Return to El Salvador is essentially a call to arms, in the best sense, to the world to not forget this hard-scrabble Central American nation whose civil war, seemingly continued long after peace was negotiated in 1992.

The film, created with the One Horizon Foundation, is well-shot and contains some searing elements that will keep your eyes on the screen. It is more of a community activist film than a documentary. Of note is that it bears occasional narration by the peerless Martin Sheen -- long a union activist and all-round humanist. (When Sheen and his son Emilio Estevez were in Toronto for the film festival in September, they walked the picket lines with striking hotel workers).

Maury Chaykin died this week on his 61st birthday. Some obits called him a character actor. It's basically a film-TV term -- where Maury mostly worked -- as opposed to star. Another term is supporting actor versus leading man. It's a shame he didn't do more stage work, where physical typing isn't as great. I once wrote a play on the Montreal Canadiens; a sports type who met the actor cast as Rocket Richard said, "You can't have a fat Rocket!" But you can and we did. Maury was a beautiful guy in his prime but not a typical movie lead; yet he'd have made a great Lear or Prospero. Asked by Jian Ghomeshi for a role he felt he'd nailed, Maury joked, "Hamlet," making you think it may have been on his wish list.

Vancouver- and Barcelona-based filmmaker Claudia Medina recently screened the short documentary "Life After Growth" which she co-directed with Leah Temper, at the De-Growth Conference in Vancouver. Medina spoke to Am Johal over the phone from her hometown of Powell River, B.C.

Am Johal: I was at a conference a while back where a few economists were speaking about the economic collapse. After they spoke, I couldn't believe the anger generated toward them. A lot of people just said, ‘why should we listen to you people anymore?' There also seems to be a rising chorus of people looking at GDP as an outdated economic indicator in the context of climate change. What's your take on that?