This week Nicola and Di chat with talented filmmaker Jasmin Tarasin and lead actress Maeve Dermody about their new film Life Could Be A Dream. Jasmin is an award-winning filmmaker and artist who creates emotionally charged heartfelt stories driven by humanity and honesty. She is passionate about creating change in gender equality through storytelling in every part of her work. Maeve is an accomplished actress who starred in her first film at the age of 5 and has been acting ever since in television, theatre and films in both Australia and Britain. Every so often a story comes along that really sticks with you and sparks a bigger conversation. Life Could Be A Dream, already winning Best Independent Film at the Montreal Film Festival, is one of those films. It’s a powerful, intimate film that uses storytelling to shine a light on coercive control, financial abuse and those quieter patterns that can sit underneath relationships. It’s also a story of hope and resilience about how we can start to see things more clearly and make different choices moving forward. 

In this episode we chat to Jasmin about her work leading up to this film and what inspired her to tell a story about coercive control. We talk about what coercive control actually is, how you can recognise the subtle patterns or signs of it, and importantly, we also go through some of the very practical steps you can take to regain your own financial agency. 

We talk to Maeve about what it was like making the film, the beautiful cinematography, the powerful story and how we both felt when we watched it. It’s a film that really moved us, and even though it tackles a heavy topic, it does so in such a thoughtful and gentle way. As Jasmin says in this chat, she sees the film as a story of hope, family and resilience and as a love song to young men. 

Life Could Be A Dream is in cinemas in Australia from May 14th and a percentage of the ticket sales will go to The Man Cave, a preventative mental health charity for boys and young men. We loved having both Jasmin and Maeve in the studio with us and we hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did. 

This episode is proudly supported by Montgomery Investment Management, trusted experts helping you build and protect your financial future. For further information, please contact David Buckland, Chief Executive Officer or Rhodri Taylor, Account Manager on (02) 8046 5000 or investor@montinvest.com

We’ve created a special offer for our Back Fence listeners to use at Positive Energy. Listeners can get a 10 class pack for $150 (save $90) or 25% off an unlimited membership for 3 months. Use code: BACKFENCEPE to activate your special offer. 

We'd love you to join us for our Backfence Disco on Friday, May 29th at Positive Energy in Sydney. It's going to be such a fun night and we can't wait to dance the night away with you in person! Buy your tickets here: https://events.humanitix.com/over-the-back-fence-disco

Follow Nicola and Di on IG here - https://www.instagram.com/overthebackfencepodcast/

Follow Jasmin on IG here - https://www.instagram.com/jasmintarasin/

Follow Life Could Be a Dream on IG here - https://www.instagram.com/lifecouldbeadreamofficial/

Find out more about the film and watch the trailer here - https://lifecouldbeadream.com.au/

Find out more about The Man Cave, a preventative mental health charity who will receive a portion of the ticket price - https://themancave.life/

Watch Over The Back Fence on YouTube here - https://www.youtube.com/@Overthebackfencepodcast/podcasts

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