Latest news with #Busby
Web Release
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Web Release
Film Volt Group To Champions Human-Centric Storytelling at TIFF 2025 with Bold Slate of Projects
UK-Canadian production and distribution company Film Volt Group is making headlines with a powerful new slate of content that places authentic storytelling at the heart of its mission. Led by CEO and Founder Mark Busby, Film Volt Group is showcasing a collection of bold, socially resonant titles including the highly anticipated feature film Daring Greatly and the ground-breaking documentary series Beyond Bionics. These projects signal a return to purposeful filmmaking in an industry increasingly dominated by algorithms and spectacle. 'We've spent the past 18 months developing stories that matter stories that don't just entertain, but resonate,' said Busby. 'Audiences are hungry for truth, for human connection, and for stories that reflect the world around them. That's what we're bringing to Tiff in September.' Daring Greatly: A True Crime Drama That Dares to Go Deeper At the centre of the Cannes slate is Daring Greatly, a true-crime psychological thriller based on real events in Toronto's LGBTQ+ community. Written by British screenwriter Julie Ann White, the film is a gripping, emotional journey that exposes institutional failures while celebrating resilience and the fight for justice. Set for full pre-production later this year, Daring Greatly is part of Film Volt Group's UK-Canada co-production initiative and has already drawn early interest from distributors in North America and Europe. Casting announcements are expected in the coming months, with a launch event planned for TIFF 2025. Beyond Bionics: A Global Documentary with a Human Pulse Film Volt Group is also unveiling Beyond Bionics, an international documentary series exploring the use of prosthetics in war zones and under-resourced communities. With filming taking place in Ukraine, Canada, and parts of Asia, the project is being produced in collaboration with medical NGOs and military veteran organizations. Through personal stories of trauma, recovery, and innovation, Beyond Bionics offers a visceral look at how technology and humanity intersect and how resilience transcends borders. A Mission-Driven Slate Backed by Data All Film Volt Group titles are evaluated using its proprietary Sabre Analytics™ system a forecasting and data modelling tool that assesses audience trends, emotional engagement, and market alignment. Early data shows that purpose-driven films and series with social impact themes have experienced a 42% spike in engagement across AVOD and SVOD platforms over the past year. This data-led strategy is already proving effective, with several Film Volt titles securing international broadcast discussions ahead of TIFF 2025. Partnerships, Platforms, and Global Growth Film Volt Group is actively pursuing co-production, distribution, and financing partnerships for its 2025–2026 slate across the UK, Canada, Australia, the U.S., and beyond. With the launch of new operations in Toronto and a planned studio division in Australia (2025/26), the company is scaling up to meet global demand for meaningful, diverse storytelling. We're building bridges not just between countries, but between creators and audiences,' said Busby. 'From neurodivergent filmmakers to veterans-turned-creatives, our slate reflects the world as it really is.'
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
The science behind the smell of rain
You know the smell. It's there every time the first fat raindrops hit the ground—a distinctive, earthy scent that suffuses the air, an aroma that speaks of the changing seasons and promises relief from stifling summer heat. There's a name for the smell of rain, too: 'petrichor,' a poetic portmanteau of the Greek words 'petros' (stone) and 'ichor' (the blood of the gods in Greek mythology). Petrichor: the smell of rain. But what causes it? The name 'petrichor' was coined by Australian scientists Isabel Bear and Dick Thomas in 1964, in a paper that constituted perhaps the first serious scientific attempt to explain the phenomenon. The duo used the word to refer to an oil that they distilled from samples of soil and vegetation that were left for up to a year exposed to air and daylight but shielded from rain. They found that the oil contained a complex mixture of volatile organic compounds. One question left unanswered by Bear and Thomas was the origin of these compounds, and subsequent research has focused on one particular compound, a volatile bicyclic alcohol called geosmin. The compound was isolated a year after Bear and Thomas's paper, and its name literally means 'earth smell.' Along with another volatile organic compound called 2-methylisoborneol or 2-MIB, geosmin is primarily responsible for the characteristic smell of earth—and both contribute greatly to the smell of rain. Ryan Busby, an ecologist at the US Army's Corps of Engineers, tells Popular Science that these compounds exist in soil the world over, and that they're spritzed into the air whenever soil is disturbed. '[The compounds] accumulate in the pore spaces in the soil,' Busby explains. 'There might be some binding to soil particles. [And] research has shown that that impact with the soil surface causes the volatiles to be released into the atmosphere.' So where do geosmin and 2-MIB come from? Busby says that while the source of both compounds remains the subject of plenty of active research, the current scientific consensus is that they are released by soil-dwelling bacteria. Differing ratios of the two compounds may explain why the smell differs subtly from place to place. 'Geosmin is pretty consistent across the environment, while 2-MIB is more variable. [Where 2-MIB is present], it is released in much higher concentrations, so you get areas where there's huge concentrations, and then areas where there's none,' Busby says. The other components that make up petrichor—a myriad less powerful plant-related volatiles, and also perhaps the distinctive acrid smell of ozone that accompanies lightning—vary from location to location. Humans are remarkably sensitive to the smell of geosmin, in particular. In water, it can be detected at concentrations as low as 4 ng/L, which equates to about one teaspoon in 200 Olympic swimming pools. Busby says there are several theories for why this might be. 'One [theory] is finding water sources,' he explains. 'Geosmin seems to be more prevalent in moist, fertile soils.' The presence of moist soil means the presence of water, and it's easy to see how being able to catch a whiff of geosmin on the wind and follow it to a source of water would provide a valuable evolutionary advantage. It's not just humans who appear to be able to rely on the scent of these volatile compounds to find water, Busby says. 'Camels can detect geosmin and find oases in the desert from 50 miles away. Mosquitoes use it to find stagnant ponds for laying eggs, and raccoons use it to find turtle nests and buried eggs.' But while the smell of geosmin and 2-MIB are appealing to us, their taste is the complete opposite. 'It's kind of funny,' muses Busby. 'We love the smell, but we hate the taste.' In water, these compounds are responsible for the musty, moldy taste that indicates that water isn't safe to drink. Busby says, 'Any time you drink water and you think, 'Oh, this, this tastes like lake water,' it's because those compounds are dissolved in what you're drinking.' Again, there's most likely an evolutionary reason for this: it's one thing for the soil around a water source to smell of bacteria, but if the water itself carries the distinctive musty odor of geosmin and 2-MIB, it also most likely carries the potential for gastrointestinal unpleasantness. Busby says that this explains why geosmin and 2-MIB are 'the primary odor contaminants of drinking water globally.' There's one unanswered question here, though: why are geosmin and 2-MIB there in the first place? As Busby points out, while it's clear that 'there are a number of uses for geosmin for us, we're not sure exactly why [bacteria] produce it in such quantities. It's a [large] energy cost to produce a chemical like that.' So why do soil-borne bacteria pump out geosmin and 2-MIB? What's in it for them? A paper published in Nature Microbiology in 2020 suggested a possible answer. The study examined interactions between Streptomyces—one variety of geosmin- and 2-MIB-producing bacteria—and small creatures called springtails. (Springtails are one of three varieties of six-legged arthropods that are not considered insects, and they have a taste for bacteria.) Crucially, the researchers found that in the bacteria studied, geosmin and 2-MIB were produced only by colonies that were also producing reproductive spores. In fact, they can only be produced by those specific colonies: 'The genes for geosmin and 2-MIB synthases are under the direct control of sporulation-specific transcription factors, constraining emission of the odorants to sporulating colonies,' the paper explains. Springtails are attracted by geosmin and 2-MIB, so unsurprisingly, upon arrival at the odor-emitting colonies, they helped themselves happily to a tasty microbial snack. In doing so, they also consumed the bacterial spores. The spores were then able to pass through the springtail's digestive tracts and emerge ready for action from the other end. Busby says this might also explain why the smell of rain is strongest when it comes from rain hitting dry soil. 'As soil dries out, the bacteria are going to go dormant, and there seems to be a flush of release [at that point]. So from that respect, [the compounds] are a way to attract something that maybe will carry [the bacteria] to a more conducive environment for growth.' It might feel like the poetic appeal of petrichor is diminished somewhat by discovering that the oh-so-evocative smell of rain most likely exists to encourage a bunch of tiny arthropods to poop out bacterial spores. But ultimately, it's another example of nature finding a way—a co-evolutionary relationship that recalls bees and pollen, and one that extends its benefits to the rest of us. So the next time the rain hits dry soil, think about the tiny bacteria that both lead us to water and stop us drinking from sources that might harm us. This story is part of Popular Science's Ask Us Anything series, where we answer your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the ordinary to the off-the-wall. Have something you've always wanted to know? Ask us.
Scoop
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Halfway Release Matches, The 2nd Single From Their New Album The Styx
Halfway have been a band for quarter of a century, and across that time they've made eight studio albums, each of which has received a wealth of critical acclaim. From their origins in 2000, Halfway have developed their style and songs into cinematic soundscapes, lush with pedal steel, densely layered guitars, and driving rhythms. Halfway's new album, The Styx, features the return to the fold of band co-founder Chris Dale after a six-year absence, and contributions from guests including Chris Abrahams (The Necks, Midnight Oil) and Adele Pickvance (The Go-Betweens). ' The Palace ' was the first taste of the new album and now they reveal the second single ' Matches ', written by John Busby and bassist Ben Johnson. The song creaks and shimmers to life courtesy of its gently sparkling guitars and atmospheric keys. Drums enter the fray as the music swells and expands into an evocative sound akin to the best of Mercury Rev, where musical dreams and memories coexist. " The coals of a fire are neither flame nor ash. 'Matches' sits in the space between ignition and extinction, rooted in uncertainty," says Johnson. " The stories of The Styx inhabit that uncertain ground where nothing is fully on or off, alive or gone. What begins as fire ends as cinders and lingers softly afterward." A concept album of sorts, The Styx is situated in a remote Australian coastal town during the Christmas of 1986 and explores themes of family, isolation, love, and betrayal. " Growing up, my family would spend time at Stanage Bay in Central Queensland, which is a small fishing village situated to the southeast of the Styx River. It was a remote and beautiful place," reflects Busby. He didn't know anything about Greek mythology but saw the beauty and the danger there just the same. On fishing trips with his father and a cast of characters who might have walked out of the pages of a John Steinbeck story, he must have heard a hundred times: 'People drown in here.' Seeds were planted. ' The whole Stanage Bay / Styx River area, and the people there, are a big part of this record. When some of the band and our friends started to inform the songs, I knew I had to set it at the bay,' says Busby. ' It's a place full of beauty and mystery. I had been wanting to base a story there for a long time.' There is nothing mythic about these stories of love, lust, longing, and leaving, which feel as real as an errant fishhook deep into flesh. Brothers George and Lennie are the kind of hard-bitten characters who might be found in stories by Steinbeck or Richard Flanagan, battling the elements and themselves and always with an eye out for the fishing inspectors. Just before daylight, Lennie goes to check the nets. He doesn't return. The recording of the album took on a different form for the band, who recorded themselves in Brisbane before Mark Nevers (Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Lambchop, Calexico, George Jones) shaped the mix of the songs at his South Carolina studio, with Busby alongside him. ' We usually just record live in a room, but this one started quietly. Just my guitar and vocals, layering it track by track, and then recording the drums last. A weird back-to-front album, but it gave us the chance to put the story / songs first rather than concentrate on how the songs would work live.' The sound the band has concocted is one of sweeping beauty and sonic grace, both heartfelt and tragic. Guitar strings and keys wash across the speakers, like the ocean breeze and the river tide. Drawing on the influence of bands such as The Triffids and Phosphorescent, Halfway seamlessly blend alt-country and indie rock sensibilities, providing the songs with a hypnotic and compelling backdrop to these poetic tales from the Australian coastline. As in their songs, as in life. Love lost and found, the pain and the hope, the past and the landscape ever-present. Great songwriting often finds a way to make the deeply personal feel universal. Few bands navigate that path as surely as Halfway across their nine timeless albums.
The Guardian
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Football quiz: test your knowledge of one-sided European Cup finals
United were 4-0 up at half-time but Matt Busby told his team to ease off in the second half
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Heartland' and Hallmark movie, TV star Cindy Busby highlights the beauty of 'Canadians telling a Canadian story'
Montreal-born actor Cindy Busby became a household name for many when she landed the role of Ashley Stanton on the beloved Canadian show Heartland. The love for Busby only grew when she began starring in Hallmark movies, including Hallmark's very first series Cedar Cove with Andie MacDowell, and she even worked with a young Sydney Sweeney in a thriller. For Busby, performing was something she always felt like she was "born to do." But things really became clear for the actor in high school. "[In] my graduating yearbook I said I was going to be a professional actor and people were like, 'What's your backup plan?' ... There's no backup plan, this is it," Busby told Yahoo Canada. "And I think a lot of that was a little bit naive, to be honest." From high school plays Busby transitioned to the theatre program at Dawson College in Montreal, a different path from some actors who might go straight into finding an agent, and auditioning for roles in TV shows and movies. "Although I probably could have propelled myself into just auditioning and getting an agent, and doing that right out of the gate, I just didn't really know any better, because I didn't grow up in a family that was in the movie industry," Busby said. The actor is quick to admit it wasn't all "sunshine and rainbows" pursuing a professional acting career, from trying to get enough work to make a living, to navigating so many auditions, but she had the "perseverance" to keep going. As Busby described, she graduated from college in 2003, and 2004 was really the year she dove deep into her career, but stressed that there were a lot of ups and down as she started auditioning regularly. "It took me a couple years to really navigate and figure out what the heck I was doing and how to audition, because in theatre school, we learned a little bit about auditioning for movies and television, but it wasn't as in dept," she said. "I feel like it's one of the greater lessons, is never having attachment to that moment you think is going to be the moment, because you just never know." While Busby can now be seen in When Hope Calls, and maintains an active YouTube channel, looking forward in her career, one thing Busby wants to do is a "full blown comedy," something like Bridesmaids. "I love making people laugh. I love laughing. I love being silly. I love sacrificing my own pride to just make someone laugh. I just love being ridiculous," she said. "I always like to bring comedy to everything I do, to some capacity, because I think it's kind of what grounds us in a lot of ways." "And I wouldn't mind doing a really kind of gritty indie movie, like something that just evokes thought and emotion, and just offers a bit of reflection on life." Busby worked with Back to the Future and Some Kind of Wonderful star Lea Thompson in the 2007 TV movie A Life Interrupted, a film about Debbie Smith's sexual assault case. With Back to the Future being Busby's "favourite movie of all time," the actor was particularly excited about working with Thompson. "I'll never forget it, I walked into my costume fitting and usually in a production office there's the photos of the actors who are playing what part, and I just remember looking at the photos and seeing mine, and then looking at the woman playing my mom and my jaw dropping," Busby recalled. "And looking at the costume designer and being like, what's happening here? She's like, 'Oh, Lea Thompson, she's playing your mom, Debbie.' ... And I was just like, playing it cool. I just remember going home and calling my mom and being like, 'Mom, you're never going to believe this!'" "[Lea Thompson] did not disappoint. First of all, she's the sweetest human. So talented, cares so much. And I think it was like on day three when I told her that I was a massive Back to the Future fan and she was so welcoming of that, and she was like, oh my gosh, those were the days, that movie changed my life, my trajectory. And she would give me anecdotes of her time on set. I just loved it and held on to it. And actually later on, when I ended up getting my visa and my green card, she actually wrote a letter of recommendation for me. ... In a lot of ways, she was a very important person for me in my career. But also, just someone I looked up to and it was really a full circle moment." The CBC hit Heartland is Canada's longest running one-hour drama, entertaining fans since 2007. Busby plays Ashley Stanton on the show, starting as a high school mean girl, moving on to exploring her relationship with her mother, to the journey of Ashley and Caleb (Kerry James). While starring in the show for Season 1 to Season 4, Busby returned in Season 7, and again in Season 18. "Heartland was a show that just truly changed my life in so many ways," Busby said. "It was the first role ... where I got to work consistently, and for months on end, and it wasn't like a full-time gig, but it was enough." "It ended after four seasons and I was just kind of ready to do other things, or try other opportunities, and because it was such a commitment it was difficult for me to do other jobs while I was doing that. But it's always been like my baby, in a lot of ways. It's like my achilles heel. ... The fan base is just so loyal and so massive all over the world, on Netflix, worldwide." Speaking about her return to the show, Busby was incredibly excited to come back, but she did have to think hard about playing Ashley Stanton again. "I'm going to be honest, I really had to think about it, because part of me was like, have I outgrown this role? ... Can I still show up and do the character justice? Which is the most important thing to me, and not just do something because it comes my way, but do it for the the right reasons," Busby said. "I sat with it and I watched some of my episodes from the past, and that was kind of nice to go back in time, and then I was like, you know what, I'm going to do this for the fans." "Anyone who goes on my Instagram will see the number one question I ever get asked is, 'Are you ever coming back on Heartland?' And it's like an ongoing joke with my friends and my family, because the fans are so passionate about it, which is the most incredible feeling, because it just shows that I did the character justice, and people loved her. She was the character that everyone loved to hate, and hated to love, and all that stuff. So it was really special to get to go back and just to get to work with my friends. And because that show was such a monumental moment for everyone involved, it's kind of bonded us for life, where I felt so welcome, so loved. When I was on set, everyone was so excited to see me, and I was so excited to see them. It was really special. I definitely came back home after that experience on cloud nine, because it was just fun. It was like getting to go to a high school reunion." When Busby reflects on what has really resonated with people about Heartland, she stressed that, first and foremost, it was "Canadians telling a Canadian story." "So many American productions come to Canada, which we're all so grateful for, because it gives incredible jobs, but to be able to tell Canadian stories and show the most beautiful parts of Canada is truly magnificent. ... It's a beautiful show that really shows off Canada, which I'm super proud of. We actually use Canadian money in the show, that's really cool!" Busby said. "And to be able to have family-friendly content is something that I think, at the time when it came out, there wasn't necessarily a lot of." "And then, ... what I've come to realize is there is a massive love and appreciation for any story that has to do with horses. ... People love those stories, they can't get enough of them. ... A lot of times the stories are done in a period piece, ... but this one takes place in present time. So I think that makes it even more special. And there is a huge horse culture out there that, whether it's in Alberta, whether it's in Texas, whether it's in Montana, there's some everywhere, and it's a really beautiful thing that brings people together, and they bond over that." While Busby now has an impressive list of Hallmark projects under her belt, the first one was Cedar Cove, the first series from Hallmark. Coming in midway through the second season, she played assistant district attorney Rebecca Jennings. But before Busby landed the show, she had auditioned for Hallmark projects when she was living in Vancouver, but for some reason none of those auditions resulted in a job. "I remember thinking, why have I not booked one of these projects?" Busby said. "Like, look at my face. I feel like I'm 'Girl Next Door,' ... and for some reason it just wasn't working. And then I ended up booking Cedar Cove." But while Cedar Cove was history-making for Hallmark, Unleashing Mr. Darcy is what Busby identified as the project that "completely changed the trajectory" of her career. "It put me in a lead perspective and it, to this day, I think is one of the most popular movies they've ever created on the network," she said. "A lot of that maybe has to do with the fact that we have so many cute dogs in the movie, and a lot of us were all fresh faces on the network. There was myself, I'd never been a lead on a movie. There was Ryan Paevey, who'd never been a lead on a movie, but was a beloved soap actor. ... It was just a fresh movie with a fresh twist on a beloved book, 'Pride and Prejudice.'" "And then after that, movies just kept coming my way, and leads. And I'm forever grateful for those opportunities, because ... it levelled me up in my career and in my craft." Before we saw Sydney Sweeney in The Handmaid's Tale, Euphoria, The White Lotus, and Anyone But You, she worked with Busby in the TV movie The Wrong Daughter. Busby plays Kate, who wants to connect with the daughter she placed for adoption years ago, but things take a dark turn. "When I worked with [Sydney Sweeney], she had just finished a couple really big projects that were undoubtedly going to propel her to some sort of stardom," Busby said. "But you just never know in this industry, and there's so many talented, beautiful people that just don't make it, ... and it's been truly incredible to see her [career]." "I'll be driving down Sunset Boulevard here in L.A. and I'll just see her on a massive building. ... And the girl that I knew in that movie, who I'm sure she still is to this day, is just a down to earth sweetheart, so smart. When I worked with her ... she was working her butt off and was going to school full-time, and we got along really well. ... We had like every scene together, so we had a lot of conversations about life and boys and school and troubles and the industry, and all that. ... I'm just so excited for her and happy that things worked out the way they did. I hope that she's happy with it." Then Busby was part of another interesting Hallmark evolution, the Unwrapping Christmas movies, where each leading woman had her own film, but with each character showing up in all four stories. Busby led Unwrapping Christmas: Olivia's Reunion. "I feel like it highlighted each person's journey and how everyone fit into each other's journey," Busby said. "We each individually shot our movies and then we did crossover scenes. So any of the scenes that we had together in our movies, we shot over a period of six days." "I didn't know any of the ladies going into it, so I had to use a lot of my imagination, and as I usually do, I immediately messaged all three of them and was like, 'Hey, welcome aboard! So excited to get to know you!' And just trying to create a bond with them before we actually met, so that I had something to work off of as an actor. And then when we met on set ... we immediately were like, 'Whoa, we would actually be really good friends in real life,' and we were all so different." But it was the differences in each story that really appealed to Busby. "You want to be able to show different women who have different personalities and different things, but they come together," she said.
