Panel 1 -  Development and Financing - November 7

Panel 2 - Production - November 14

Panel 3 - Post Production - November 21

Panel 4 - Distribution & Marketing - November 28

Panel 5 - Pathways to Representation - December 5

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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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Camille Beaudoin

As Co-Founder and CEO of Mosaic Entertainment, Camille has spent the last fourteen years guiding the creative development, production, and post-production of world-class, award-winning screen content comprising of three feature films, three mobile games, countless hours of online video content, and over 100 episodes of TV comedy. Some recent productions include the winner of Kidscreen’s Best Teen Movie #Roxy starring Booboo Stewart (Disney Descendants) and Danny Trejo (Spy Kids, Machete), four seasons of the comedy series Tiny Plastic Men which was nominated for Best Comedy Series at the Canadian Screen Awards three seasons in a row and listed on Vulture.com as one of Canada’s top 25 essential sitcoms, and five seasons of the acclaimed national sketch comedy series CAUTION: May Contain Nuts (APTN). As Founder and Executive Director of Girls in Film & Television (GIFT), a not-for-profit dedicated to addressing the issue of gender parity and representation on screen, Camille is focused on inspiring teen girls to get behind the camera through hands-on learning and support. Camille is mixed blood settler, Cree, Mohawk, and Métis from Alberta. She is an alumnus of the National Screen Institute and Banff Centre for the Arts, a former member of the Edmonton Screen Industries Office Advisory Committee, a member of Women in Film and Television Vancouver, Edmonton YWCA’s 2014 Woman of Distinction in Arts & Culture, and Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 under 40.

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Robin Chan

Robin has been producing indie content for film and television for over a decade. From pre-production to distribution, Robin has worked extensively on short films, music videos and most recently on the Telefilm Talent-to-Watch feature films “The Hollow Child” (2017) and “All-In Madonna” (2020). His work has been broadcast in Canada on Bravo, CBC, Citytv, TV5, The Movie Network and MuchMoreMusic. Robin’s short films have shown at numerous film festivals across North America. Titles include “Joanna Makes a Friend” (2011), winner of the Audience Choice Awards at TIFF.kids and “Anxious Oswald Greene” (2014), winner of the Best Short Film Award at the LA Comedy Festival and multiple Leo Awards. In addition to producing, Robin has volunteered with The Vancouver Asian Film Festival, the Hot Shot Shorts Contest (a short film contest), and he is on the Board of Directors of the Vancouver Short Film Festival. Robin is currently in production on the feature film “Time Helmet”, an independently financed, science-fiction comedy that is testing the limits of what can be accomplished on a low budget.

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Ashley Da-Lê Duong

For the last 10 years, Ashley Da-Lê Duong has been exploring identity, environment, and social change through film. She wrote, directed, and co-produced the feature documentary, A TIME TO SWIM, which untangles the personal and political stakes of an exiled indigenous activist from Malaysia. The film won numerous awards including Best First Feature Film at Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival and was shown on Al Jazeera Witness, Superchannel, the National Film Board of Canada, and elsewhere. Some of her short-form producing and directing credits include RE LEKUAH, the world’s first music video in the Kelabit language as well as over 15 short documentaries for the series CANADA’S A DRAG (2020 Canadian Screen Award winner) and CBC ARTS: EXHIBITIONISTS. She is currently developing two films about displacement and connection to the land within Vietnamese diasporic narratives: a documentary filmed in Vietnam and Canada, and a fiction film set in the Canadian prairies. Ashley earned a BA in Environment Studies and Cultural Studies from McGill University and is a proud member of BIPOC TV & Film, Brown Girl Doc Mafia, and A-Doc.

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Eric Rebalkin

Eric Rebalkin has over 20 years of production experience beginning as a Sound Assistant on North of 60 and quickly working his way up in the industry to becoming one of Edmonton’s leading Producers of quality scripted content. As the Co-Founder and COO of Mosaic Entertainment, Eric has produced three feature films, countless hours of digital properties, web series, and mobile games, and over 100 hours of TV series including four seasons of the multiple Canadian Screen Award-nominated comedy series Tiny Plastic Men (Super Channel, Amazon Prime), five seasons of the popular sketch comedy series CAUTION: May Contain Nuts (APTN). its accompanying mobile games, feature-length film #Roxy (starring Booboo Stewart, and Danny Trejo) – winner of best Teen Movie at the Kidscreen Awards and nominated for Best TV Movie at the Canadian Screen Awards. Eric has served on numerous boards including the Alberta Media Production Industries Association board as the VP North, Girls In Film & Television (GIFT) as Board Chair and the Canadian Media Producers Association labour negotiations committee. At Mosaic Entertainment, Eric heads up all production and business affairs as well as innovation in financing, format, and distribution strategies.  Eric has been instrumental in changing the face of formats, financing, and distribution strategies for low to mid-budget productions. He works closely with public and private financiers to find win-win situations that stretch the dollar while still creating incredible high-quality productions in an increasingly competitive industry.

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Anaïsa Visser - Moderator

Anaïsa Visser is an award-winning writer and director based in Vancouver, BC. Anaïsa grew up all over the world, namely in Mozambique, the United States, and France, and is biracial, of Dutch and Pakistani descent. She has a BFA in Film, Video & Integrated Media from Emily Carr University and an MFA in Film Production & Creative writing from the University of British Columbia. Anaïsa’s work primarily focuses on explorations of racial and cultural issues, and on representations of mental illness. She has been privileged to receive various awards, including the Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award for Emerging Filmmaker, and a Women in Film and Television Spotlight Award. She is the founder of an online network called Womxn Filmmakers of BC, which unites women, trans women and men, genderqueer, and non-binary folk working in film in BC. In her spare time, Anaïsa enjoys reading, catching up on TV shows, drinking copious amounts of tea, attempting to keep her plants alive, and hanging out with her cats, Simon and River. 

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Kate Green

Kate has worked mainly as a producer and director in lifestyle and factual television, on networks as varied as HGTV, W Network, CBC, History, Fuel TV, and Slice, but is expanding into both documentary and narrative dramatic story-telling. Her first documentary, Not A Stranger, won the Audience Choice Award at the Vancouver Short Film Festival and was nominated for Best ‘Made in Canada’ Short at the Northwest fest. Kate’s second documentary, Melting Stars, won Best Short at the International Wildlife Film Festival. Kate is now thrilled to be following her passion for scripted work by producing and directing the second season of her sci-fi web series NarcoLeap, which airs on CBC’s digital stream GEM and TELUS Optik. NarcoLeap garnered a Canadian Screen Award nomination, a Writers’ Guild of Canada nomination, and three Leo Award nominations. It went on to win Best Sci-fi at Miami web fest, as well as the Baltimore and Asia web festivals. Kate is a proud alumna of Women in the Director’s Chair Story & Leadership Program, the National Screen Institute of Canada, Reykjavík International Film Festival Talent Lab, Vancouver Island University, and the University of British Columbia.

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Shana Myara - Moderator

Shana Myara is an award-winning writer and the director of the radical body positivity documentary WELL ROUNDED. She's the child of Moroccan and German Jewish immigrants/refugees and has devoted her career to creating progressive change through the arts. She is currently developing the series KILLJOY COMEDY for CBC and is a former festival artistic director and movie buyer for a cable TV network.

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Kenji Rodriguez Tanamachi

VFX Producer/Supervisor with over 10+ years of experience in the entertainment industry, both as an artist and producer of world-class visual effects, motion graphics and animation products that cater to a range of different mediums like digital content, TV, film, broadcasting, music concerts and corporations. As a leader, entrepreneur and Co-Founder of Convoy VFX a subsidiary of Gamomo and Hadron Films. He’s taken multiple roles that span from designer, concept artist, mograph artist, art director, creative director, VFX compositor, supervisor and producer. With incredible opportunities of working for companies like Netflix, Dreamworks, EOne, Lifetime, Hallmark, FIFA, MGA Entertainment, Last Gang Records, SkyBound, MuchFact and Awesomeness TV and many more.

Karen Wong

Karen has a Bachelor in Commerce from the University of British Columbia and started off with a career in an accounting firm before switching gears and jumping into the film and television industry. In 1998, she started as a production accountant and financial adviser working on a wide variety of productions, ranging from independent films, documentaries, Disney home movie franchises, international treaty co-productions, and TV series projects; spanning from genre to family. She is focused on independent productions where people are the most creative and passionate about their projects. As a producer, Karen has produced 4 seasons of television and 4 feature films. Her latest feature film premiered at VIFF2020, “The Curse of Willow Song” written and directed by Karen Lam.

Julia Niendorf

Julia has worked in the world of post-production for over 15 years. From her firsts gigs sorting through hours of reality TV and learning media management, she has never lost her passion and curiosity for an industry that constantly changes. With experience in almost all post areas, she joined Finalé Post (Picture Shop Vancouver)  in 2013 and was able to bring her technical knowledge and management skills to ultimately take on the role of Director of Post. She’s contributed to many features, MOWs, and TV series (such as Netflix's Julie and the Phantoms). She also uses her spare time to share her knowledge in the BC film and TV Industry, like post supervising the Crazy 8s Film Festival, and guiding post-production for the MPPIA Short Film Award winner. Julia loves keeping up to date with new software and hardware, with a mind to utilizing them in her client’s projects. She always looks forward to travelling back to her hometown of Berlin, when she can actually manage a holiday.

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Christina Fon

With over 27 years of sales, financing and production experience, a 2020 Emmy Nominated producer and Sundance and Peabody Award winner Christina Fon has built an exceptional international reputation for herself in the global entertainment industry. Currently, an executive producer for Rezolution Pictures International, Christina has been recognized for her success with multiple Canadian Screen, Hot Docs, and Gemini Awards and most recently a 2020 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary. Continuing to focus on an international scale, Christina is committed to telling stories meant to inspire, impact and entertain audiences the globe over. 

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Sabrina Furminger - Moderator

Sabrina Furminger is a Vancouver-based columnist and podcaster. She hosts the YVR Screen Scene Podcast, a twice-weekly interview show that celebrates the actors, filmmakers, and other artists who populate the local film and television industry. She wrote weekly film and TV industry columns for the Vancouver Courier and Westender newspapers and currently writes similar content for MONTECRISTO Magazine. Sabrina is a familiar face on industry red carpets and an in-demand event moderator and film festival juror. She won a Women in Film & Television Vancouver Spotlight Award in 2016, and Ma Murray Journalism Awards in 2017 and 2018. Sabrina hosts an occasional feminist film series at VIFF’s Vancity Theatre called Her Stories: Women Call the Shots. In September 2020, she received funding to create a three-part documentary series about dismantling white supremacy in the Vancouver film and television industry. Sabrina is a graduate of Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

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Kathleen Jayme

Kathleen Jayme is an award-winning Canadian filmmaker based in Vancouver, BC who is passionate about telling meaningful and personal stories. Her breakthrough documentary “Finding Big Country” has screened to sold-out theatres and been met with critical acclaim. It was the winner of the 2018 Vancouver International Film Festival’s (VIFF) prestigious People’s Choice Award and the #MustSeeBC award as voted by the VIFF audience. In addition, “Finding Big Country” won Best Canadian Film at the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival, and won two Golden Sheaf Awards for Best Documentary POV and Best Multicultural film, among other festivals and awards. Since its initial worldwide release by TELUS, “Finding Big Country” has been programmed internationally by ESPN, ABC, and in Canada by Sportsnet, NBA TV, and Air Canada.

Kathleen is a graduate of the University of British Columbia’s Film Production Program and also worked at the National Film Board of Canada where she coordinated and oversaw over thirty documentaries, animations, and digital projects through all stages of production. She is the winner of the 2019 TIFF Pitch This! competition as well as the 2017 Storyhive 100K grant edition, and a fellow of the 2019 Netflix-Banff Diversity of Voices Initiative, the 2017 Hot Docs Documentary Channel Doc Accelerator program, and the 2017 Telus Storyhive Banff World Media Festival program.

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Sonya Di Renzio

Sonya Di Renzio is a Toronto-based producer. She worked at award-winning production companies Rhombus Media (SLINGS & ARROWS) and Whizbang Films (GOOD WITCH), before co-founding Hawkeye Pictures (SLEEPING GIANT, TITO) with Aeschylus Poulos (INESCAPABLE). She has produced film, television, documentary and multi-platform content. Recent projects include Gloria Kim’s feature QUEEN OF THE MORNING CALM (Best Indie CFF20); and the Germany/Canada international co-production PROPAGANDA: THE ART OF SELLING LIES (Hot Docs, Doxa 2019) by award-winning director Larry Weinstein (OUR MAN IN TEHRAN). Upcoming productions include THE G, by Montreal writer/director Karl R. Hearne and BROTHER, an adaptation of David Chariandy’s award-winning novel, written and directed by Clement Virgo (LIE WITH ME) and produced in partnership with Conquering Lion Pictures. A Toronto International Film Festival Talent Lab and WIFT Scripted Digital Series alumna, she currently shapes Hawkeye’s slate of feature films, documentaries and series.

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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.
 
De Lara’s films have screened worldwide, including the Academy-qualifying Montreal World Film Festival, Raindance Film Festival, Rhode Island International Film Festival, and The Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival, where she was presented the 2018 Spirit Award. De Lara is an alumna of Women in the Director’s Chair and the Vancouver Women  International Film Festival & From Our Dark Side programs.

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.

S. Siobhan McCarthy

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.