Today is a very special episode!  Jen is interviewing Charmaine Hammond and Michael Mankowski from the award winning movie, Back Home Again!  After a large wildfire ravaged Michael’s hometown of Fort MacMurray, he took it on as a personal project to interview the citizens about their experiences in rebuilding their lives and the toll the fire took on them.  This project became a larger endeavor as he discovered that many of the stories shared a common them-one of hope.  Michael went all in on bringing this story to the big screen including getting help from some very special friends including Charmaine who came on as executive producer.  Their story is so inspirational that it could be a movie itself!

Back Home Again is coming out soon!  But don’t wait-watch the trailer and listen for some very familiar voices who lent their talent to this amazing project!

Watch the Trailer Here: https://youtu.be/Gz-QJhm5uKI

Michael Mankowski Bio

Michael Mankowski was born and raised in Fort McMurray, Alberta, and is the screenwriter/director of the award-winning animated movie, Back Home Again. Michael is owner and operator of Alien Kow formerly known as Wood Buffalo Productions, an Alberta, based award winning production house. Michael is a graduate of University of Lethbridge Bachelor of Management, and, Vancouver Film School 3D & Animation Program.

In 2017 Michael won an award for Excellence in The Arts by the RMWB and Arts Council Wood Buffalo. In 2016 his company won a Leadership Award by RMWB and YYM Magazine. Michael has also produced passion projects, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was the winner of the Best Short Film award at the Alberta Film and Television Awards in 2016.  

To Learn More about Michael go to
https://instagram.com/backhomeagainmovie
 

Charmaine Hammond Bio

Charmaine Hammond, Professional Speaker and best selling author is a highly sought-after business keynote and workshop speaker, business owner, author and educator who teaches and advocates the importance of collaboration, mental health, and healthy relationships. She has helped clients in many industries build resilient and engaged workplaces, and solve workplace issues and conflict that gets in the way of. She also Executive Producer of the Back Home Again movie, working closely with Michael (Screenwriter/director) almost since the beginning of this project.  Responsible for heading up the collaborations, partnerships and sponsorship, and the marketing and events for the project, she is passionate about this film because Fort McMurray was her home for 15 years. She didn’t live there at the time of the fires however returned on contacts with the social profit organizations and school boards to work with the community on the recovery and resilience initiatives.

Charmaine can be found at
Https://instagram.com/charmaine_hammond
Https://instagram.com/raiseadream

Back Home Again Awards

The movie Back Home Again won the Jury Award for Best Animation Short (Alberta) and the Audience Choice Award (Dramatic Short) at the October 2021 Edmonton International Film Festival, and an Award of Excellence at the Canada Shorts Film Festival.

To learn more about Jen from the podcast to reading her articles that inspire the episodes-go to www.jencrosscreative.co

Intro Trailer to Wild and Precious Life