Joyful

We live in a hectic and chaotic world that relentlessly stresses our planet, humans and animals alike. joyful is a unique audio-visual exploration of finding joy in all the turmoil that surrounds us. This short film uses videos, timelapses, hyperlapses, drone shots, slow motion, astrophotography and satellite images from around the world with dramatic sound design and music overlay to depict life as we know it and simple moments of joy and calm that provides us respite in all the chaos…

Life is short. Cherish every moment. Be joyful.

Simantini ChakrabortyProducer

Chateau Laurier -Season 2

Season 2 of the hugely successful award-winning series (3 million views).

Edwardian newlyweds Hattie and Vivian navigate their lives on the other side of happily ever after and learn that life as heirs to the grand Chateau Laurier hotel comes with slings, arrows, enemies, opportunities and strife.

When the grand hotel was opened in Ottawa in 1912 it represented all that was extravagant and privileged at the dawn of a new century. The surrounding town was little more than a frontier. This is Canada in the moment it blooms onto the world stage, growing pains and all. Chateau Laurier follows the struggle to control power of the hotel (and beyond) between Briar Hays (Tymika Tafari), the new owner of the hotel, her estranged brother Vivian (Luke Humphrey), his wide-eyed new wife Hattie (Kate Ross Leckie), her acerbic Aunt Esme (Fiona Reid)…and Gabriel Sabot, the Cajun-creole boss of Lowertown (Emmanuel Kabongo).

The show has a core cast of recurring characters vying for power in the family-run hotel in 1912 Ottawa. Uniquely Canadian, Chateau Laurier is told with a flair for the dramatic, with diverse, distinct, entertaining characters and a dose of humour.

New Season 2 cast include Tymika Tafari (Apple TV+ The Marijuana Conspiracy), Emmanuel Kobongo (21 Thunder), Joel Oulette (Trickster), Brittany Raymond (The Next Step), Katie Uhlmann (Nurses) and Jason Gray (Reign).

Retuning cast include series leads Kate Ross Leckie (Alias Grace), Luke Humphrey (Tiny Pretty Things), Fiona Reid (Harry Potter on Broadway), Kent Staines (Anne with an E) and Fraser Elsdon (Y: The Last Man).

I am not an Angel

A young Nurse Amy, unaware of the severity of the virus, going to work alone, while millions of people don masks as the infection travels through the population. The nurse comes to realize the patient she is tasked with taking care of, is not a run-of-the-mill case, but is a matter of life and death.

I want to make this film as a tribute to the sacrifices health care workers make for us. They are ordinary people, but they are extra-ordinary, too modest to call themselves heroes, not seeing themselves as life-saving angels. Completely altruistic, they put themselves in danger to take to care for us. They are in my eyes – Angels.

The nightmare of the pandemic continues, leaving a mark that will never be erased from our collective memory.

A Few Steps Further

Being an author is the highlight of humanity. Even sometimes, a soldier guarding the borders, has endangered his very existence out of respect for the one whose only weapon is a pen.

Ardavan niknia,somayeh tajikWriter