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A few years ago, I went to Toronto to visit family for a few months, and during my time there, friends from across the city took me around different neighborhoods for a culturally immersive experience. On one such evening, after a day of historical sightseeing, we went to let our hair down at a bar called the ‘Red Room.’ At midnight, once the music had switched genres and chaotic electric-pop had slowed to a mellow, we heard a cacophony of shouting and snapping from the streets. I was standing near the door with some college students talking about shared interests when I saw the blood drain from their faces. They looked at me and said pointedly, “Time to scoot; we need to leave now.” I was taken aback by this abrupt end to our budding conversation and followed them out onto the street, where we were confronted with a sight...

Exclusive: Filming is due to get underway next week in Canada on indie feature Morningside, which will star singer-songwriter and two-time Juno Award winner Fefe Dobson, Lovell Adams-Gray (Power Book II: Ghost), Kiana Madeira (Fear Street series), Alex Mallari Jr. (Ginny and Georgia), Joanne Jansen (Shadowhunters), Olunike Adeliyi (The Porter) and Brandon McKnight (The Flash).

Writer-director Ron Dias (Bite of a Mango) and actress-writer Joanne Jansen, both of Toronto-based production company Ron & Aussie, are teaming up on Morningside which will chart the intertwining lives within Scarborough’s Morningside community center. The film will chart personal struggles, relationships, and societal challenges faced by the diverse set of characters amid the looming threat of gentrification.

The project will be distributed in the U.S. on SVOD by AMC’s All Blk, which contributed funding, alongside private investors.

“Our commitment to reshaping the narrative and authentically portraying the resilience of the Scarborough community remains steadfast within Morningside,...

Final casting has been announced for “Danzig”, a new Canadian-made feature inspired by the 2012 Danzig Street shooting in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough.

Confirmed to join the project in leading roles are actress and Juno-winning singer-songwriter Fefe Dobson and Iñigo Pascual, whose credits include “Monarch” and “Jo Koy: In His Elements”.

Director-producer Ron Dias and writer-producer Joanne Jansen — who last collaborated on 2020’s “Bite of a Mango” — reunite to tell the story of two individuals whose worlds collide in the midst of one of Toronto’s worst mass shootings.

Joanne Jansen and Ron Dias. Photo: Marvin Morgan

“Claiming the lives of two, young, innocent victims and leaving 24 injured, this senseless act of violence at the 2012 Danzig Street BBQ caused a painful ripple through the Scarborough community still felt today,” reads a press release for the upcoming film. “Re-telling this tragic event from a community lens, Ron & Aussie Productions seek to shed light on this story,...

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Canadian singer-songwriter Fefe Dobson and Inigo Pascual are set to star in Danzig (working title), an indie film drama inspired by a real-life 2012 gang shooting in inner-city Toronto.

The film sees director Ron Dias and screenwriter Joanne Jansen combine to portray two people whose worlds collide on Danzig Street in Scarborough. Pascual will play the role of Joshua Yasay, based on a real person who was caught up in the deadly shooting incident, while Dobson will perform the fictional role of his love interest.

No word on additional casting. Danzig will take place amid a turf war between rival gangs in Scarborough, where the characters of Nipsey and his brother Breeze do whatever it takes to keep other gangs out of their neighborhood.

Nipsey’s longtime girlfriend, Shanice, kicks him out of their home for cheating and afterwards finds a blood-marked gun in her car,...