I know, I know. Milestones are meaningless. But five hundred episodes of Someone Else’s Movie ain’t nothing — it’s nine years of work that I’m truly proud of, a project I wasn’t sure would survive the pandemic but which would up evolving into a magnificent octopus of cinematic conversation with artists from all over the world. Every time I worry about burning out or running low on new guests, someone else comes along to engage fully with the concept and I’m reminded just how rewarding it can be to engage with artists about art.

This week, it’s Sara Canning, an actor you’ve seen in all sorts of film and TV projects over the last decade and a half, and with Christian Sparkes’ Sweetland and Sean Garrity’s The Burning Season rolling out across the country this month, it seemed like a perfect time to have her on the show.

And Sara picked a great title: Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene, the 2011 Sundance breakout that introduced us to Elizabeth Olsen as a young woman hiding out with her sister (Sarah Paulson) and brother-in-law  (Hugh Dancy) after losing two years of her life to a charismatic cult leader (John Hawkes). It’s a chilling examination of PTSD as experienced by someone who’s only beginning to understand the trauma she’s carrying, and Sara remains in awe of Olsen’s mesmerizing intensity and Durkin’s intuitive storytelling.

Join us, won’t you? Subscribe to the show at the usual locations — Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify — or download it directly from the web and listen to it in a vain attempt to distract yourself from intrusive memories.

And then you should catch up on Shiny Things, where this week I threw some love at Nancy Savoca’s Dogfight, a film that’s long been due for a proper celebration and which finally gets one in a new Criterion Blu-ray release. Subscribe right here, won’t you?

Also, if you’re making plans for next week, you should know this month’s free See the North screening is Sook-Yin Lee’s Octavio Is Dead!, a loose and mournful exploration of gender roles, identity and the legacies parents leave to their children that offered both Lee and star Sarah Gadon the chance to try something radically different with their respective skill sets.

Come on down! 6:30 pm, Tuesday May 14th.  Tickets still available, at least at the time of this post. Sook-Yin will be joining me for a post-screening Q&A, so that’ll be fun too.