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Passes
Elamin Abdelmahmoud is the host of CBC’s daily arts, entertainment, and pop culture show Commotion. He is an award-winning culture writer who has written for the New York Times, BuzzFeed News, the Globe and Mail, and others. Elamin is the author of the No. 1 best-selling memoir Son of Elsewhere, a New York Times notable book and a Globe and Mail 100 book. He is the recipient of the 2025 Max Wyman Award for Critical Writing.
Born and raised in rural Manitoba, Natalie Batkis is a proud member of the Red River Métis Nation with a deep appreciation for community, storytelling and the land. An accomplished media and communications professional with over two decades of experience, she champions Indigenous voices across television, digital media and public communications. Since joining APTN in 2004, Natalie has worked in communications, on-air promotions and, most recently, programming. She has written and produced content in English, French and Indigenous languages, led cross-functional production teams and managed communications strategies that amplify Indigenous stories and perspectives. She has also contributed work to the documentary Closing Time: The Vanishing Prairie Beverage Room and written a children’s book called Zoe and the Wiggle Wigglesons. In 2025, Natalie became APTN’s Indigenous language production executive, a role in which she leads initiatives to revitalize Indigenous languages through television and digital content. She brings with her a unique blend of editorial expertise, production leadership and cultural insight, ensuring that Indigenous languages and storytelling traditions are represented on screen with authenticity and care. Outside of work, Natalie is a beadwork and visual artist, and she remains active in her community through volunteer work and board service with various sport and cultural organizations.
Nicole Bazuin is an award-winning Canadian film director, producer, screenwriter, editor and visual artist. Her first feature, Modern Whore, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Executive produced by Sean Baker, Modern Whore won both the jury and audience awards for Best Documentary at the Calgary Underground Film Festival, won Best Documentary at the Silver Wave Film Festival, and received special mention for the TIDES Award at the Vancouver International Film Festival. Nicole’s short film Thriving: A Dissociated Reverie premiered at Sundance and was named to TIFF’s annual year-end Canada’s Top Ten list for 2023. In collaboration with writer, performer and former escort Andrea Werhun, Nicole co-created and photographed the acclaimed book Modern Whore: A Memoir. She directed the award-winning shorts Last Night at the Strip Club for CBC Docs (Hot Docs, 2021), Modern Whore (SXSW, 2020), and the Modern Whore feature (TIFF, 2025), each starring Andrea Werhun. Nicole co-created and directed the comedy art show This Art Works! (CBC Arts), and the climate change documentary series Climate Talks With Kids (Bell TV). Nicole’s media artworks have been exhibited by the Art Gallery of Ontario, Nuit Blanche and Luminato.
Vivian Belik is a programmer, writer and producer who currently leads programming for the year-round Hot Docs Cinema as well as being an international programmer for the Hot Docs Festival. She has curated and juried works for TIFF Cinematheque, the National Screen Institute, DA Films, Available Light Film Festival and Gimli Film Festival.
Mary Bunch is an Associate Professor in Cinema and Media Arts at York University and a Canada Research Chair in Critical Media Arts Ecologies. Bunch’s artworks have exhibited at Nuit Blanche Toronto, Onsite Gallery, ImagineNative, Vector Festival, Tangled Gallery, the Aga Khan Museum, and the United Nations Conference on Water (2023), among other venues.
Stan Bush is a creative director and the founder of Go North Productions, a Denver-based production company. Bush produces and directs short films, features, documentaries, unscripted television, branded content, commercials, and news features. Previously, Bush was a reporter at KCNC-TV, the CBS-owned station in Denver where he covered politics, business, science, the environment, and the criminal justice system. He won the Edward R. Murrow Award for breaking news and two Emmy Awards for his reporting on the effect of climate change on wildlife habitats, appearing on The CBS Evening News and CBS This Morning. Bush is a graduate of Syracuse University and grew up in southeast Alaska.
Kevan Byrne is a recording and performing musician as well as a film, animation and television editor and a documentary filmmaker. From the early 1990s he recorded and toured with the Toronto based music collective King Cobb Steelie. Collaborations with notable producers include Steve Albini (The Pixies, Nirvana), Bill Laswell (Herbie Hancock, PIL) and Guy Fixsen (My Bloody Valentine, Stereolab). The emphasis of these recordings and performances is on creative sonic explorations and improvisation versus narrative songwriting.
As an editor and filmmaker, Byrne has worked in broadcast television, 2D and stop motion animation as well documentary film. Most recently he helped cut the film I Dream Of Wires, a history of modular synthesizers and co-wrote and edited the story of the life and music of Canadian multi-instrumentalist Nash The Slash. These documentary features profile artists who pushed the boundaries of composition and sound which mirror his own interests in the possibilities of music.
Chris Chong Chan Fui is an artist who works between Southeast Asia and Canada. From digital and analog films to fabricated and organic sculptures, Chong works to reveal unconventional narratives. Chong has exhibited at such venues as the Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Palais de Tokyo, EYE Film Institute Netherlands, and the Gwangju Biennale, while premiering films at the Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight, BFI London, and TIFF’s Wavelengths, where he won back-to-back awards for Best Canadian Short Film. He is a Smithsonian Institute fellow, a Ford Foundation fellow, and a Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Arts Fellow. Chong holds an MFA (film) from York University and works as an Assistant Professor (film) at Simon Fraser University’s School for the Contemporary Arts.
Richelle Charkot has worked in various facets of the film industry; including production, programming, journalism and public relations. They were the Programming Director of The Royal Cinema, where their experience with film exhibition led to an interest in distribution. They completed their Canadian Media Producers Association mentorship with the producers of the Canadian Screen Award winning film Wildhood, and studied screenwriting at the Toronto Film School where they graduated with distinction. Richelle has provided script coverage for Sundance Labs, Raven Banner Entertainment, Rebel Road Films and Younger Daughter Films, and loves working with writers on story development.
Devon has made nine short films about farm economics, dance, and media culture. His most recent, is The Hands that Feed Us, which is about what it takes to be a farmer, or why you can’t be one. He is excited to be taking the film on tour across Canada in a motorhome for all of 2026, with the goal of hosting 250 discussions about the film in a year.
Rob Dickson is a songwriter and musician based in Whitehorse, Yukon with songs that emerge from a place of discovery, of seeking solidity and forming identity. Dickson’s lyrics are both narrative and impressionistic, often revealing common experiences in gently transgressive light. The project’s foundation is the pairing of Dickson’s voice along with cyclic and melodic guitar. Through collaboration with a range of accompanists from across the continent, the songs expand, blending folk music with orchestral elements and progressive pop. The live band’s performance is intimate and conversational, with waves of ecstatic energy and quiet intensity. Bandcamp Daily describes Dickson’s third full-length album ‘Portraits’ released in June 2022 as “expertly drawn narrative songs with sharply observed lyrics and rustic instrumentation”.
Christina Dovolis is an interdisciplinary filmmaker and geographer, often working with cutting-edge technologies to explore how our built environments shape community and identity. Hailing from the Midwest, Christina draws inspiration from themes of girlhood and gossip, religious mythologies, and the complexities of urban development. As an experienced educator, Christina is committed to making new media programs more accessible to the public, particularly focusing on empowering women and marginalized groups. She has achieved acclaim for her projects, with presentations at Museum of the Moving Image, SXSW Sydney, Nuit Blanche, Calgary Underground Film Festival, and more.
Evan Dubinsky is a film and live events producer based in Montreal. He started producing music & comedy shows in 2004 in Toronto, Montreal and Los Angeles. As a music supervisor, his credits include Black Conflux, Goon, The F Word and Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie.
Jessica is a film and television editor and story editor on projects ranging from documentary to narrative to experimental. Her editing work has screened at festivals such as Sundance, Available Light, Tribeca, Hot Docs, ImagineNATIVE, VIFF and DOXA. Jessica has edited several NFB films, including Alexandra Knowles’ short doc My Knitting Circle, premiering this year Available Light, as well as Brishkay Ahmed’s feature documentary In The Room, which premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) 2025, and won the VIFF audience award in the Showcase category. Prior to that, Jessica edited the feature documentary WaaPaKe, directed by Dr. Jules Arita Koostachin, which was awarded Best BC Film at VIFF in 2023. Jessica also edited Ahnahktsipiitaa (Colin Van Loon)‘s cinematic VR piece, This Is Not A Ceremony, which premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, and was one of the editors for Baljit Sangra’s feature documentary Because We Are Girls, which premiered at Hot Docs in 2019 and was the opening film for the 2019 DOXA film festival. Jessica holds a Master of Fine Arts in Documentary Media from Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Image Arts, as well as a Graduate Diploma in Communications from Concordia University, and a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University. After graduate school, she completed a video editing practicum at The Banff Centre.
Teresa is a partner in Sagafish Media, a Yukon production company centred on screen storytelling in Canada’s North. She is a producer, writer and editor, and her filmography includes the award-winning Journeys to Adäka, Aurora Love and the co-production with the National Film Board, Voices Across the Water. She has documentaries in production, films in development, and various commercial, digital and creative projects at different stages. Mammoth Hunters is her latest collaboration with her partner, Fritz Mueller.
Her company invests heavily in development, and partners in development have included Northwestel, the CBC, the NFB and Knowledge Network. With a slate of films in development, she’s venturing into international co-production.
Kevin Eastwood is a Vancouver-based filmmaker and the producer of The Painted Life Of E.J. Hughes screening at ALFF 2026. No stranger to Available Light, Kevin’s had six other films screen at the festival. This includes the documentary features Part Of The Pack (ALFF 2023), Haida Modern (Winner: Best Canadian Documentary, ALFF 2021), Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the World (ALFF 2015), Oil Sands Karaoke (ALFF 2014), and Eco-Pirate: The Story of Paul Watson (ALFF 2012) as well as the feature comedy Preggoland (ALFF 2015). When he’s not producing the work of other directors, he is also an award-winning writer/director himself. Most recently he was the showrunner, co-creator and co-director of Wildfire, an acclaimed new documentary series now streaming at Knowledge.ca. This marked his third series for Knowledge Network, having previously directed the award-winning documentary series, British Columbia: An Untold History and Emergency Room: Life + Death At VGH.
Walter is the Festival Director of Lunenburg Doc Fest and a seasoned film producer. He sat on the board of Hot Docs International Documentary Festival for six years, started the Halifax Independent Filmmakers’ Festival, programmed documentaries and shorts for the Atlantic Film Festival and founded and Hellifax Horror Fest. Last year he attended Sundance, Berlinale, CPH:DOX, Hot Docs and Cannes and released a feature doc for Super Channel, a dramatic feature with Indiecan Entertainment and a short doc for CBC.
Emily Gagne is a Canadian critic and programmer. A recurring expert on Hollywood Suite’s Cinema A to Z and A Year in Film series, her writing has been featured by such outlets as Dread Central, The Mary Sue, and TV Guide Canada. She is currently the co-curator of the Revue Cinema’s We Really Like Her! screening series, Toronto’s only monthly showcase for movies made by women, and programmed for the 2025 the Gimli International Film Festival.
Clique Pictures is a vibrant film and television production company that focuses on working with female creative talent in front and behind the camera. Owned by award-winning filmmaker Lauren Grant, the company is based in Toronto, Canada. Modern Whore by Nicole Bazuin and Andrea Werhun with executive producer Sean Baker is her latest production. The film premiered at TIFF and has been awarded two Best Feature Documentary Awards (Silverwave & CUFF), one Jury Award (CUFF Docs) and a special mention for the TIDES award from VIFF. Known for her producing work, her films include Sugar Daddy, The Retreat, Riot Girls, Wet Bum, Picture Day, as well as the documentaries Wilfred Buck, On the Line, Metamorphosis, and Traceable. Lauren served as Executive Producer on The Sticky for Amazon. Her directorial debut short film Things We Feel but Do Not Say screened at festivals in North America before premiering on CBC. Her latest short film Erase & Rewind won the Golden Sheaf Mental Health award at the Yorkton Film Festival. Her feature screenplay Afterwards was named to the WScripted Cannes Screenplay List in 2024 under head juror Vanessa Kirby. She won a Canadian Screen Award for the short documentary Take a Walk on the Wildside and a Genie award for Savage. The Hollywood Reporter named Lauren one of 15 Talents to Watch, and she is an alumna of ACE Producers, Rotterdam Lab, Berlinale Talent Campus, and TIFF Studio. She’s currently completing her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia.
As manager of Northwestel Community TV, which oversees both Yukon and NWT, Mike works to elevate northern film projects and to strengthen pan-northern partnerships in film and television to help grow the industry in exciting new ways.
Marie-France Guerrette is a Producer at the National Film Board of Canada’s (NFB) Francophone Documentary Unit, a position she has held since December 2022. With 20 years of experience in the film and television industry, Marie-France brings a wealth of expertise in producing, directing, and telling compelling stories that resonate with diverse audiences.
Based in Calgary, Alberta, Marie-France is deeply committed to fostering bold and innovative voices within the Francophone filmmaking community. At the NFB, she collaborates with auteur filmmakers whose projects are marked by strong, distinctive visions, amplifying stories that challenge, inspire, and connect us all.
Kurt has been a contributing writer for ScreenAnarchy since 2005 (when it was called Twitchfilm), and has contributed various freelance pieces for The Shelf (formerly DorkShelf), The FilmJunk Podcast, InTheSeats, and SecondSight. He has appeared in print under the Spectacular Optical book imprint for Satanic Panic, as well as served on festival juries including Montreal’s Fantasia as well as Calgary Underground Film Festival. He is a rather vocal about his love of John Boorman’s Zardoz and Ridley Scott’s The Counselor.
Jessica Hall is a Whitehorse-based filmmaker whose work blends personal documentary, family history, and northern storytelling. Her award winning short film, Saturday (produced by the National Film Board of Canada) offers an intimate portrait of her sister Katherine and mother Frances through their shared ritual of building dollhouses, weaving home-movie archives with observations on creativity, disability, and care. Hall’s previous film, Rob Is Analog, won the Audience Choice Award at the Available Light Film Festival in 2022, further establishing her as a distinctive northern voice. Jessica’s latest film, Beyond the Left Hand Path is having its world Premiere on February the 8th at the Available Light Film Festival.
Hilary’s career in film began in short film distribution at Ouat Media, before moving onto the Canadian Film Centre. She then worked in talent management, before partnering with Will Woods to create Game Theory Films, an independent film distribution company where she serves as Co-President. Game Theory’s catalogue includes over 60 titles including TIFF Platform Prize winner Riceboy Sleeps, In Flames, and Humanist Vampire Seeks Consenting Suicidal Person. Hilary is a Berlinale Talents alumnus and was named one of The Globe and Mail’s 22 Most Influential People in Canadian Film.
David Hiatt is an award-winning Canadian Producer with an extensive background in post-production. He has Produced several feature films, most notably This Too Shall Pass (Dir. Rob Grant) which premiered at POFF (Black Nights Festival in Tallinn, Estonia) in November 2024, Shadow of God (Dir. Michael Peterson) which landed on Shudder the day after its premiere at Fantaspoa in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and Shudder Original Night of the Reaper (Dir. Brandon Christensen) which was released Halloween 2025.
Rachel Ho is a freelance editor, writer, and film critic based in Toronto, Canada. She is currently the Film Editor at Exclaim! Magazine, the Screen Time columnist on CBC Radio, and co-founder of The Asian Cut. Her work has been published by CBC Arts, The Globe and Mail, POV Magazine, Slash Film, among others. Rachel is a member of the Toronto Film Critics Association and an international voter for the Golden Globe Awards.
Douglas Joe (DJ) is a White River First Nations member who has a beautiful 10-year-old daughter. His mom is from Snag Yukon and father is from Klukshu, Yukon. He has taken his unique experience as a Yukon First Nations filmmaker and currently teaches First Nation youth about film and techniques with an emphasis on Indigenous language and interviewing elders. DJ had attended Capilano University’s Filmmaking Program (2011). He has produced and created music videos, short films and mini-documentaries. Recently he won the Yukon 48 Hr Film Competition: Audience Choice Award twice for his films BFF: Big Foot Friend (2019) and SMASH! (2020), 2021 ALFF Pitch Award winner Datrin (Raven). Datrin has screened at film festivals internationally.
Alexandra Knowles is an emerging filmmaker and video editor based in Whitehorse, Yukon. A graduate of Concordia University’s BFA Film Production program (2013), she specializes in post-production and completed the Video Editing Practicum at the Banff Centre in 2015. Alexandra has worked on documentary, fiction, corporate and animation projects. She is passionate about documentary storytelling and has a love for building community through both film and knitting.
As a director of music videos and a freelance DOP/producer, Tim has developed a unique style and singular ability to get the best out of any shot. Before Tim’s foray into filmmaking, he played bass in a number of bands and was known as one half of the electro rock duo ProCon that rocked venues of all stripes across North America. Tim is director/co-writer/co-producer and DOP of Nash The Slash Rises Again. This is his first feature film.
Luka Kuplowsky is a musician, filmmaker & researcher. In 2026 he will release The Grass Grows, Antonych Grows an album adapting the poetry of Ukrainian poet Bohdan Ihor Antonych, a feature documentary, Memory of Light on Chamber-Jazz group The Cluttertones, and is a contributing member to the research collective Peripheral Visions Co-Lab (Fabulating Worlds, Particulate Matter x Midge Swarm). He is the cofounder of the Chimneystack Film Society, an ad hoc collective of graduate students who explore York University’s 16mm library through screenings, digitization efforts and research. At York he is currently working on his dissertation thinking through concepts of community and cinema.
Peter Kuplowsky is a film curator, producer, and writer based in Toronto. Since 2005, he has championed genre and underground cinema at various international film festivals, including Toronto After Dark, Fantastic Fest (Austin, Texas), and the Toronto International Film Festival, where he currently leads its popular Midnight Madness section. Ever passionate about filmmakers who work outside mainstream channels, Peter is also the founder and president of Low Sky Productions, an independent film development company. His producer credits include In A Violent Nature, The Void, Psycho Goreman, The Artifice Girl, Climate of the Hunter, Country Gold, Every Heavy Thing, Mangoshake, Camp, and the reboot of Roger Corman’s Deathstalker. A graduate of the University of Toronto’s Cinema Studies Institute, Peter is internationally recognized for his enthusiastic introductions to cult film audiences and his oft-tossed fedora.
Brenda has been programming in Calgary since 1999. Currently the Lead Programmer and Jury Coordinator for the Calgary International Film Festival (2007) and Festival Director, Co-Founder, and Lead Programmer for the Calgary Underground Film Festival (2003). She has film production experience, is a member of IATSE 212, and has been involved with several other start-up film festivals. In 2009 Brenda was awarded Avenue magazine’s Top 40 Under 40, and in 2018 was honoured with the Distinguished Alumni award from MacEwan University’s Arts and Cultural Management program in the Faculty of Arts and Communications. Semi-recently she Executive Produced her first feature project with EVENTS TRANSPIRING BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER A HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL GAME (2020).
Born and raised in the Yukon, Neil began making movies as a young boy. He is an alumnus of the UBC Film Program and the National Screen Institute. With a varied career in the film and television industry Neil has worked as a Producer, Director, Cinematographer, and Gaffer. His credits include A.R.C.H.I.E. 2, GOLD RUSH, SKYMASTER DOWN, NANCY DREW, TRON LEGACY, and the TWILIGHT SAGA to name a few. In 2022 Neil stepped away from production to take on the role of Manager, Media Development for the Yukon Government.
Aiden is producing short video content with freelance storytellers in the Territories as part of CBC’s Creator Network. The content focuses on the environment and climate change, and the particular challenges and initiatives in the North.
She joins CBC from her most recent job at the YukonU telling multi-media stories and helping produce mini-docs. She has worked as a radio host, a podcast researcher and scriptwriter, and as an Assistant Producer at CBC Toronto working on Metro Morning and As It Happens, among other radio shows. Her family owns an organic produce farm in Glengarry, Ontario. Aiden lived in Peterborough, Ontario, where she immersed herself in learning about sustainability, Indigenous food sovereignty and cultural revitalization at Trent University. She first travelled to Whitehorse in 2017, felt deeply at home, and continued to travel to and from the Territory for years as a condo and cat-sitter, cabin and husky-sitter. In October 2023, she moved to Whitehorse permanently.
Sina Nazarian is a Vancouver-based producer and director working across narrative and documentary cinema. His films include WHERE I’M FROM, HATCH (Best Short Film, Red Sea International Film Festival), and the TELUS Originals CONSTANT BATTLES and LIGHT THROUGH THE BLINDFOLD. He is currently developing INTERNAL LANDSCAPES, a hybrid documentary exploring memory, art, and surreal visual storytelling.
Justin Oakey is a bilingual (English-French) writer/director from Newfoundland, where he lives with his wife, children, and droves of animals. He lives a traditional lifestyle full of hunting, fishing, growing, and storytelling. Following his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film Studies from Ryerson University, his award-winning films introduced an atmospheric, genre-agnostic vision of rural Newfoundland around the world. The claustrophobic micro-budget Riverhead (2016) and tense neo-noir A Fire In The Cold Season (2019) found acclaim at festivals and the Canadian Screen Awards. His folkish thriller Hangashore (ALFF 2026), starring James Frecheville and Hera Hilmar, is currently on a festival run. Also an accomplished editor, Justin has cut a number of acclaimed features – most recently the overnight cult hit Dolly, the star-studded crime thriller Blood For Dust, sci-fi adventure The Outer Threat, and fantasy drama The King Tide (ALFF 2024) – for which he has won numerous awards, including top honours at the Canadian Cinema Editors Awards.
Alison Reid is an award winning filmmaker with a passion for adventure. She began her career as a stunt performer and broke ground becoming one of the first female stunt coordinators in North America. Her zeal for storytelling led her to founding Free Spirit Films in order to make films diverse in genre but similar in their exploration of the human spirit. Under that banner she directed and produced award-winning LGBTQ2+ feature comedy The Baby Formula (EOne, Warner Bros) and critically acclaimed feature documentary, The Woman Who Loves Giraffes (Zeitgeist Films, KinoLorber, Crave). The latter garnered worldwide screenings, multiple Best Film & Audience Awards, and had a robust theatrical release in the USA and Canada. Positive reviews from The New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Variety and The Wrap contributed to its 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Her episodic directing credits include the new Amazon series Beyond Black Beauty as well as Hudson & Rex, Good Witch, Heartland, Murdoch Mysteries and Saving Hope.
Sepehr Samimi is an Iranian-Canadian award-winning producer and cinematographer (BFA film production from SFU). He specializes in films about the frontlines of urgent social and political movements across the world such as Fairy Creek (Best Feature at Planet In Focus‘24, WFF’24) about Canada’s biggest act of civil disobedience, hit global climate movement film The Magnitude of All Things (Idfa, RIDM, VIFF 2020), and Constant Battles for Telus Originals, featuring Woman Life Freedom movement from Iran. Sepehr is a member of Intl Cinematographers Guild (ICG669) and Canadian Cinematographers Society, and alumni of HotDocs Doc Accelerator and Netflix-Banff Diversity of Voices programs.
Teri Snelgrove is a producer at the BC & Yukon Studio. Most recently, she produced WaaPaKe (Tomorrow) (Jules Arita Koostachin), A Motorcycle Saved My Life (Lori Lozinski) and Into Light (Sheona McDonald). With Shirley Vercruysse, Teri co-produced?Someone Like Me? by Steve J. Adams and Sean Horlor, and the animated projects Two Apples (Bahram Javahery) and Zeb’s Spider (Alicia Eisen and Sophie Jarvis). She is currently working with Brishkay Ahmed on the feature doc In the Room, and she’s excited to be in development on two Yukon-based projects: Alexandra Knowles’ My Knitting Circle and Jessica Hall’s Saturday. She is also the co-producer on Lyana Patrick’s feature doc, Nechako and she has a number of other excellent documentary projects in development. Teri is a Newfoundlander, and a graduate of the film/video program at Emily Carr University. She holds a Master’s Degree from the GLS program at Simon Fraser University
Jenn Strom is a Vancouver-based documentary filmmaker, editor and mixed-media animator who has been creating films for over two decades. As a director, Jenn’s mixed media shorts have screened at film festivals around the world and on TV across Canada. Her most recent short, A Golden Voice, made in collaboration with Haida filmmaker Patrick Shannon, told the origin story of iconic Haida artist Bill Reid. Her work is featured in the Gemini-nominated arts documentary 12 Takes, and her hand-painted film, Assembly, produced by the NFB, was given the Kodak Images Award for Artistic Achievement by Women in Film Vancouver and screened at Hot Docs, VIFF and internationally. Her previous feature documentary editor credits include back home directed by Nisha Platzer (VIFF 2022), Stuffed, directed by Erin Durham (SXSW & VIFF 2019), and Marie Clements’ musical documentary The Road Forward (Hot Docs 2017) which won the Leo Award for Best Editing in a Feature Length Documentary.
As the Director of English Content at the CMF, Karen manages the Linear Content Programs for the English market and is responsible for developing new Programs, in addition to drafting and interpreting CMF policy and guidelines. Prior to the CMF, Karen negotiated business deals for premium formats and unscripted content at the CBC for all platforms in her role as Business & Rights Manager.
Karen has had the pleasure and rather unique experience of working in many sectors of the Canadian media industry, including stints in public and private broadcasting, production, distribution, and financing.
Primarily self-taught, Rhayne Vermette’s work emphasizes an interference of image through collage, photography and analog filmmaking. Themes of place, time and rhythm are expressed through opulent layers of fiction, animation, reenactments and divine interruption. Deeply rooted in Manitoba, Rhayne frequently enlists the talent of her loved ones and community in the making of her films. Ste. Anne (2021), Rhayne’s first feature narrative featuring some of her own family members from Ste. Anne, Manitoba, received critical acclaim and accrued a number of accolades including TIFF’s Amplify Voices Award for Best Canadian Feature Film. In 2024, Rhayne was shortlisted for the Sobey Art Award, Canada’s preeminent prize for contemporary visual artists. She just released her second feature film, Levers.
Jordy Walker (he/him) is a musician, composer, record producer, and sound artist based in Whitehorse, Yukon. He has produced over 50 records and worked on an equal number of films, theatre, and contemporary dance pieces. In 2024 Jordy released his first official solo album, Gifted With Fiction.
Andrea Werhun is a writer, performer, and producer based in Toronto. She is the author & co-creator of Modern Whore: A Memoir with filmmaker Nicole Bazuin. Andrea is the subject, performer, and producer of the award-winning short films Modern Whore and the CBC short doc, Last Night at the Strip Club. Andrea was a script consultant on Sean Baker’s acclaimed, Oscar-winning film, Anora. She also consulted and played a lead role in Sook-Yin Lee’s Paying for It, which premiered at TIFF 2024. Her writing can be found in the Opinion section of the Globe & Mail and her Substack, Public Figure.
Andrew Williamson is a seasoned producer and industry leader with extensive experience across the Canadian film and television sectors. He has served on the boards of Producing for the Planet, Langara College, and the CMPA – BC Producers Branch, reflecting his broad perspective on industry development and sectoral policy. Andrew has collaborated with partners including the NFB, CBC, Bell Media, Knowledge Network, ARTE/ZDF and NBCUniversal. He has produced award-winning documentaries and feature films, while mentoring emerging filmmakers to help grow the next generation of storytellers. Beyond the screen industry, he advances climate action through advocacy and community engagement.
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