The YVR Screen Scene Podcast

What’s really going on in the Vancouver film and television industry these days? Is it – as the Hollywood Reporter postulated in an article in May 2026 – “seeing [a] film and television production rebound”? Is it accurate to say – as the same publication stated just a month previous – that “U.S. film and television production in Canada rebounded in 2025 as the local industry finally put the devastating impact of the Hollywood’s year of strikes in 2023 in the rearview mirror”? Or is reality closer to the anecdotal stories that populate the comment sections of these and similar article? “2026 is slow in Van,” says one. “Those are the facts.” Says another: “Unfortunately Canadian actors are being left out of this equation in our own town. It’s frustrating. The talent in Vancouver specifically is obscene.”
Beyond the anecdotes and comments, there are these other alarming trends: a collapse in production volume, the disruption caused by AI, and a volatile shift in viewing habits. Is this – as one Redditor in a Vancouver filmmaking sub so stated – the worst time in the industry since the 1950s? Or is this a time of rebound, of transformation, with blue skies and clearer sailing on the horizon?
In this episode, Sabrina Rani-Kiperchuk Furminger explores these questions with longtime “friend of the pod” Omari Newton. Omari is an award-winning actor, writer, director, producer, TedX speaker, and head of department for the faculty of acting for film and television at Vancouver Film School. Omari is both an industry veteran and an educator who helps people who want to work in our industry obtain the tools they need to navigate it. Omari joins Sabrina to make sense of what is actually happening in our industry right now – and what might be waiting for us just over the horizon.
YVR Screen Scene is a division of Fish Flight Entertainment.

Bethany Brown starred in one of the most highly anticipated features at the 2026 Vancouver International Film Festival: Gloria Mercer’s queer erotic crime thriller, A Safe Distance, which also stars “friend of the pod” Cody Kearsley and the phenomenally talented Tandia Mercedes. Bethany was nominated for a 2026 UBCP/ACTRA Award for her work in A Safe Distance playing a cubicle worker turned sexually adventurous, gun-toting badass – and she was also nominated (in the voice category) for her work in a very different kind of project: Colin Matthews’ blistering short film, Never Use Alone, about an overdose intervention hotline operator played by another longtime “friend of the pod” Chelah Horsdal and the cascade of life-or-death calls she handles over one harrowing night. One of those calls is voiced by Bethany. The film has already won a slew of awards – including four Leos earlier this year – and it will soon have its premiere on Telus Optik TV.
Last year, Bethany fans rejoiced when she joined Murder in a Small Town in the incredibly nuanced role of corporal Laila Jackson, a dedicated but deeply flawed officer from Minneapolis. She’s also had some great roles in The Good Doctor, The Astronauts, The 100, and The Flash, as well as festive fare and thrillers. Animation fans know and love Bethany for her work in projects with Lego, as well as The Treebees, Strawberry Shortcake, and Littlest Pet Shop.
In this wide-ranging conversation with Sabrina Rani-Kiperchuk Furminger, Bethany talks A Safe Distance, Never Use Alone, Murder in a Small Town (spoiler: she loves working with “BFF of the pod” Amanda Tapping), the fun of the voice booth, and the remarkable journey through this industry that brought her to this moment.
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains frank talk about addiction. Please don’t use drugs alone. In Canada, call the National Overdose Response Service (NORS) 24/7/365: 1 888 688 6677 & https://www.nors.ca/
YVR Screen Scene is a division of Fish Flight Entertainment.

Filmmaker Joella Cabalu returns to the YVR Screen Scene Podcast to discuss her highly anticipated “rom-com documentary” First Comes Loves: Nakabingwit. This National Film Board of Canada production has its world premiere at the 2026 Vancouver International Film Festival. The film follows three Filipina–white couples whose whirlwind love stories unfold alongside hard conversations about race, belonging, and what it takes to stay together. The Tagalog word “nakabingwit” refers to catching a big fish but colloquially, it means you caught a rich white husband. When talking to other Filipino Canadians, our valiant filmmaker discovered this word carries complex feelings of both pride and shame. Framing these stories is Joella’s own meta-narrative. Through a playful voice-over and fictionalized scenes, she revisits racially charged moments from her romantic life, which are evocatively depicted by actors Gabrielle Jacinto and David Lennon in the style of popular romantic films like When Harry Met Sally and Before Sunrise.
In this fun and fascinating episode, Joella speaks with Sabrina (a biracial women who is in a interracial marriage with a biracial man) about the joys and challenges of interracial relationships, the intergenerational healing that comes from having tough conversations, why she hired an actress to play her in this film, and what’s a rom-com documentary, anyway?
YVR Screen Scene is a division of Fish Flight Entertainment.

Few forests on Earth are as creepy as those located in the Pacific Northwest, for a slew of reasons: they cover a lot of territory, they’re ancient, and their unwieldiness inspires discomfort, uncertainty, and acts of evil (just consider the disproportionately high number of serial killers whose stories intersect with our West Coast forests).
Sawtooth Mountain builds on the inherent creepiness of the Pacific Northwest. Written and directed by Matthew Kincses, the locally shot horror feature transports its audiences to a remote cabin in a dense PNW forest, where two paranormal-obsessed brothers, desperate to boost business for their Bigfoot-themed rental cabin, stage a sighting during a guided tour. But when a group of college students arrive for a weekend getaway, the prank takes a dark and dangerous turn, one the brothers never planned for.
Sawtooth Mountain is thrilling. It’s scary. It honours the legend of Bigfoot while also skewering the cash grabs that have sprung up around it. And: it’s the perfect film for spooky season. In this fun episode, Sabrina speaks with Sawtooth Mountain’s married producer+actor team Nhi Do and Gabriel Carter about Bigfoot, adventures in indie filmmaking, the anatomy of fear, and why forests are so damn scary (but not as scary as people).
YVR Screen Scene is a division of Fish Flight Entertainment.

The iconic actress-director Amanda Tapping (Stargate SG-1, Sanctuary) returns to the pod for a freewheeling 95-minute conversation about – well, anything and everything: the magic of Murder in a Small Town (for which she won a Leo Award earlier this year); the story behind the viral Stargate SG-1 blooper (“I may have just lost my job”); how she holds onto her humanity in a difficult industry; the motivation behind her upcoming mental health book; her thoughts on the long-promised Stargate reboot; and why she doesn’t think of herself as an actor anymore.
YVR Screen Scene is a division of Fish Flight Entertainment.