By Anne Brodie
Pulitzer-Prize winning investigative journalist and host of the acclaimed podcasts Stolen and Missing & Murdered Connie Walker guest hosts a heartbreaking edition of CBC’s The Fifth Estate tonight. Walker follows a thirty-year-old case gone cold, the murder of Sonya Cywink of the Whitefish First Nation. Cywink’s sister Meggie launched her own investigation when it became clear that law enforcement wasn’t getting anywhere, later proved to have overlooked key information and withhold evidence. Sonya was the second-youngest of 13 siblings, and was 24-weeks pregnant when she was found in remote woodlot Southwold Earthworks, near London, Ontario. She’d succumbed to blunt force trauma. Sonya, an addict living in a tough neighbourhood worked as a call girl and bore the trauma of an awful experience when she was just 12. The night of her death, she’d been at a party but it was unclear what happened and how she was found deep in the woods miles away, an area impassable to cars. New interviews reveal that Sonya’s roommate saw her get into a red car with a bejewelled man she knew. No arrests have been made in 30 years. Suspects were interviewed including a man in the Philippines who says he fathered her unborn child and that he “knew what happened more than anyone on earth”. Another man says he saw a gangster hbit for her allegedly stealing crack, and fall and die. Meanwhile Meggie’s husband is concerned for her safety while her lawyer reports police errors – DNA contaminated at the crime scene, mistakes, gaps unclosed, and general miscommunication. Meggie continues the fight, not only for Sonya but for the thousands of missing and murdered indigenous women, girls, men, boys, two spirit and gender variant victims. Powerful important history of an ongoing crisis. CBC and CBC Gem 9 p.m.
Sandra Oh exec produces and stars in film festival favourite Can I Get A Witness? as Ellie, a woman who’s about to turn fifty, a nice milestone, except that in the near future society in which she and her daughter Kiah (Keira Jang) live, it is terminal. Society has eradicated poverty, pollution, climate change, mass extinction and the existential ills that plague us now by agreeing on certain rights and freedoms. The world is beautiful, lush, clean, fruitful and ideal, close to perfection. But there is a staggering cost. A person will be terminated at age fifty for this perfect world balance to endure. And eerily, teenagers are assigned to hand draw the end-of-life experiences, for proof, as cameras, data and electronics went away long ago. We follow Kiah and work partner David (Joel Oulette) who administers the dose and certifies death while she captures it in art. If there’s deviation or refusal, Compliance officers show up. They attend various households, each with its own story and learn that some survived by creating a ruse, plastic surgery or other tricks. Ellie’s at home, crying quietly while getting her affairs in order, friends gathered to say goodbye and finally Kiah expresses her fear, disgust and love as Ellie awaits termination. Filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming avoids grim darkness such a story suggests focusing on Earth’s benefits and the ability for humans live on Earth without laying waste to it, as the previous generations did (us!). We feel the confusion, horror, sadness, the mundane things that are suddenly urgent and extraordinary. I did not expect to like the film, but found it to be rewarding and full of heart. March 14 Toronto’s Lightbox, Vancouver and Montreal, then across the country.
BritBox has an emotional offering in Lost Boys & Fairies, a superior three-parter set in Cardiff, Wales that defies conventional storytelling. Partners Andy and Gabriel (Fra Fee and Sion Daniel Young) have a strong, successful relationship; Gabriel is a top draw as a drag artist in Neverland, the local gay nightclub. He makes his own glam costumes and sings poppy and emotional ballads to thunderous applause. Andy’s proud of him; they are favourites on the local scene. Gabe’s hard-bitten father does not approve; they were left alone when Gabe’s mother died when he was little and his father remains closed up. Andy’s mum’s fine with it and even declutters his sex toy box. Andy and Gabe decide to create a family and adopt a baby. An empathetic, common-sense counsellor and her team interview them. Gabe wants a child because he is bored and believes it will make him tolerant, less angry and bitter, but tells them instead “We can offer a lot as parents”. He lies like a rug about his life, growing up gay with his father and school bullies to paint a sunny picture; he left uni after a year due to his excesses and when he met Andy, whose kiss “saved his life”. Andy is less complicated and provides him with love, affection and safety. They attend an adoption event where available children are paraded around in front of potential parents; the adults are fiercely competitive. They wanted a girl but decide on young Jake (Leo Harris) who comes from an abusive household; he has trust issues, and acts out but he has heart and spirit. Once home, Jake clearly prefers Andy and Gabe doubts his commitment to the adoption. But life intrudes and things take a wildly unexpected turn. The series is smart and real, its production values top notch – wait for the drag shows scenes! Fee and Young are outstanding as two distinct characters in a deep bond of love and respect. It’s witty, funny, kind of exotic given the Welsh and queer nightclub métier; completely relatable and soul satisfying with twists and turns that reflect our values and wish to be better human beings. This is a winner, the cherry on top, a stunning if brief performance by Gwyneth Keyworth as the birth mother. Streaming now on BritBox
Award winning comedy musical series Less Than Kosher, follows wild child Toronto singer Aviva (Shaina Silver Baird) following a painful split from a boyfriend; she’s angry and drinking, snorting drugs, whooping it up and refusing to attend services on Yom Kippur, the holiest night on the Jewish calendar. Aviva loves to sing, loudly – and she’s great, a professional. At home she has a serious attitude problem, refusing to take part in family traditions like going to synagogue; hasn’t been in fifteen years. She and Ash (David Reale), a fellow Jew meet on the street and there’s an attraction; they share a vape and she boasts about how not Jewish she is. But she eventually attends services to appease her parents, wearing a metal band T shirt, and sings the prayers. The rabbi (David Eisner) is astounded by her passionate, mighty sound and asks her to be his assistant cantor; she turns him down flat just when her agent dumps her due to her “lack of energy” so she grudgingly accepts the gig on a temp basis. Her first gig is the wedding of “the meanest girl in high school” who ends up in tears covered in wine. But Aviva sings and she’s brilliant. Ash is there, with his surprise wife. There’s a lot packed into this series of seven 10-minute episodes. And Silver Baird shines brightly. Hollywood Suite all month long.
The doc series Get Hooked on OUTtv, OUTflix and AMI+ March 17 finds four queer Brits heading to Ontario’s outback to fish. Faye Marsay, SJ Todd, Emma Tweddle, and Vik Watson, find great rewards in angling, a sport requiring skill, a chance to hang out, and to experience Ontario’s spectacular wilderness. Each praises the outdoor settings for the peace and serenity they bring, as nature sloughs off personal and urban stressors. The six parter takes them to the Madawaska River, to Arnprior, Petrie Island on the Ottawa River, a second, secret spot on the Ottawa, Bowmanville Creek and good old Toronto Island. Eash spot has its own breed of fish – eel, pike (dangerous one this!), salmon, catfish, carp andmuskellunge and its own particular setting each calling on different fishing skills. How to choose a lure? Look at the ground and see what the insects look like. Local guides share crucial information about rivers, the Indigenous culture’s thousands of years of thriving, the nature of fish and one another. Four different kinds of trees are used to make a birchbark canoe! Find out how the Indigenous ancients used them to create the gorgeous utilitarian floating works of art so essential to their existence – and fishing.