Suza Singh. Filmmaker.

“There’s people we love working with here (in Alberta), really amazing people. There’s so much talent here.”

After travelling to over 40 countries and living in many of them, Suza Singh and her family decided they would move to Calgary from Manchester, England to “try it out.” They must have liked what they saw because 15 years later, they’re still here. The accomplished filmmaker is earning rave reviews, awards, and accolades for her latest film, Honorable Sins, and believes Alberta has some of the best untapped talent in the industry.

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What are your creative outlets?

“I’ve always been a creative. When I was younger, I wanted to go to London to do film and my mom said, “get a real job.” So I didn’t go but I’ve always loved it. For me, I love to oil paint, I compose music, I write scripts, I film, and I act. So it’s the one entity where you can actually do all those things.”

Your most recent film, Honorable Sins, is getting a lot of attention in the film festival world. How does that feel?“We’ve been playing in New York, Las Vegas, Montreal and loads of places like San Francisco, LA, Toronto and London. We just won Best Ensemble, Best Young Actress and Best Modern Western in New York – and we also won for Best Female Director in Toronto. So, we’re really excited about those.”

What did you fall in love with about Calgary?“Well, the mountains! Obviously, everyone is going to say the same thing. I love when you’re driving down (Trans Canada Highway) and you can see the mountains over the top. I love it. And Calgary itself, it’s beautiful. I love that it’s a small city. I mean, it’s not tiny but it’s small enough that it’s not a rat race.”

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What do you love about your community?“What I love about the northeast is the fact that – well, when I was a kid I was the only person of colour growing up in town and I faced a lot of racism. Because my daughter is a person of colour, when she is in the northeast, she doesn’t feel like people are pointing at her and that she’s in the minority. But I love the northeast! I love the food there. And there’s so much culture.”

How have you been faring during the pandemic? Thriving? Surviving? Merely coasting?“To be honest with you, I focused on the best things that have happened during the pandemic. And I’ll tell you what they are: I see people talking to each other, I see families engaging with each other, I see people happy to talk to each other. What I’m not happy about and I’m not navigating well is the small businesses closing. I feel strongly that they need to survive because they’re what make a community great and we need them.”

To follow Suza and learn more about some of her work, check out her IMDB page at https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5739770/