready to save the next victims... to the exclusion of everything else.

Writer and Director, Jason Buxton opens up about obsession, family and parenthood in his new film, Sharp Corner.

Sharp Corner is in theatres May 9th

Kryptic is a Canadian horror thriller film, directed by Kourtney Roy and released in 2024. The film stars Chloe Pirrie in a dual role as Barb Valentine, a cryptid hunter who has disappeared while hunting for the Sooka, a mysterious forest creature, and Kay, a woman who herself encounters the Sooka while searching for Barb, and abandons her life to embark on a new quest for meaning and identity after the encounter eliminates all her memories of who she used to be.

Director, Kourtney Roy Joins the podcast discuss the film and its release on VOD/ Digital May 9th

My Dead Friend Zoe is a 2024 American comedy-drama film written by Kyle Hausmann-Stokes and A. J. Bermudez, directed by Hausmann-Stokes and starring Sonequa Martin-Green, Natalie Morales, Gloria Reuben, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Morgan Freeman, and Ed Harris.

It premiered at South by Southwest on March 9, 2024, and was theatrically released in the United States on February 28, 2025.

Kyle is an award-winning director and writer based in Los Angeles. Like all filmmakers, he got his start as a paratrooper in the US Army. He served 5 years in the US Army and was awarded the Bronze Star for his service as a convoy commander in Iraq. Kyle is a graduate of USC's School of Cinematic Arts and co-founder of the nonprofit organization Veterans in Media & Entertainment. He's directed films for Google, IBM, US Air Force, UPS and the US Dept of Veterans Affairs.

Film synopsis:

Merit is a U.S. veteran who's at odds with her family thanks to the presence of Zoe, her dead best friend from the Army. Her cozy yet dysfunctional friendship with Zoe keeps the duo insulated from the world, until her estranged grandfather -- holed up at the family's ancestral lake house -- begins to lose his way and needs the help he refuses.

In a Kaiju-filled Japan, Kafka Hibino works in monster disposal. After reuniting with his childhood friend Mina Ashiro, a rising star in the anti-Kaiju Defense Force, he

decides to pursue his abandoned dream of joining the Force... when he suddenly transforms into the powerful "Kaiju No. 8.

" With help from his junior colleague Reno Ichikawa, Kafka hides

his identity while striving towards his life-long dream of passing the Defense Force exam and standing at Mina's side. But when mysterious intelligent Kaiju attack a Defense Force base,

Kafka faces a crucial decision in a desperate situation...

The omnibus film Kaiju No. 8: Mission Recon features an action-packed recap of season one and a new original episode,

“Hoshina’s Day Off.

”

(Hoshina's Day Off) A day off... a rare day of peace for the Defense Force. After spending so long training, Reno has forgotten what he's supposed to do with free time. He sees that Hoshina

is up to something with his own day off, and decides to go on a mission to tail him with Iharu! But then things go in an unexpected direction…

Catch it in theatres April 13,14 & 16th

Film synopsis:

May 1984. An unemployed ice cream truck driver steps onto the game show Press Your Luck harboring a secret: the key to endless money. But his winning streak is threatened when the bewildered executives uncover his real motivations.

Director , Samir Oliveros joins the podcast this week to discuss the film and its upcoming theatrical release April 4th.

#podcast #interview #paulwalterhouser

Film Synopsis:

A determined aspiring chef, AMIR struggles to carve out a path for himself and gratify the expectations of his parents, FARHAD and AREZOU – while his younger, Canadian-born brother, MAHYAR, appears to cruise through life effortlessly. When Amir’s parents receive news that a family friend from Iran has died and left his inheritance solely to Mahyar, the unexpected bequest triggers a chain of revelations that reshape the brothers’ dynamic and unravel truths about the family’s hidden past.

His Father’s Son is screening at the Canadian Film Festival Thursday, March 27, 6:00 pm at Scotia Bank Theatre.