Simon Barry (Warrior Nun, Continuum) returns to the YVR Screen Scene Podcast to discuss his latest series. Bet – 10 episodes of which dropped on Netflix in May 2025 – draws its inspiration from the manga Kakegurai – Compulsive Gambler. The series tells the story of Yumeko (portrayed by Miku Martineau), a young woman who enrols in an exclusive boarding school to avenge the murder of her parents. This exclusive boarding school ain’t Hogwarts: it’s a cutthroat academy run by a powerful Student Council whose power structure is entirely based on gambling. Yumeko’s prowess at gambling and her overarching revenge quest put her in the crosshairs of the Student Council and its formidable president, Kira – leading to a showdown that is both high-octane and deeply satisfying.

Bet is at once a breath of fresh air and exactly what we’ve come to expect from Simon Barry: a wildly entertaining adventure set in an unexpected world about a whip-smart woman on a seemingly impossible quest. In this fascinating interview, Simon discusses his journey with Bet, what Miku Martineau brought to the pivotal role of Yumeko, his thoughts on AI, collaborating with director Jacquie Gould (Outlander, Obi-Wan Kenobi), Dennis Heaton’s brain, and what he learned from Warrior Nun and its fans.

Episode sponsor: Directors Guild Of Canada, BC District Council

The Vancouver-shot Dil Rakh: Gloves of Kin tells the story of Sukh Sidhu, a South Asian man who spent 20 years in jail for a crime he didn't commit. Upon his release, he returns to the small predominantly white town where his life went sideways, where racism abounds and where his son Dayton is in deep with a group of petty criminals who barely conceal their contempt for his brownness. Dayton is pissed with his dad for leaving the family for 20 years, and reconciliation seems impossible – until father and son find common ground in the boxing ring.

Dil Rakh: Gloves of Kin is one part drama, one part boxing, one part commentary on racism in small town North America, and 100 per cent heart; in other words (and in the opinion of YVR Screen Scene host Sabrina Rani Furminger), it’s a game-changer. The film won the Sundar Prize for Best BC Film at the 2024 Sundar Prize Film Festival and is currently available for streaming on Amazon Prime. Actors Dalj Brar (who also wrote and directed) and Umar Farook Khan join Sabrina in the YVR Screen Scene Podcast lab to talk the evolution of representation, boxing, changing the game, and keeping the faith.

Episode sponsor: Fish Flight Entertainment

This special episode features four of the producers and three of the world-class athletes showcased in Beyond The Podium: Celebrating Canadian Women Champions. The juggernaut documentary – which was directed by Brenda Whitehall – hands the mic to 15 of Canada’s top women winter athletes and invites them to delve deep into the issues that are intertwined with their journey to the podiums: issues like racism, infertility, depression and anxiety, safe sport, and discrimination. We see how athletes support each other, carry the weight of a nation, and navigate all manner of challenges and successes. The film is vast in its scope but also incredibly intimate, which is also an apt description for this super-sized episode, which finds Sabrina chatting with director Brenda Whitehall, producers Sarah Dawn Pledge, Angela Galanopoulos, and Juliana Bergstrom; and champions Jennifer Heil, Viviane Forest, and Kaetlyn Osmond about what it takes to be a champion.

Episode sponsor: Fish Flight Entertainment

Five years ago, actor Giles Panton swung by the YVR Screen Scene Podcast to talk about voicing Iron Man in Marvel Battleworld: Mystery of the Thanostones, the sleighful of Christmas movies in his filmography, what he learned playing the minister of propaganda for the American Reich in Amazon Prime’s critically acclaimed dystopian series The Man in the High Castle, and the Barbie commercial that broke up his band. It’s a fantastic episode (which you can find in the episode footnotes or wherever you listen to podcasts), but a lot can change in five years. For instance, you can move from being the guy that always loses the girl in the rom-com to the guy who gets her. You can win a Leo Award for Best Performance in an Animation Program for your work in animated horror anthology series Red Iron Road AND a UBCP/ACTRA Award for voicing Carnage and Norman Osborne in Absolute Carnage. You can get an ADHD diagnosis that explains so much of how you move through the world. You can become a dad. In this compelling conversation – at times poignant; at times funny; always authentic and entertaining – Giles reflects on the many changes of the last five years, what it takes to be a leading man, working with Andrea Brooks on Snowy with a Chance of Christmas, pursuing joy, constructing grilled cheese sandwiches, and how his ADHD diagnosis changed his life.

Episode sponsor: UBCP/ACTRA

Baljit Sangra’s new documentary issues its central question in its title: Have You Heard Judi Singh? If you have to think about it, the answer is no, because once you’ve heard Judi Singh sing, you’ll remember it – her clarity, her lyricism, the ease with which she scat and sang bebop and standards and original music – you’ll remember that you’ve heard Judi Singh sing for the rest of your life. Originally from Edmonton, gifted jazz singer Judi Singh defied expectations as a Punjabi-Black artist stepping onto the stage in the late 1950s. Though her ethereal voice captivated musicians and audiences, the music industry failed to give her the recognition she deserved—an all-too-familiar story for women and artists of colour. In this lively and deeply felt documentary portrait, Judi’s daughter Emily Hughes and Baljit retrace Judi’s life and music through archival recordings, intimate recollections, and the bohemian spaces she once inhabited. Weaving together moments of brilliance, struggle, and resilience, the film reintroduces a forgotten artist to the spotlight she always deserved.

More people will have the opportunity to acquaint themselves with Judi’s voice and her remarkable story after Have You Heard Judi Singh? has its world premiere at the 2025 DOXA Documentary Film Festival. Filmmaker Baljit Sangra returns to the podcast to discuss Judi’s artistry and legacy.

Episode sponsor: Directors Guild Of Canada, BC District Council

House of David on Amazon Prime tells the story of the shepherd boy who brought down a giant Philistine warrior with a slingshot and a stone and, ultimately, became king. But the story of David – outcast David, underdog David, King David – is more than a single parable – and the first season of House of David lays out David’s journey from childhood until moments after he felled Goliath with a single stone. Although the series – which aired its first season finale earlier this month and has already been renewed for a second season – is filmed in Greece, it boasts an impressive contingent from Vancouver. Louis Ferreira is David’s father, Jesse. Kimani Ray-Smith is stunt coordinator. Todd Giroux is post producer. Alexandra La Roche and Michael Nankin directed episodes. And Vancouver’s own Jonathan Lloyd Walker is executive producer, writer, and season one show runner. In this compelling conversation with Sabrina Rani Furminger, Jonathan discusses his journey to House of David, the joys and challenges of bringing these biblical personages to the screen, and where the show will take viewers in season two. Episode sponsor: UBCP/ACTRA

Wildfire is a phenomenal, deeply moving, and heart-pounding five-part series that airs on Knowledge Network beginning on April 29. Filmed across British Columbia in 2023, during the worst fire season on record, the series examines how an unprecedented fuel build-up, combined with a hotter, drier climate, created a volatile tinderbox situation. It also introduces us to the communities impacted by wildfires and the humans who put their lives on the line to fight fire however they can: with water, with axes, with ingenuity, and with fire itself. We see firsthand the daunting climate emergency we face and meet the people standing between British Columbians and complete devastation. Wildfire is executive produced and co-directed by friend of the pod Kevin Eastwood, and co-directed and produced by Nelson filmmakers Simon Shave and Clay Mitchell. In this fascinating episode, Kevin Eastwood reflects on what he learned about the British Columbians who are stepping up to fight these record-breaking wildfires, and how he and his team handled the logistics of filming the firefighting up close.

Episode sponsor: Directors Guild Of Canada, BC District Council

In this special episode of the YVR Screen Scene Podcast, Allegiance star Supinder Wraich and executive producer Nimisha Mukerji reflect on the crime procedural’s emotionally searing second season. Season one introduced us to Sabrina Sohal (played by Supinder), a star rookie police officer in the CFPC who must grapple with the limits of the justice system as she fights to exonerate her politician father Ajeet Sohal, played by friend of the pod Stephen Lobo. Season two finds Sabrina earning a probationary spot as a detective in the Serious Crimes Unit, and with a new partner: Detective Corporal Zak Kalaini played by Samer Salem, from a CFPC branch in Alberta, who has a much different style of policing than Sabrina.

Allegiance is set and produced in Surrey, British Columbia, and is very much a character in its own right. Season two brought us even deeper into the community, and also into issues that are at once specific to Surrey and also universal: issues like violence against women in the South Asian community; sexual predation of teen boys; violence against the unhoused; PTSD; and also grief: how we navigate it, and how we need to fold it into our lives somehow or risk losing ourselves altogether.

In the first half of the episode, Supinder Wraich reflects on Sabrina’s journey in season two, her own journey in Sabrina’s detective shoes, and healing through representation. In the second half of the episode, executive producer and director Nimisha Mukerji reflects on the emotional resonance of Allegiance’s second season, and what Sabrina Sohal represents for her.

Episode sponsor: Directors Guild Of Canada, BC District Council