Recordings are available for registered attendees and may be available in our website archive library at a future date.
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_____________________________________________________________________________ Joella Cabalu - Moderator Joella Cabalu is a Filipino-Canadian documentary filmmaker based in Vancouver. It Runs in the Family (2015) was her first mid-length documentary as a producer and director, receiving Audience Choice Awards at the Seattle Asian Film Festival and Vancouver Queer Film Festival and an honourable mention for the Loni Ding Award for Social Justice at CAAMFest. Since then, she has developed a track record as a creative and collaborative producer working with emerging women directors on compelling short documentaries, including Biker Bob’s Posthumous Adventure (Lunenburg 2019), Do I Have Boobs Now? (Slamdance 2017), and FIXED! (DOXA 2017). Most recently, she produced On Falling which celebrated its World Premiere and a Best Short Documentary nomination at Tribeca 2020. Currently, she is producing her first feature documentary Back Home with support from the Telefilm Talent to Watch fund and leading the curated photography project First Photo Here with the National Film Board Digital Studio. |
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_____________________________________________________________________________ Leah Cameron Leah Cameron is a Toronto-based writer, director and producer known for The Communist's Daughter, Coroner, Where Cool Came From and The Lion Shadows. Leah holds an MFA in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles where she received the Stefano Award of Excellence in Screenwriting for her work. Leah was a story editor on Season 2 of CBC Prime Time Drama, Coroner, and a story editor and writer on Season 3. She story edited Seasons 1 - 3 of the pop-cultural web series, Where Cool Came From, and co-directed episodes on seasons 2 and 3. Leah has studied directing at the National Screen Institute in Canada and was one of eight women selected to participate in Women in the Director's Chair Story and Leadership Program 2018. |
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_____________________________________________________________________________ Anne-Marie Gélinas Anne-Marie Gélinas, the founder of EMAfilms, produces feature films as well as documentaries of innovative and ambitious writers and directors from around the world. Released in 2020: BEANS (2020), a historical coming-of-age about a 12-year-old Mohawk girl set in the Oka Crisis, directed by Tracey Deer. The film premiered at TIFF in the Discovery and TIFF Next Wave sections; SLAXX (2020), directed by Elza Kephart, was selected for the SITGES and Fantasia festivals where it won the Gold Audience Award for Best Canadian Feature. Released in 2019, THIRD WEDDING, a feature by David Lambert (Hors les murs, Je suis à toi), a Canada-Belgium-Luxemburg coproduction starring Rachel Mwanza (War Witch) and Bouli Lanners (Les Géants); and LEPAGE AU SOLEIL-AT THE ORIGINS OF KANATA, a documentary by Hélène Choquette on Robert Lepage’s play Kanata that was caught in a media storm and cancelled. Amongst other titles, the famous TURBO KID premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was selected at SXSW, winning the Audience Award. The film played in more than 60 festivals, garnering 23 international prizes, including Best International Film at the Saturn Awards 2016.
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_____________________________________________________________________________ Ryan Mah Ryan Mah is a founding member of award-winning production company BlackRhino Creative and an accomplished producer and director of photography. Ryan earned his stripes working with Telus Originals, CBC and AMI and on productions such as Red Chef Revival, the latter earning him a Golden Sheaf Award (2020) a Webby Honoree (2020) as well as Best Documentary Series by Doc Weekly (2019). He has also shared his expertise in filmmaking by mentoring for the National Screen Institute. |
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_____________________________________________________________________________ Natalie Novak Remplakowski Natalie is an associate producer at Scythia Films led by founder and president, producer Daniel Bekerman. Recent credits include Viggo Mortensen’s directorial debut Falling, a UK/Canada Co-Production which had its World Premiere at Sundance 2020 before going on to be an Official Selection at the 73rd Edition of the Cannes Film Festival, as well as TIFF 2020. Other credits include Percy, now playing in theatres across Canada, starring Christopher Walken, Christina Ricci and Zach Braff as well as Slash/Back, an Arctic set sci-fi adventure movie directed by Nyla Innuksuk set for release in 2021, about a group of teen Inuk girls that fight off an alien invasion. Also set for release in 2021on CBC Gem is the short-form digital comedic digital series The Communist’s Daughter, created, written and directed by Leah Cameron, with Natalie serving as producer for LoCo Motion Pictures in Association with Natalie Novak Films with Lauren Corber serving as the executive producer. The project was the winning project at the CBC Comedy Digital Originals Pitch Competition at Just For Laughs in Montréal in 2018. Natalie Novak Films has been funded by the Independent Production Fund, Enterprise Toronto, William F. Whites as well as Ontario Creates to develop original scripted works including the only scripted series to be awarded the “Fund Futures” grant through Ontario Creates’ Interactive Digital Media Stream. Natalie is a graduate of York University’s Theatre Program with a Specialized Honours BFA in Acting. She is also a graduate of Toronto’s Second City Improv Conservatory. She is fluent in Polish and an EU Citizen. |
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_____________________________________________________________________________ Alison Duke An award-winning writer-producer-director and passionate artistic activist committed to boldly telling stories of resistance and change. Recently, she co-wrote and co-produced the television documentary ‘Mr.Jane and Finch’; (19) directed by Ngardy Conteh George which garnered two 2020 Canadian Screen Awards: the Donald Britain Award for Best Social/Political Documentary and Best Writing for a Documentary. During the same timeframe, she directed ‘Cool Black North’ (19) a two-hour television documentary special for CityTV/Rogers about the unique and vibrant Canadian Black Community and its role in our country’s contemporary identity. The movie goes about it through the POV of 15 former winners of the Harry Jerome Awards. The film was Roger’s top 10 streaming show in February 2019. Her short drama ‘Promise Me’, which tells a story about the powerful bond between a young girl and her ill mother is currently screening festivals and has won numerous awards including, the Standout Writing Award at the 2020 Reelworld Film Festival. |
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_____________________________________________________________________________ Tyler Hagan Tyler Hagan is a Métis-Canadian filmmaker based in Vancouver, B.C. His producing credits include the feature debut from Kathleen Hepburn NEVER STEADY, NEVER STILL (2017; Shirley Henderson, Theodore Pellerin), THE BODY REMEMBERS WHEN THE WORLD BROKE OPEN (2019) by Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Kathleen Hepburn; and the three short films: NO WORDS CAME DOWN (2011), JIMBO (2013) & NEVER STEADY, NEVER STILL (2015). THE BODY REMEMBERS WHEN THE WORLD BROKE OPEN premiered at the Berlinale 2019 and all his films have played at the Toronto International Film Festival, followed by four selections by TIFF for Canada’s Top Ten. THE BODY REMEMBERS was picked up for distribution by Ava Duvernay’s ARRAY, who released the film on Netflix and in Theatres in the US. The film received the prestigious Toronto Film Critics’ Association Best Canadian Film Award, as well as 3 Canadian Screen Awards for Best Direction, Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography; and 3 Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle Awards including Best Canadian Film. NEVER STEADY, NEVER STILL was nominated for 8 CSA Awards, again including Best Motion Picture, and won 3 awards from the Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle, including Best Canadian and Best BC Film. His directorial work has shown at Berlinale and includes work with the NFB, CBC, and the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver. He received his BFA in Film from Simon Fraser University. |
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_____________________________________________________________________________ Ana de Lara - Moderator Ana de Lara is a Filipina-Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter, who has garnered over thirty accolades for her films and screenplays. She is slated to direct the WIDC Telefilm Talent to Watch web series, BEST FRIEND ME, which she also co-wrote. De Lara recently produced two feature films: the award-winning and 2020 Best Picture Leo Award nominee OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS, and the soon-to-be-released Telefilm Talent to Watch drama, ALL-IN MADONNA. De Lara won the 2016 MPPIA Short Film Award, to direct her script GOOD GIRLS DON’T. The film was released in 2018 and has earned over a dozen film festival awards, including the 2019 Vancouver Women in Film Festival Matrix Award for outstanding achievement in a BC short. |
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Doreen Manuel Doreen Manuel (Secwepemc/Ktunaxa) MFA, Film Production, is the daughter of renowned international leader, the late, George Manuel and spiritual leader Marceline Manuel. She is the first Indigenous woman to: hold a position on the board of Directors of Knowledge Network; and to hold the position of Director of a major film centre in Canada. She is the 2019 Woman of the Year for Women in Film and TV Vancouver (WIFTV); the recipient of the Leadership in Education Award; and many other film industry and education leadership awards both provincially and nationally. Doreen holds positions on the Motion Picture Production Industry Association of BC Equity & Inclusion Committee and WIFTV Equity & Inclusion Lobby Group. She is a member of the Telefilm Indigenous Working Group and is a Telefilm partner with the Talent to Watch funding program. She is an advisor and mentor to the Telus Storyhive Indigenous envelope production fund; a National Screen Institute (NSI) mentor; and a Matriarch advisor to the IM4 virtual and augmented reality training program for Indigenous peoples, and is a founder and instructor of the esteemed WIFTV Tricksters and Writers feature film screenwriting program for Indigenous women. |
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S. Siobhan McCarthy Award-winning film and web series producer, S. Siobhan McCarthy, is the CEO and Executive Producer of blyssful PRODUCTIONS and red trike media inc. She is the co-creator, Executive Producer and Showrunner of the award-winning, comedy web series PARKED.Down Here, her first feature film, which she produced, premiered at the 2013 Whistler Film Festival and had its theatrical debut in April 2015. Down Here won the Award of Excellence at the Canada Film Festival, in the Canadian Feature Film Competition. After spending the past decade and a half producing films and series, McCarthy was thrilled for her debut as a Director at the 2018 Cannes Court de Metrage with her short film, Red Eye that was made with an all-female cast and crew. She is honoured that this film garnered two Leo Award Nominations and had its Canadian Premiere this Christmas via the NSI Online Film Festival. Distributor – Shorts Entertainment Network. McCarthy moonlights as an educator, actor, writer and director for hire, as well as creating digital strategies and acting as a social media community manager for various broadcast properties. McCarthy is excited to direct her first feature film, Evelyn (previously called, Glendale) in the Yukon. |
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