Filmmakers 2018

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Adriano Pérez

Adriano Pérez – Lost in Time

Adriano Pérez is an experienced creator in virtual and mixed reality. He has made more than 40 projects including cinematic virtual reality, gamification, software development and research.

He has been co-founder, virtual reality director, producer, post-production director and Team leader in several VR companies. Currently working as a creative director in the DKC of extended reality of the Sngular company.

As an expert in virtual reality, he has participated in events and conferences such as OVR 17, Sngular or Andalucía Open Future; talking about topics ranging from the current situation of VR production to the future of virtual reality and its implications.

Amar Wala

Amar Wala – Saalem B’y

With his debut feature The Secret Trial 5 (2014), Amar Wala established himself as a daring new voice in Canadian cinema. The film would earn him the 2014 Magnus Isaacson Award at RIDM, and the Special Jury Award for Emerging Filmmaker at Hot Docs. A graduate of York University’s acclaimed Film program, Amar is known for his incredible eye and keen sense of social justice. His works often revolves around themes of race, immigration, and identity.

Firmly planted as one of Toronto’s top young documentarians, his scripted work has also garnered high praise at home and abroad. His first short film, The Good Son, premiered at the Dubai International Film Festival and caught the attention of TIFF Director Cameron Bailey, who named Amar one of Toronto’s Top 10 Filmmakers in 2008 (Now Magazine).

Amar recently directed the series PAYDAY for Viceland, as well a documentary series for the CBC entitled We Are Canada.

Anastasia Dyakova

Anastasia Dyakova – Ready for a Baby

Anastasia Dyakova is 2D animator from Melbourne, Australia. She moved to Melbourne from St Petersburg, Russia to be close to the ‘sun and the ocean’ life-style Australia has to offer. Anastasia is a director and writer, known for The Sky Between Us (2016), Ready for a Baby (2017) and The Home (2015).

Barzan Rostami

Barzan Rostami – Balance

Barzan was born in 1992 in Iran. He has made a historical documentary and several animations, worked for several years in theatre and acting, and has attended various theatre and cinema festivals.  He also has more than twenty-five national and international awards.

Behzad Kazazi

Behzad Kazazi – Scarecrow’s Heart

Behzad Kazazi is a director located in Iran. He has entered numerous different film festivals throughout the years. He also has received many awards for his films. He is a very creative artist with a talent in animation.

Ben Murray

Ben Murray – Dying in Vein

Benjamin Murray – Jack of all trades master of one (being human) Benjamin Murray aka Planbstrik9 does it all from teaching digital arts in fly in communities to scoring films and everything in between. He was this year’s recipient of the city of Thunder Bay’s respect award as well as one of this years presenters for the Ontario government’s YAAP Culture day’s program. Benjamin plans to continue moving forward opening a multimedia youth drop-in within the city to give youth a voice and a place to escape whatever they may be dealing with in the community. “Dying In Vein” is his first lead role.

Brendan Peterson

Brendan Peterson – Darkslide

Brendan Petersen has been a strong creative force within Northwestern Ontario since he picked up his first HD capable camera in 2009. Over 220 video projects have been created, including over 20 experimental short films, several documentaries, and many live music performances.

DARKSLIDE is a feature length experimental thriller about a young musician with Asperger’s syndrome named Damen Krow. It is the evolution of many experiments in film and narrative, and is the outcome of all the hard work and learning that has been accumulated. Darkslide is an entirely independent production which allowed complete freedom and creative control over the project. With the help of the talented artists and technicians who were involved it is expected to be the next step in a promising and unique artistic career.

Chrisann Hessing

Chrisann Hessing – Turning Tables

Chrisann is a documentary filmmaker based in Toronto, dedicated to storytelling through fresh perspectives and new mediums. She has combined her love of travel and storytelling to produce award-winning short films that have screened around the world.

Chrisann was one of eight Canadian participants in the Corus Diverse Voices fellowship through Hot Docs and was one of twenty emerging Canadian filmmakers selected for RIDM’s Talent Lab. She is an alumni of the CMPA’s Screen Based Media Production Program as well as DOC Institute’s New Visions Incubator. In addition to producing her own independent films, her screen credits include Nicholas de Pencier’s BLACK CODE, SHATNER’S WORLD, a television special commissioned by The Movie Network, and I LOST MY TALK, a multimedia dance film for the National Arts Centre.

Cody Westman

Cody Westman – It Could Be You

Cody Westman has been involved in the film and entertainment industries in Montreal, Vancouver and St. John’s since 1999. In 2001 Cody directed and produced his first piece, a web pilot entitled ‘Beyond Travel’. Since then he has worked in the film industry, while producing and directing commercials, corporate video, music videos, short films, and working as a touring musician.

In 2013, Cody began production on his first documentary ‘That LITTLE Room – The Story of Erin’s Pub’ which was picked up by Air Canada internationally, NTV, the Nickel Film Festival, and the Kerry Film Festival in Ireland.

Under the production company Cats Eye Cinema INC., Cody has produced/directed/edited 2 short films (Deadline & It Could Be You) and is starting production on a Telefilm supported short film CASEY in April 2017. Cody works full time in video production and lives with his wife and 2 boys in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Dad Is Pretty

Park soo-min, Kim seung-hyeob – Dad Is Pretty

Graduated from Dong-Eui University (Bachelor of Arts)
2011 Short film <Stairway> Writer/Director
2012 Short film <Gift> Writer/Director
2013 Short film <The room> Writer/Director
2014 Short film <Bus stop> Writer/Director
-2015 Moda Outlet Fishing Short Film Festival
Encouragement Award (Republic of Korea)
-Galway Film Festival – invitation (Ireland)
-2015 wiper film festival – competition(USA)
-2015 blackbird film festival – Non-competition(USA)
-2015 Annual Frames film festival – competition(India)
-2015 Goldensun film festival – competition (Malta)
-2016 Ukrainian international short film festival
– competition(Ukraine)
2014 Feature film <Alice> 2nd assistant director
2014 Short film <Family meal> Writer/Director
-2015 Kraljevski filmski festival – Non-competition(Serbia)
-2015 Doc Sunback festival – competition(USA)
-2015 Spring Creek Festival – Showcase(USA)
-2015 Busan video Festival – 3rd Award(Republic of Korea)
-2015 Busan Independent Film Festival
– Technology Creative Award(Republic of Korea)
-2015 Dae Jong Award Festival
– Short Director nominee(Republic of Korea)
-2015 indiEarth Xchange – competition(India)
-2015 blackbird film festival – Non-competition(USA)
-2015 Annual Frames film festival – competition(India)
-2015 Goldensun film festival – competition(Malta)
-2016 Ridgefield indepandent film festival – competition(USA)
-2016 Third Culture Film Festival – Director nominee(Hong Kong)
-2016 Fukuoka Independent Film Festival – invitation(Japen)
-2017 Daejeon Independent Film Festival – invitation(Republic of Korea)
2015 Feature film <Dad is pretty> Writer/Director

Damien Gilbert

Damien Gilbert – Bringing Jazzy to the Top

Damien Gilbert is a Director/Cinematographer based out of Thunder Bay, Ontario. He is a graduate of Confederation College Film Production Program. In his career Damien has worked on hundreds of productions ranging from film, television, documentary, corporate and music video. His shooting on Wax Philosophic’s “Devil in a Red Dress” Music video was nominated for Cinematographer of the year in 2012 at the Northern Ontario Music and Film Awards. His work has had a great deal of success online with several of his productions going viral. Damien has travelled to over 20 countries and has worked on many productions in different capacities.

Dan Sokolowski

Dan Sokolowski – Scattered

Dan has produced over 24 short films and 1 feature film, blending documentary and animation. Dan lives in the Yukon in Canada’s north and is currently the producer of the Dawson City International Short Film Festival. He has taught courses on Painting & Drawing, Experimental Animation, Camera Technique, Picture and Sound Editing. Dan has also participated in over 40 independent film productions as Director of Photography, Picture and Sound Editor, Animator, Assistant Director, Production Manager, and Lighting Design.

Daniel von Rüdiger

Daniel Von Rüdiger – Kanu belong Keram

Daniel Von Rüdiger is a filmmaker, photographer, musician and lecturer. His musical visualizations have been screened at international festivals, receiving amongst other awards, the Visual Music Award. He works as a social documentary filmmaker for NGOs and teaches at the Academy of Art and Design, Basel. His documentations have been exhibited in the Gropius-Bau (Berlin), Rietberg Museum (Zürich) and Queensland Art Gallery (Brisbane).

His artistic research in course of a PhD at the University of Art and Design Linz compares visual and auditory rhythm. As with 0101, this combines his two passions: rhythm and social documentation.

Eileen O’Meara

Eileen O’Meara – Panic Attack!

Eileen O’Meara is an American artist known for her hand-drawn films “Agnes Escapes from the Nursing Home” and “That Strange Person”. She received the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and Women in Film Foundation’s Hollywood Film & Video Grants.

She has produced and directed commercial animated spots for clients including Warner Home Video, Motown, HBO, and WEA Latina.

Ellie Harvie

Ellie Harvie – Scattered

For the past 25 years Ellie Harvie has made a living as a TV and Film actress in Vancouver (Canada). She came through Theatre (Vancouver Playhouse School) and with strong roots in local improv (Vancouver TheatreSports League) and the stand-up scene (Yuk-Yuks, Lafflines), comedy is her forte. From playing Morticia, in &quot;The New Addams Family” to Candace/Mrs, Bubkes in “Some Assembly Required” and the hundred other titles in between, she is a pro in front of the camera. In that time she has learned, watched and waited to make the transition to directing, backed with a huge wealth of knowledge and experience. A director on the board of UBCP/ACTRA, Ellie has huge regard for all members of the sister unions, as well as the producers. Together we all make up this thriving, growing industry. Having achieved her goal of being a well-respected actor in the city, her goal is now to be one of Vancouver’s best looking directors. Scattered marks her directorial debut.

Erin Collins

Erin Collins – Northern Meltdown – Uncovering the Thunder Bay International Airport

Erin Collins is a filmmaker from Fort William First Nation. Erin is a proud graduate of the film production program at confederation college, and she continues her work in Thunder Bay. She has directed several short films since graduating, the most recent of which, “Thunderbird,” has been screened in in cities across Canada and was featured at the Festival du nouveau cinéma in Montreal, Quebec. Erin spent this past two summers working with Wapikoni Mobile, an organization dedicated to giving indigenous youth the means to share their voice and create their own short films. In the future Erin looks forward to creating more documentaries, and sharing stories of her city and her culture.

Eva Ziemsen

Eva Ziemsen – Romeo and Juliette16

Eva Ziemsen has made several short films including YAHRZEIT, (WIFT-T Film Showcase and online SFJFF), the award-winning MAMA & PAPA (which also aired on CBC), A CONVERSATION WITH LARS VON TRIER (premiered at Le Festival du Nouveau in Montreal), and CHILD OF CHERNOBYL, (premiered at Planet in Focus in Toronto and DOXA in Vancouver).

Eva holds an MA in Feature Film from Goldsmiths University, London, England and a BFA in Film and Video from York University. She holds a PhD from UBC in Online Film Education. Eva Ziemsen has an extensive background in film education. She is currently the Program Co-Coordinator and a Professor in the Film & Television Production Program at Humber College and teaches workshops for WIFT-T, the DGC, and her own workshop through www.filmsurvival.com.

Gonzalo Guajardo

Gonzalo Guajardo – I’ve Seen So Much

Always dedicated to the image field, Gonzalo started working with videos quite early during his childhood, when he discovered his love for movies, making several short films with his friends. He was soon concerned that he should dedicate his life to this field.

Born in Spain, Gonzalo got a degree in Audiovisual Communications & Liberal Arts, and continued his higher education in the USA and Central Europe, where he could explore new fields of photography, mainly architectural and entertainment

Gonzalo has spent the last six years in Ethiopia, been also involved in the cooperation field and learning every day something new about the Horn of Africa and its people. His projects in Ethiopia are many, he has worked for different NGOs and companies , such as France´s TV5Monde, Japan´s NHK (Japan Broadcasting Coorporation) TV or Spanish´s Movistar 0+.

Greg Scott

Greg Scott – La Caminata Extática (The Ecstatic Walk)

Professor Greg Scott is a visual sociologist, multimedia artist, and filmmaker at DePaul University in Chicago, IL. He is the founder and president of Sawbuck Productions, Inc., a non-profit organization that produces observational documentary films, experimental art films, performance art pieces, and large-scale public installation art. Greg is also the founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of Video Ethnography , the only academic journal of peer-reviewed ethnographic films. His sociological work focuses on the cultural dynamics of street level drug markets and drug using communities, while his artistic work revolves around the rituals, norms, customs, and folklore of small town life in the American Midwest. Greg is the co-author of Video Ethnography in Practice: Planning, Shooting, and Editing for Social Analysis . His documentary films have screened at festivals around the world and his work has appeared on cable television channels, including the National Geographic Network, BET Network and MSNBC. Greg’s experimental films and performance pieces have appeared in gallery and museum installations, and his public art exhibits have toured the United States. Greg received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1998.

Hilary June Hart

Hilary June Hart – Cackle Me This

Hilary is as an actor, singer, musician, and director in Toronto, ON. She started producing comedic short films in August 2017 with her company Cackle Comedy Productions. Hilary grew up in Yorkton, SK. She’s a music director at Second City, on the roster for Cirque du Soleil, and she once performed in Thunder Bay’s Magnus Theatre in The Ring of Fire: the Music of Johnny Cash .
For more about Hilary, visit www.hilaryjunehart.ca

Jack Belhumeur

Jack Belhumeur – War Paint & Dying in Vein

Jack is a life long visual artist who began working in film in 2007 and has made several short films, animations and stop motion films. He is an award winning director in Canada and selected at festivals world wide.

Jackson 2Bears

Jackson 2Bears – NDNs on the Airwaves

Jackson 2bears is a kanien’kehaka (mohawk) multimedia installation/ performance artist and cultural theorist from six nations who is currently based in lethbridge alberta, canada. since 1999, 2bears has exhibited his work extensively across canada in public galleries, museums and artist-run centres, as well as internationally in festivals and group exhibitions.
Some recent exhibitions include: Musée d’art Contemporain de Montréal; Urban Shaman (Winnipeg, MB); Bbeyond (Belfast, Ireland); SAW Gallery (Ottawa, ON); A Space (Toronto, ON); the Vancouver New Music Festival (Vancouver, BC.); Vancouver Art Gallery (Vancouver, BC.); Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (Victoria, BC.); EM Media (Calgary, AB.); the Banff Centre (Banff, AB.); Redshift Gallery (Saskatoon, SK.); Digital Art Weeks (Zurich, Switzerland); North American Indigenous Games (Cowichan, BC); and the Futur-en-Seine Festival (Paris, France). 2bears is currently a member of Beat Nation [Live]—a First Nations artist collective that combines hip hop, live music and digital technology as a way to celebrate the spirit of contemporary Indigenous culture. He is also a co-founding member of Noxious Sector—a communal forum dedicated to the exploration of interdisciplinary artistic practice and creative expression. 2bears is presently co-director of 2Ro Media Inc. with Mohawk poet, performance artist and producer Janet Rogers—their short documentary, NDN’s on the Airwaves, is currently in production and expected to air on APTN in 2017. 2bears is an active researcher in the areas of video arts, digital media, and extended media, with a focus on embodied interaction and live audio/visual (Live Cinema) performance. His recent works focus on how the changing impacts of technology have a profound effect on contemporary politics, culture and society, in particular with regard to First Nations communities. Recently published scholarly essays can be found in peer-reviewed journals such as C-Theory and the Leonardo Electronic Almanac (LEA), as well as in the text Coded Territories: Tracing Indigenous Pathways in New Media Art published by the University of Calgary Press (2014). 2bears holds a BA. in Art & Art History from the University of Toronto, as well as a Diploma in Fine Arts from Sheridan College, Oakville. He received his MFA from the University of Victoria during which time he produced digital media installation and performance artworks that variously explored themes of Indigenous heritage, resistance, and cultural renewal. His thesis exhibition was a telematic/ interactive installation and performance that explored such themes as distributed reality and technological immersion in relation to transformations in First Nations identity and culture. In 2012 2bears completed his PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Victoria, Victoria BC. where he studied with esteemed professors Arthur Kroker, Taiaiake Alfred, Steve Gibson and Andrew Schloss. His Doctoral work takes a cross-cultural and multi-disciplinary approach to questions of contemporary Indigenous identity, technology and interactive/performance art. His dissertation, entitled Mythologies of an [Un]dead Indian, explores the aesthetics of contemporary Indigenous identity—its various manifestations, transformations, simulations and hybridizations—within the context of our hyper-mediated, technologically saturated culture. 2bears recently completed two terms as Audain Professor of Contemporary Art of the Pacific Northwest at the University of Victoria, and is currently Assistant Professor of Studio Art and Native American Studio Art at the University of Lethbridge, AB.

Jacques Navarro-Rovira

Jacques Navarro-Rovira – Let Us Dance

Born in 1950, he is sensitised very early with photography and the cinematography by a grandfather photographer and enlightened amateur cinematographer (in 9,5 mm), close friend of the Lumière brothers. He makes determining meetings at the time of his studies in the E.S.S.E.C high school(High School of Economic and Commercial Sciences), during which he shoots several short feature films with those who will be his future associates in “Les Films du Sabre”, a production company that he creates with them in 1973, even before his graduation.

After a first stay of 16 months in Tahiti under the military service, like V.A.T (Voluntary with the Technical assistance) teacher in adult formation for management, during which his Polynesian “part” is forged, he returns to Paris and actively takes share with the development of the “Sabre”. With responsibilities within management as on shootings where he occupies a successively number of functions of assistant director, of manager, director of production, in particular at the time of the beginning of the Sabre in feature film with the production of ten short feature films (Arthur Joffé, Jean Jacques Beneix, Stephan Kurc, Takis Candilis, Quentin Raspail, Armand Bernardi, George Campana, etc…), as well as the long feature film of Stephan Kurc: “the Eye of the Master”, he develops a very general-purpose practice of this profession.

At the very beginning of the Eighties, thanks to the development of corporate film, and by taste of the ground, he writes, films and directs an about sixty corporate films for the majority of the French large companies or public services, of which several will be awarded in the Biarritz Corporate Film Festivals.

About the middle of the Eighties the call of the sea will come from… Tahiti! from where he receives the proposal to develop the very new Institute of the Audio-visual Communication of French Polynesia (ICA). It will be for him the opportunity to know this country in depth and especially through the very numerous documentary shootings that he will make in all the archipelagos: the Society Islands, the Marquesas Islands, Austral Islands, Tuamotu, Gambier. It will also be the discovery of the other Polynesian, Micronesian and Melanesian cultures during the 4th Festival of the Arts of the Pacific, that takes place in Tahiti in 1985 and during which he will shoot more than 70 hours of rushes, of which he will make the Festival’s official film as well as a documentary collection on the music and the dances of the Pacific. The majority of these films will be broadcasted on RFO Tele Polynesia.

Temporary end of the voyage to the islands of the large ocean in 88, the call of the sea coming this time from Paris and more precisely from the Sabre, which requires of him to develop the technical branch service of the “Sabre group”, which counts in 1994 80 people and produces hundreds of hours of programs, as well as documentary ones, as films or TV feature films, magazines, or programs of flow, for a 40 million euros of income.
For this period, Jacques Navarro-Rovira will work narrowly with Serge Gainsbourg (clip “Lemon Incest”, last show in the Zenith), Jane Birkin (show in Bataclan), Thierry Ardisson (program “black Glasses for sleepless nights”), Frederique Miterrand and Jean-Christophe Victor (program “the lower part of the charts” for Arte).

At the time of the entry of the Expand group, via Canal Plus, in the Sabre group about the middle of the Nineties, he decides to take the… broad one, once more; the work of ground in more restricted team being more favourable to him than the large machines of war, as well as an attraction more marked for “the artistic one” than for the strategy of production. He thus goes back… to Tahiti, where he positions quickly as director and programs conceptor, in particular for RFO TV then TNTV.

Since then, he conceives, produces and directs several programs for these broadcasters by the means of “BEAU GESTE”, his production company, in particular “Motamo” daily of 5′ for children about the vocabulary, “Aïto Kultur” a monthly magazine of 45′ “for connected people”, “Anapa” daily of 5′ on the gestural in the fields of dance, handicraft and tattooing, on RFO or “Knews”, weekly news magazine of 15′ and “Fool Option”, Talk show “people” shifted 1h30 in public on TNTV.
Having his own professional equipment for shooting and editing in HD, he produces and directs also documentaries (“Ia Orana Gauguin, photography of a come back” 52′, official selection of the FIFO 2006 (Oceanian Documentary Film Festival) “Parry/Papeete 1932” 26′ with the Museum of Tahiti and the Islands, “Horo’a, the Gift” 26′, grand award of the jury of the FIFO 2008, produced by Kultur Prod, “My Marquesian brother” 52′, audience award FIFO 2009, produced by Bleu Lagoon productions, « Fa’aheimoe, ou l’Encre et le Geste » 52’, unofficial selection FIFO 2010, produced by Beau Geste, “Makatea, the Omission”, 52’, official selection of the FIFO 2011 produced by Bleu Lagoon productions, “Kings of heart”, 52’, unofficial selection FIFO 2011 produced by Bleu Lagoon productions, “Mamao Blues”, 52mn, official selection of the FIFO 2012 produced by Beau Geste, “Priest Laval, a mangarevian paradox”, 52mn, unofficial selection FIFO 2013, produced by Bleu Lagon, “The Archipelago Brigade”, 52mn, produced by Beau Geste, special award of the Jury FIFO 2014, selection Islander Film Festival of island of Groix 2013, selection Rochefort Film Festival 2014, selection Suva Film Festival (Fidji) 2014, selection Hawaiian Film Festival 2014, « Aux Armes Tahitiens » (2015) 90mn, produced by Bleu Lagon and Polynésie 1ère. official selection of the FIFO 2016, selection Rochefort Film Festival 2016. “Let us Dance”, 56mn, produced by Beau Geste, Oceania Film and Polynésie 1ère, audience award FIFO 2017, selection Rochefort Film Festival 2014, selection Together 2017 Disability Film Festival in London, Merit Award Accolade Festival 2018 of La Jolla (USA), Merit Award Impact Doc Film Festival 2018 of Los Angeles (USA)., “Pouvana’a ni Haine ni Rancune” (2017) 56mn, produced by Bleu Lagon Productions and France Ô, special award of the Jury FIFO 2018, as well as short feature films (“Antirock” 25′ with pupils of the Gauguin College of Papeete, “Maohi Touch” 5′ with trainees of the IUFM, “the Way of Damas” 10′ with students of the ISEPP University, “The After”, 10′ with students of the ISEPP University, “After the Rain”, 12′ with students of the ISEPP University and intervenes as executive producer and director for other producers or broadcasters of French Polynesia.

Lastly, parallel to its responsibilities for Founder member of the ATPA (Tahitian Association of the Professionals of Audio-visual), he exempts two courses of audio-visual production and directing at the University and animates audio-visual workshops at the IUFM, like at the House of the Culture, in particular near groups of young people of underprivileged districts.

Jason Carter

Jason Carter – Grain of Sand

British Guitarist Jason Carter has toured in more than 100 countries and recorded 18 albums. Jason has a passion for building bridges through music and has performed in places such as North Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, China, Russia and Uzbekistan. Jason began his film career by making music videos and inevitably began using film to tell stories through music and narrative.

Jenna Townson

Jenna Townson – Get the Worm

Jenna Townson is a 23-year-old creative. Always looking for new ways to grow in several mediums, she has explored graphic design through Confederation College and film production at Fleming College. Always looking for new angles to take a project, Jenna now is looking at creating her own animated series for children.

Jesse Wesselink

Jesse Wesselink – Mishkeegogamang

Fresh out of high school, Jon Wesselink always had something he was working on media wise. He worked with two local video production companies in school and worked independently with various contracts and volunteer work. While recently working on documentaries up north, he found it to be important to reveal how the government and citizens treat First Nation people. He hopes through his documentaries that he can find justice for people suffering up north from many repressing laws and stereotypes.

Justin Davey

Justin Davey – The Long Wet Grass

Justin began producing/directing experimental short films in late 2014 in Los Angeles. He co-created the award-winning Irish short film ‘Adulting’ in 2016 after which he was commissioned to direct Seamus Scanlon’s ‘The Long Wet Grass.’ Currently, he freelances as a videographer for UNFCCC and is producing his first independent documentary on the issue of climate change. He graduated from the University of Exeter, UK and has a Master’s in Global Affairs from NYU.

Justin Davey

Justin Davey – The Long Wet Grass

Justin began producing/directing experimental short films in late 2014 in Los Angeles. He co-created the award-winning Irish short film ‘Adulting’ in 2016 after which he was commissioned to direct Seamus Scanlon’s ‘The Long Wet Grass.’ Currently, he freelances as a videographer for UNFCCC and is producing his first independent documentary on the issue of climate change. He graduated from the University of Exeter, UK and has a Master’s in Global Affairs from NYU.

Karenza Ebejer

Karenza Ebejer – Tilly’s Symphony

Karenza Ebejer is an independent filmmaker based in the Northern Rivers of NSW, Australia. Her focus is on Community and Educational video production as well as short films.

Since completing her Post Graduate Diploma in Film and TV in 2000, Karenza has worked in a different roles as Writer, Director and Producer on numerous short films, many which have had national festival success.
In 2001, her short drama “On Cue” came Runner-Up in the Brisbane International Film Festival’s Fast Film Competition. She went on to receive an award for “Most Original Script” for the same film at the Queensland New Filmmakers Awards in 2002.
In 2003, Karenza was given a New Filmmakers Award at Wildspaces National Human Rights Film Festival for her documentary on an Afghani asylum seeker “Portrait of Sakhi.” This mini doc was then distributed by The Magic Lantern Foundation in India, who specialise in Human Rights themed films.

Forming a video production business “Moving Image Media” in 2005, Karenza has since been making numerous films for council, landcare organisations and educational institutions. She has also been a Video Production Mentor for various youth and community groups.
After a break from filming when she became a mother, Karenza then completed a refresher course at North Coast TAFE in Screen & Media in 2015 and was given an Award of Excellence for her studies there.

Keegan Richard

Keegan Richard – The Countryside

Born and raised in Thunder Bay, filmmaker Keegan Richard is a graduate of the Confederation College Film Production program and the Interactive Media Development program. Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder at a young age, Keegan has been very open about his diagnosis with ASD and considers the arts to be therapeutic.

Khalid Ali

Khalid Ali – Ballad of the Knife Sharpener
Khalid Ali (Director & Editor) is a filmmaker and educator based in Baltimore, Maryland. Khalid studied filmmaking at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California with the intention of pursuing a career in Hollywood. That all changed when he travelled to China for the first time. Upon graduation, Khalid began taking yearly trips to China to collaborate with brothers Omar and Tariq on more ambitious personal projects. These trips evolved into a series of short documentaries exploring Chinese Kung Fu, street food, and music. Khalid has taught digital filmmaking at the George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology since 2010. He is currently pursuing his MFA degree at Towson University. His most recent film, Ballad of the Knife Sharpener, has screened internationally in Paris and Vancouver.

Lena Tosta

Lena Tosta

Lena Tosta is a Brazilian and French anthropological filmmaker and former lecturer at the Universidade de Brasília (UnB) and IESB, in Brasília, Brazil. She holds a doctorate degree in Anthropology and two master’s degrees, one of which is in Anthropological Cinema from Jean Rouch’s Anthropological Cinema Department at the University of Paris X. She has produced audiovisual work and conducted field research in Brazil, India, Canada, Nepal and France and currently works with film production, curation, exhibitions and gives speeches on Visual Anthropology and on her ethnographic fields of expertise.

La Débutante is her first medium-length documentary, though Tosta has directed a number of multimedia ethnographies and short documentary films and art videos, as well as participated in over 20 festivals, seminars and exhibitions in places such as: Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, France; Alliance Française in Toronto, Canada; The National Museum and National Theatre, Brasília, Brazil; Conjunto Cultural of Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Brasília, Brazil; The French Embassy in Brazil and at the India Habitat Center, New Delhi, India. She is the founder of the production companies Femídia and Etnofoco and has had articles published internationally, both in academic periodicals and in magazines. She’s the recipient of the 2002 Pierre Verger Prize for Visual Anthropology.

Luis Tinoco Pineda

Luis Tinoco Pineda

Scriptwriter and director of CARONTE, started with 3D animation and visual effects more than twenty years ago. Luis have supervised the visual effects of more than twenty feature films and worked on more than fifty titles for cinema and TV. Some of them are remarkable Hollywood productions such as INTERSTELLAR by Christopher Nolan (Best Visual Effects Oscar Award winner film) or HERCULES by Brett Ratner. Nominated in 2009 for his 3D animation shortfilm MALACARA at the Goya Awards and Gaudí Awards as director and writer of the project.

Mark Brown

Mark Brown – Gaelynn Lee – The Songs We Sing

Twin Town Media’s Mark Brown is a producer and filmmaker based in Minneapolis. He has over 15 years of experience as a photographer, director, cinematographer, editor, journalist and visual marketing expert. Mark focuses on telling exceptional stories in every visual medium. His work has been featured in national ad campaigns, respected film festivals and numerous publications.

Martin King

Martin King – Bright Sunny Light & God’s Park

I’m an Artist and Movie Director from Thunder Bay, Ontario. I had some art in some exhibits and art shops around Thunder Bay. I’ve been selling art as a Commission Artist since 2011. I’m also a Broadcasting and Film graduate of Confederation College.

As for my Movie Director career, I made my first film “Wake Up” in 2017. The movie took 2 years to make, fun times. I also did some acting on the side.

Martyna Koleniac & Adam Halstrom

Martyna Koleniac & Adam Halstrom – Alien Scars

Martyna Koleniac is an independent stop motion animator, character designer and photographer based in Warsaw, Poland. In 2017, Koleniac graduated from Clay Animation’s Stop Motion Animation course in Valencia, Spain and now continues her passion for building scenography’s, designing puppets and storytelling. Martyna is currently experimenting with different textures and perfecting her unique “creepy cute” style.

Over the past 20 years, Halstrom has developed a rich history in the music scene spanning Winnipeg and northern Manitoba. He has performed in a number of projects, most recently alternative rock group Plain as Ghosts, and is often found working behind the scenes supporting independent artists by way of audio production, album design and web design. In 2014, his production of Dee Erin Band’s album “Broken Road” was nominated for a Western Canadian Music Award. In 2016, his production of Plain as Ghosts’ debut “Rendering” earned the band an opening spot for Tom Cochrane. In 2017, Halstrom has re-focused on promoting a batch of all new solo material as Brainwashed Proper Citizens.

Megan Murphy

Megan Murphy – Towns Ends

Megan Murphy has had an interesting and varied career in the performing arts for over two decades. Since graduating from York University’s Fine Arts program, she has worked as an actor in both the Peterborough and Toronto, Ontario, film, television and theatre scenes. She is currently a morning show co-host on two Peterborough radio stations, 93.3 MyFM and 107.9 Classic Rock and an afternoon drive co-host on Oldies 96.7. Megan received the TD Canada Trust Scholarship for Outstanding Community Leadership in 1998. She is a graduate of the Second City Conservatory Program and of the Documentary Filmmaking Institute at Seneca College. Her short film, Shelf Life, won an audience choice award at the Peterborough ReFrame International Film Festival. Murphy’s Law is her first feature film and was honoured with the award for Best Documentary at the Fingal Film Festival in Ireland in 2016.

Meghdad Akhavan

Meghdad Akhavan – Fox Ground

Meghdad Akhavan was born in Saveh Iran in April 1984 and studied photography and thought painting.

Michael Groom

Michael Groom – The Merciless Beauty

Michael Groom grew up on the fringes of the Lake District in north west England. He has worked in the film industry since leaving York University in 2003. He cut his teeth working with director Michael Winterbottom and went on to work on many British and American films that were shot in the UK, in a variety of roles covering pre-production, production, post-production, and delivery. Most lately he assisted director David Michôd, on Netflix and Plan B’s War Machine and The King.

In December 2009 his debut feature film as a writer – ‘Dogging: a Love Story’ – was made and released by Vertigo Films. Directed by Simon Ellis, it screened at festivals including Dublin and Rotterdam, where it was nominated for the Golden Tiger award.

Since then, Michael has had other scripts in development and has made short films, The Merciless Beauty being his most ambitious yet.

Mohammad Ali Rakhshani

Mohammad Ali Rakhshani – Third Generation

Mohammad Ali Rakhshani was born in Iran, Balochistan. He holds a master’s degree in cinema and has 15 years of experience in documentary filmmaking. He has made 20 documentary films and has won 30 awards from national and international film festival.

Mohammad Bakhshi

Mohammad Bakhshi – Are You Volleyball?

Director of short film: Circle (2016)
Director of short film: Stringless kiss (2015)
Director of short film: Emad’s birthday night (2013)

Mohammad-Ali Soleymanzadeh

Mohammad-Ali Soleymanzadeh- Black and White

Mohammad-Ali Soleymanzadeh was born in Natanz, Iran in 1955. He graduated with a Master’s Degree in art from the faculty of Fine Arts at Tehran University in 1988. He began working with Kanoon productions in 1991 and has since branched out on his own. His short animated films have received both critical acclaim and won many international awards.

Morningstar Derosier

Morningstar Derosier – A World Of Our Own

Morningstar Derosier is an Indigenous filmmaker who grew up in North Western Ontario. Her experiences growing up on the land taught her the importance of hard work and respect, values which she carries into her personal work. So far, Morningstar has directed five short films, had her films screen at festivals, and was a finalist in director Terry George’s human rights film making challenge sponsored by Creative Armenia and Human Rights Watch.

Morteza Bahrami

Morteza Bahrami – A Moment Of Love

Morteza Bahrami started this and three other animations in 2015. They have all been successful at festivals around the world. A moment of love is the last movie of his animation works.

Mosha Folger

Mosha Folger – Iglu:Angirraq (House:Home)

Qamutiik (2018)
They Called Her Sam (2016)
The Big Lemming (2014)
Project of Heart Animation (2013)
Sides (2012) (music video)
Never Saw It (2008)

Nadine Arpin

Nadine Arpin – Anna Lisa

Nadine Arpin is a Métis filmmaker with Black Foot and Plains Cree ancestry whose family origins are from Manitoba. Since the completion the New Media program at OCAD she has been based in Sioux Lookout, Ontario where her media production company, Full Circle Recordings produced educational and promotional videos for local and regional NGOs and Indigenous organizations. In 2011 she returned to her own personal art practice of writing and producing independent short films in a variety of genres. Cedar Water Films is a production company formed in partnership with Rachel Garrick and is located both in Sioux Lookout and Lac Seul First Nation Treaty #3.

Philip Shane & Michael Lesser

Philip Shane & Michael Lesser – Rewalk

PHILIP SHANE (Director/Editor) — Philip is an award winning documentary filmmaker with over 25 years of experience. He was Co-Director & Editor of BEING ELMO (Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival), and Producer & Editor of the two hour feature documentary, EINSTEIN (2008, History Channel). As Editor of DANCING IN JAFFA, which had it’s World Premiere at the 2013 TriBeCa Film Festival, he and Bob Eisenhardt won the Best Editing Award at Israel’s prestigious DocAviv Film Festival. At ABC News for nearly a decade, Shane edited many distinguished long form programs including Ted Kopple’s Iraq War documentary, TIP OF THE SPEAR, which won the 2004 DuPont Columbia Award for Broadcast Journalism, and MARTIN LUTHER KING: Searching For The Promised Land (1999) which won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Historical Program. A short film he made with Peter Jennings and Senior Producer Richard Gerdau, WITNESS TO HISTORY, preserved Jennings’ personal memories of 9/11 and has been placed in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Museum of American History. In addition to Dancing In Jaffa and Being Elmo, Shane has edited many films about performing artists. With Paul McCartney, his daughter Mary, and director Alistair Donald, he made the film WINGSPAN (2001), about the McCartney family’s life after The Beatles. His previous project, THE BEATLES REVOLUTION (2000) told the story of the band through the memories of musicians, artists, politicians, writers, and other celebrities. Other artists he’s worked with include Carly Simon, Bruce Springsteen, and The Boston Symphony.

MICHAEL LESSER (Director/Cinematographer) — Michael’s work spans decades in the film business, including co-founding the award-winning film and video production company Grandview Island with his wife and partner, Carol McCann. In the course of his career, Michael has focused his talents as director, producer, and cameraman on projects as diverse as documentaries, political campaigns, and corporate films.

Rafahat Muzaffar

Rafahat Muzaffar – Pointless Victory

Rafahat Muzaffar is a ten year old boy who is being homeschooled and loves electronics & game programming. He took the Vox Popular Media Arts Festival introductory course on film making which inspired him to make a small movie with the help of many mentors. With his newly acquired knowledge of movie making and game programming he further plans to make more movies/games focusing on kids education and entertainment.

Ricarda Saleh

Ricarda Saleh – Lionhearted

Ricarda Saleh is a German-Bolivian filmmaker. In 2017 she graduated from Filmacademy Baden-Württemberg with the 360° / VR documentary Lionhearted. The piece was shot at a self-organised refugee shelter in Athens and approaches the refugee crisis of the perspective of the 8-year-old Pakistani girl Rida. Her second VR film Paris Terror – The Hostages from the Hyper Cacher remembers the traumatic event of an anti-Semitic attack in Paris in January 2015. With special sensitiveness the story of three survivors is told. An abstract black and white 3D/2D animation-mix approaches the re-enactment in a respectful manner. The piece was published in several languages. For the German language version the renowned News Programme Tagesschau published the VR documentary. Ricarda also works in the field of UX/Interactive and Photography. Her work was shown at several exhibitions and festivals worldwide. For her work at the interactive film FiveMinutes.gs she was honoured with a Webby Award Nomination and the FAW Best Website of the Year Award.

Rolf Klein

Rolf Klein – Mumpsimus and Halcyon Discord

Rolf has experienced mental health issues and homelessness. He wants to use film to challenge our understanding of both. Rolf is a first time film maker.

Ryan Chamley

Ryan Chamley – Jeremy the Dud

There comes a time in every man’s life when he realizes he isn’t going to make any money being a rock star, skateboarding is hard, and basketballers need to be insanely fit. So with rock star, pro skateboarder and pro basketball player crossed off his list, Ryan Chamley could focus his attention on another passion and has been creating moving images ever since. With a talent to habitually go over the top when coming up with concepts, Ryan’s passion is in storytelling and taking the viewer on a journey. Ryan is the creator and part owner of “Robot Army Productions”, and the driving force behind the independent web series “Rostered On“ with millions of viewers worldwide. He has directed over 35 music videos, countless corporate and advertising campaigns, and short films.

S. Shakthidharan

S. Shakthidharan – Laka

Shakthi is a writer / director and producer of screen and theatre and a composer of original music.

Recent projects include feature film, Riz, which premiered at Sydney Film Festival in 2015; Shakthi’s debut long form play, A Counting and Cracking, currently in development with Belvoir Theatre and premiering as part of their 2019 season, and Laka, a multi-platform film and VR project which is set to tour the world from 2018-2019 through a commission from the Streaming Museum (NY).

Shakthi was Associate Artist at Carriageworks from 2013-2015 and a founding directorate member of National Theatre of Parramatta in 2017. In 2015, he was awarded the Phillip Parson’s Playwright Award from Belvoir Theatre and in 2011 the Kirk Robson Award by Australia Council for the Arts, given to an artist for their work in relation to social justice and community cultural leadership.

Shakthi is the founder and artistic director of innovative arts and social change company CuriousWorks. Shakthi has led the CuriousWorks team to develop an award-winning model for the innovative use of creative digital media in marginalised communities. This work has led to long-term, multi-platform arts
initiatives as well as significant grassroots social change in communities in Western Sydney and remote Western Australia.

Serena Porcher-Carli

Serena Porcher-Carli – Enzo

Serena Porcher-Carli is a young photographer born in 1989. After two Master’s degrees in geography and anthropology, she got interested in documentary in all kinds of forms : with sound, video or photographs. She questions cultural, political and social subjects with an intimist, subjective and local vision, far from specular photojournalistic. For her, there is no single truth. She thus prefers to arouse a reflection according to every sensibility and every look rather than to impose a vision, to make feel rather than give to see. Consent, confidence, and respect for its subjects are the indispensable conditions in her work. She received the Jury Prize at the RISC International Festival in Marseille in December 2017. Her short film begins it festival tour. After “Enzo”, she carries out a second work on transidentity, “Mathéo”, in parallel with a university research work. She is graduated from the ENS Louis-Lumière since June 2017. In 2018, she begins a film about « Liam », and a sound, photographic and video work on rape subject.

Serena Porcher-Carli

Serena Porcher-Carli – Enzo

Serena Porcher-Carli is a young photographer born in 1989. After two Master’s degrees in geography and anthropology, she got interested in documentary in all kinds of forms : with sound, video or photographs. She questions cultural, political and social subjects with an intimist, subjective and local vision, far from specular photojournalistic. For her, there is no single truth. She thus prefers to arouse a reflection according to every sensibility and every look rather than to impose a vision, to make feel rather than give to see. Consent, confidence, and respect for its subjects are the indispensable conditions in her work. She received the Jury Prize at the RISC International Festival in Marseille in December 2017. Her short film begins it festival tour.
After “Enzo”, she carries out a second work on transidentity, “Mathéo”, in parallel with a university research work. She is graduated from the ENS Louis-Lumière since June 2017. In 2018, she begins a film about « Liam », and a sound, photographic and video work on rape subject.

Tara Audibert

Tara Audibert – The Importance of Dreaming

Tara Audibert is a New Brunswick Artist of mixed heritage, her mother is Maliseet from Tobique First Nations, NB and her father a French American from Fort Kent, ME. The Importance of Dreaming (2017), is Tara’s first independent short film, and was awarded support from the Canada Council for the Arts and Arts NB. She founded Moxy Fox Studio in 2015 and has almost 20 years’ experience working in the animation industry as a producer, director, and animator on productions like Johnny Test, Delilah and Julius, Olliver’s Adventures for WB & Teletoon and Baby TV’s Zoom. She has illustrated several comics for First Nations education, health and awareness, one relating to the Residential Schools, “Lost Innocence”, has been placed in the Canadian Archives of Canada. In her spare time, Tara co-hosts the motivational comedy podcast No Such Thing as Grown Ups, you should check it out, Tara’s mom said she heard from someone (she doesn’t remember who), that it was funny, but has yet to confirm.

Tony Hinds, Luke Whitmore, Sean Guezen

Tony Hinds, Luke Whitmore, Sean Guezen – Feel

Tony Hinds studied film at the University of Winnipeg, and Creative Communications at Red River College. When he’s not behind a camera, Tony works as feature writer/ film critic for The Film Stage. His reviews can be found on Metacritic. He’s also a Tomato-meter approved critic on Rotten Tomatoes. He lives in Winnipeg with his 1-year-old cat, Rocko.

Luke Whitmore started filmmaking at very early age and has continued to study his passion for filmmaking through the Creative Communication program at Red River College. Luke has worked as a freelance videographer, shot multiple documentaries, and has written and directed a variety of short films.

Sean Guezen is a Creative Communications student at Red River College bravely venturing into the realm of DIY film and documentary, with all the naivety and optimism of a scrappy young budget-filmmaker. He also produces a live music video series called The REC Room, and plays in an experimental indie rock band in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Trystan Millet

Trystan Millet – Why Are the Trees Pink?

Born in France and raised in Canada, Trystan Millet studied scenarisation and cinema at the UQAM. Pourquoi les arbres sont roses (Why Are the Trees Pink) is his first short movie.

Val Wang

Val Wang – The Flip Side

Val Wang is a filmmaker and author particularly interested in the intersection of the personal and the global. She most recently created and produced Planet Takeout, an interactive, multiplatform documentary for WGBH on the role of Chinese takeouts as a vital cultural crossroads in America. Her other multimedia work has been broadcast on PBS, WGBH Radio, and WBUR, among others.

Her memoir “Beijing Bastard” details her coming of age against the backdrop of Beijing’s own transformation around the turn of the century. She lives in Cambridge and teaches creative writing and media production as an Assistant Professor in the English and Media Studies Department of Bentley University.

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