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Gus Van Sant’s latest film “The Sea of Trees” prominently features the Aokigahara forest, popularly known as “The Suicide Forest” because of its reputation as one of the most popular suicide spots in the world. However, Van Sant isn’t the only director with a film that explores the mystery and danger of the Suicide Forest. First there was the supernatural horror film “The Forest,” and now there’s Nadia Litz’s latest film “The People Garden.”

The film follows Sweetpea (Dree Hemingway), a young woman who travels to Japan to break up with her rocker boyfriend Jamie (François Arnaud). But when she arrives, Jamie is nowhere to be found and was last seen shooting a music video at the base of the Aokigahara forest. Sweetpea resolves to find him with the help of local ranger Mak (Jai West), but she soon discovers a mystery far larger than she anticipated.

How did an indie auteur from Canada come to direct HBO’s spectacular epic “Game of Thrones?”

When writer-director Jeremy Podeswa was asked to helm an episode of Showtime series “Queer as Folk,” which was looking for local directors for its Canadian locations, he figured it was a temporary detour from his career as an indie auteur. His 1999 film, “The Five Senses,” was developed in the Sundance Labs and played Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes. But after “Queer,” producer Alan Poul, who championed “The Five Senses” at Sundance, sought out Podeswa to direct HBO’s “Six Feet Under.” Podeswa did, enthusiastically, one for each of its five seasons.

Podeswa moved on to the period riches of HBO’s “Carnivale,” his first crack at a more elevated genre with fantastical elements. And somehow, he landed the episode in which just about every major character had sex. “It was not an accident,” he said in our video interview.

How did an indie auteur from Canada come to direct HBO’s spectacular epic “Game of Thrones?”

When writer-director Jeremy Podeswa was asked to helm an episode of Showtime series “Queer as Folk,” which was looking for local directors for its Canadian locations, he figured it was a temporary detour from his career as an indie auteur. His 1999 film, “The Five Senses,” was developed in the Sundance Labs and played Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes. But after “Queer,” producer Alan Poul, who championed “The Five Senses” at Sundance, sought out Podeswa to direct HBO’s “Six Feet Under.” Podeswa did, enthusiastically, one for each of its five seasons.

Podeswa moved on to the period riches of HBO’s “Carnivale,” his first crack at a more elevated genre with fantastical elements. And somehow, he landed the episode in which just about every major character had sex. “It was not an accident,” he said in our video interview.

In Nadia Litz's new feature film "The People Garden," the mysterious Sweetpea (Dree Hemingway) travels to Japan to break up with Jamie (Francois Arnaud), her rock star boyfriend who's currently shooting a music video there with '90s sex symbol Signe (Pamela Anderson). When she arrives, the production crew informs her that Jamie has gone missing and was last seen deep in the forrest shooting the video. Sweetpea pledges to solve Jamie's disappearance with the help of cagey ranger Mak (Jai West), but she soon discovers a mystery far larger than she anticipated. Watch the trailer for "The People Garden" above. Read More: Monterey Media Acquires Female-Centric Western 'Big Muddy' "The People Garden" is Nadia Litz's second feature film after 2014's "Hotel Congress." She is best known as an actress, performing in such films like Jeremy Podeswa's "The Five Senses," Nicolas Winding Refn's "Fear X,...

Mary-Louise Parker is known for playing characters with a dry wit, but we had no idea she'd be exactly as deadpan and hilarious in person. We got to sit down one-on-one with the 48-year-old actress as she reprises her role of Sarah Ross in "Red 2," the sequel to 2010's retirees with ammunition flick that became a sleeper hit.

In the sequel, Sarah and Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) are going through a dry spell in their domesticated relationship but she's in for the ride of her life when Frank and the rest of the gang (including John Malkvich and Helen Mirren) have to save the world from a Cold War-era nuclear device.

Parker has had success in recent years with the TV show "Weeds" and will also take the female lead in this weekend's "R.I.P.D." She talked to us about stealing roles from younger women, returning to Broadway in "The Snow Geese,...

Today is the release of the Canadian film Leslie, My Name Is Evil in Canada. For this occasion, The Cultural Post would like to give you a look at the film's making-of.

Perry (Gregory Smith), a sheltered chemical engineer, falls in love with Leslie (Kristen Hager), a former homecoming princess, when he is selected to be a jury member at her hippie death cult murder trial. Perry has always done what is expected of him. He was a straight A student who got a good job at a chemical company and proposed to his virgin Christian girlfriend, Dorothy (Kristin Adams).

Leslie took a different path after she was traumatized by Kennedy’s assassination, her abortion and the divorce of her parents. She took LSD, joined a hippie death cult and helped murder a God-fearing citizen in her own home. When Perry and Leslie lock eyes in court, Perry is forced...

After a presence at the latest Toronto International Film Festival and Montreal's Festival du nouveau cinéma, Reginald Harkema's Leslie, My Name Is Evil will finally be released in Canada on May 21, 2010. This Canadian film is obviously a mix of drama, comedy and horror.

Synopsis:

Perry (Gregory Smith), a sheltered chemical engineer, falls in love with Leslie (Kristen Hager), a former homecoming princess, when he is selected to be a jury member at her hippie death cult murder trial. Perry has always done what is expected of him. He was a straight A student who got a good job at a chemical company and proposed to his virgin Christian girlfriend, Dorothy (Kristin Adams).

Leslie took a different path after she was traumatized by Kennedy’s assassination, her abortion and the divorce of her parents. She took LSD, joined a hippie death cult and helped murder a God-fearing citizen in her own home.

• When Jakob was a boy, the last thing his mother said to him as she hid him underneath a covered table was not to come out, no matter what. In the moments that followed, Jakob watched as his mother took a rifle to her head, his father then shot dead and his older sister was dragged out of their home by her hair. It’s no wonder Jakob would grow up to become a man who lives his life as if he were still cowering under that same table. The connection between past and present centers the vast story of Canadian director, Jeremy Podeswa’s Fugitive Pieces. Based on the prize-winning novel of the same name by Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces follows Jakob from his childhood through the rest of his life, from his escape from Nazi-controlled Poland to his exile in Greece alongside his surrogate father, Athos, and finally to Canada,

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TORONTO -- The world premiere of Fugitive Pieces, the latest work from Canadian director Jeremy Podeswa, will launch the The Toronto International Film Festival 32nd edition, organizers said Thursday.

Podeswa's third feature, following Eclipse and The Five Senses, tells the story of a man haunted by his childhood experiences during the Holocaust, who eventually finds solace and love in Toronto.

The drama was shot last year in Greece and Canada at a cost of $9.5 million.

The choice follows in the tradition of Toronto selecting a homegrown director to launch the festival before star-driven Hollywood releases and other high-profile international entries take center stage.

Last year, Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn's opening-night film, The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, had a bit of it's thunder stolen when projection problems halted the midnight world premiere of Larry Charles' Borat: Cultural Leanings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

Despite the snafu, the Sacha Baron Cohen-starring comedy from 20th Century Fox became the most-hyped movie of Toronto in 2006.

Film Independent unveiled the fellows for its seventh annual Directors Lab, a seven-week program designed to help directors working in independent films.

This year's participants and their projects, announced Friday, are Eric Escobar, Army of One; Silas Howard, Exactly Like You; Joshua Leonard, Spectacular Regret; Alonso Mayo, The Story of Luke; Nicki Paluga, The Swiss Village; Robbie Pickering, Natural Selection; Sharat Raju, Sacred Grounds; and Amie Williams, Jua Kali.

Helmers Keith Gordon (Waking the Dead and Jeremy Podeswa (The Five Senses) will teach the lab, which takes place in Los Angeles through April 16. Guest speakers will include Bill Condon, Laura Dern, Catherine Hardwicke and Nicole Holofcener.