Asian Feminist Podcast: The Greatest Podcast in the World (feat. Ky Nam)
written and hosted by Sarah Barzak and Vidhya Elango
intro/outro: “Mako” by A.I.R.
This essay is published as part of the Youth Critics Initiative II, a collaborative program between the 24th Reel Asian Film Festival and TACLA.
Ky Nam Le Duc’s LE MEILLEUR PAYS DU MONDE, or GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD, which screened at the Reel Asian Film Festival in November 2020, was the festival’s first Canadian French language film. Set in the dead of winter in a familiar near-future Montreal, where anti-immigrant sentiments have become sedimented through the election of a far-right, fascistic provincial government, Greatest Country probes themes of masculinity, white supremacy, and immigration through its deeply complicated, nuanced, characters who ask us: what exactly do we owe each other under difficult circumstances?
In this podcast, Youth Critics Sarah Barzak and Vidhya Elango work through these complicated themes, as well as the politics of filmmaking in Quebec, through an interview with the Director, Ky Nam Le Duc, providing a feminist analysis and personal reflections along the way.
Support Migrant Rights Network in their vital work in fighting for status for all, decent work, and universal services for ALL migrants at migrantrights.ca/donate.
If you’re interested in hearing more from us, follow Sarah at @sarah.barzak on Instagram, and Vidhya at @vidhyeah on Twitter.
Thanks to Reel Asian, TACLA, and our editor, Grayson Lee for their support.
This podcast will be available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more within a week or so, for now you can check it out on Soundcloud.
Born in Milwaukee, raised in Canada, Sarah Barzak (She/They) is the eldest immigrant daughter of Malay-Palestinian descent. Her lived experiences as a mixed-race diasporic woman foster her passions of cross-cultural exchange, intersectional solidarity and storytelling. She is currently developing a podcast, Stories in Solidarity, to be released in 2021.
Vidhya Elango (she/her) is a second-gen South Indian kid from Toronto’s ethnoburbs. She is a master’s student in linguistics at the University of Toronto, where she researches the language practices of racialized youth in the GTA, and currently serves as a lead curator for the Block by Block project at the Toronto Ward Museum. You can usually find her biking around the city or inhaling hot takes on Twitter at @vidhyeah.
