Jossie Malis Alvarez

Spain

Jossie is an illustrator, animator and filmmaker of Peruvian-Chilean origin. Having grown up between two countries, he’s spent the last decade in New York, Florida and Barcelona. He now sends signals to outer space from the island of Mallorca, Spain. His work focuses on an acute commentary on humans and their weaknesses, their machines, their dreams and the mysteries of the universe.

Cordell Barker

Canada

Cordell Barker was born in Winnipeg in 1956. In 1982, he joined the NFB where he made his first film, The Cat Came Back (1988), followed by Strange Invaders (2001). Both comic films were highly acclaimed by audiences and garnered Oscar nominations for best animated short in addition to receiving over 30 international awards. Barker is also known for his commercials for major companies. Runaway (2009) marks his third collaboration with the NFB.

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Maria Bock

Norway

Maria has been working as an actress, musical artist, scriptwriter and director since graduating from the Academy of Theatre at the Oslo National Academy of The Arts in 2004. She has won several awards, including the BAFTA/LA Award for Best Short Film at the Aspen Shortsfest 2011 for her film “BaldGuy”.

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Gunilla Bresky

Canada

Gunilla Bresky is a director and producer, living in Luleå, Sweden. For many years she worked at Swedish Radio creating documentaries and dramas. Her films “Catherine the Little” (1996), “Matushka” (1998), “Blood Road” (2000), “Under a Rusty Star” (2001), “Dear Vera” (2002), “A Grey Blanket with Embroidered Flowers” (2006), “Submarine K141” (2007) and “Night Witches” (2008) have been awarded in many international festivals.

Kirk Caouette

Canada

Raised in British Columbia, Kirk is a director, writer, composer and stuntman. “Hit ‘N’ Strum” is his first acting, producing, and main unit director gig. He has been a stunt double for Jet Li, Marc Decascos, Hugh Jackman and countless others.

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Carlos Carrera

Mexico

With only three feature films, Carlos is considered one of the best young directors of the new Mexican cinema. He began as an animator at 12 years old and wrote, produced and directed a number of animated-shorts before filming his first live-action movie, a documentary short, “Vestidito Blanco como la Leche Nido”.

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Neil Christopher

Canada

Neil moved to Resolute Bay, Nunavut where he was introduced to the rich mythology of the Canadian Inuit. For the past ten years, he has been researching Inuit myths and legends to develop publications and films for children, youth, and adults as an editor for Inhabit Media Inc. and as a filmmaker for Taqqut Productions Inc.

Bill Clarke

Canada

From a small country town in Southern Ontario called Ayr, Bill is the director and camera man for A Gift of Laughter. With a passion for dramatic television and movies, he is an aspiring screenwriter and director.

Phillip Crawford

Australia

Phillip’s unconventional approach to filmmaking has won him many awards. He uses the process of making a film to create opportunities to address disadvantage and develop resilience among people who have experienced hardship in their lives.

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Joe Davidow

Canada

Joe is an American composer/film director who lives and works in Europe. He was educated at the New York College of Music, Moscow Conservatory and Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. He’s resided in Finland since 1978. His documentary films deal with social issues such as poverty, discrimination, HIV and AIDS. Joe’s films and compositions have been represented at numerous international festivals, and have won many national and international Film and Composition awards, including the prestigious PRIX ITALIA.

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Lucas Figueroa

Spain

Lucas Figueroa was born in Argentina. Before working as a film director he was a screenwriter, post producer, editor, producer and cameraman. He has won several awards for his short films and currently resides in Madrid, Spain.

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Casandra Macias Gago

Spain

Since he was 16, Casandra he has taken various courses on film initiation, direction assistance and film direction. In 2008, he enrolled at ECAM in Madrid, Spain where he is studying direction.

Roberto Goni

Spain

During the period 1995-1996 Goni studied Film direction and screenwriting at the Urnieta Film School. In 2005 he released the film “A year in the moon” –which he co-wrote with director Antonio Gárate. He also wrote a script called “The next fight”, awarded at the Pilar Miró Awards for feature scripts (2005). In 2011 he directed and wrote “ Hypothesis “, short film finalist at Notodofilmfest. In 2012 he created his own production company to shoot the short film “The Wrong Man.”

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Vita Weichen Hsu

Taiwan

Vita Weichen Hsu was born on a small subtropical island, Taiwan in 1986. She moved to the United States for an MFA In Computer Arts and continues making films at the California Institute of the Arts. Her work is a process of exploring emotion, desire, memory and identity; a personal narration.

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Michelle Latimer

Canada

A Métis/Algonquin filmmaker, actor, and curator, Michelle’s goal is to use film and new media as a tool for social change. She directed and produced the short stop-motion animated film, “Choke” which premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and received the Special Jury Honorable Mention for Best International Short Film before screening at Cannes, Rotterdam, and Oberhausen. The film was named by Toronto Film Festival as one of Canada’s Top Ten films of 2011 and was nominated for a 2012 Genie Award.

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Chris Lim

Canada

Chris Kang Bin Lim was born 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. He moved to Toronto in 2006 and studied film for two years at York University before moving to Thunder Bay. Lim is currently studying Broadcasting and TV Production at Confederation College in Thunder Bay. Urban Infill Art In the Core 7 is his first short documentary.

Ellen Astri Lundby

Norway

Ellen has worked with film and TV since 1989. She is known for making humorous and crafty short films, both fiction and documentaries.Her films usually have a humoristic touch, despite often dealing with serious topics. She also wrote the screenplay for the short film Salt and Pepper , which was aired as part of a four-part series under the title Love is… on Norwegian TV2 in the fall of 2001. Lundby has also worked as a freelance reporter for newspapers and specialized journals.

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Chris Koslowski

Thunder Bay, Canada

Chris Kosloski is a video artist, college instructor and filmmaker living in Thunder Bay, Ontario. He has worked in the film industry for more than a decade as a technician and editor on everything from major motion pictures ( Brokeback Mountain , The Edge , RV , Snow Day ) to network television shows ( North of 60, HBO’s September Dawn and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee ). He is a sessional film instructor at Confederation College, designer at Cinevate Inc. and has exhibited a video art piece entitled “Your Sadness Means Everything to Us ” at the Definitely Superior Art Gallery. Chris is head programmer for North Light Media Collective

Brian Mifsud

Canada

After attending a Theatre Performance Program in College, Brian took off to Europe for a 3 year stay. Most of his time was spent in Paris which is where the idea for A Man is a Man is a Man first came into his mind but he didn’t write it out until years later. Brian gradu ated from the Second City Conservatory and then expanded heavily into film and television. He landed a Lead role in the CTV Series, ‘Stock and Awe’ alongside a comedic and memorable role in the award winning feature film ‘Anything Goes’. He has since appeared on CTV’s The Listener and HBO’s Transporter, with an upcoming appearance on BBC’s Copper. You may also recognize him from national commercials like Tim Hortons, The Source or Mio.

David Moreno

Spain

Born in Villarrobledo (Albacete, Spain) in 1977, David studied Audiovisual Communication at Madrid’s Universidad Complutense. He wrote his first screenplay, “Remolinos” under the auspices of the Canal + Guiones project. He combines writing feature film scripts like “La Boda” (second place winner of Spanish Television Academy’s Pilar Miró Prize) with screenplays for successful television series (Hospital Central, Acusados –Telecinco-) and working as a director on music videos and commercials. In 2009 wrote and directed his first short film, “Socarrat”, selected in more than 200 festivals worldwide and winner of more than 60 awards.

Vinit Parmar

USA

Vinit Parmar began his film work as a location sound mixer in New York in the mid-1990s after an established legal career. He enjoys teaching film production courses as a full-time Assistant Professor in the Film Department at Brooklyn College as part of the City University of New York. His films have enjoyed honors, awards and screenings worldwide.

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Andrés Lopetegui Santos

Spain

Andrés Lopetegui studied Audiovisual Communication at the University of Navarra, directing the end of degree short film “Una Mirada en la Noche” in 2008. This same year he was admitted into ECAM, in whose bosom he has directed numerous short Films. “Son dos días”, has been selected in many film festivals around the world. At the moment he is working as an editor in an advertising company while remaining active in writing and directing.

Antti Seppänen

Finland

Antti is a director, editor, cinematographer and producer based in Helsinki, Finland. He graduated from the Huston Film School in Ireland (Master of Arts in Film Production and Direction) and Tampere University of Applied Sciences School of Art and Media (Bachelor of Culture and Arts). Antii is best known for his documentaries but he has also worked on commercials, reality TV and news. “Iceberg Shadows” (Illume 2009), is a poetic subjective documentary based on an exceptional 8mm film find by the Finnish sailor, Oiva Kovanen.

Levan Sonego

Thunder Bay, Canada

Born and raised in Thunder Bay, Levan has immersed himself in the arts. Having recently studied Film Production at Confederation College Levan has learnt skills of the industry and has made his film debut with “Love At First Bite”. Levan will be moving to Toronto to study Acting for Film and Television at Humber College in the fall to try things out on the other side of the lens.

Elle-Maija Tailfeathers

Canada

Elle-Máijá is an emerging filmmaker, actor, and writer. She is Blackfoot from the Kainai First Nation and Sámi from Norway. Her films have screened at numerous international festivals. “A Red Girl’s Reasoning” has received numerous awards including Best Canadian Short Drama at the 2012 ImagineNATIVE Film Festival. In 2011, she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the American Indian Motion Picture Awards for her role in “White Indians Walking”. As a fellow in the Indigenous Film Fellowship, she’s just completed writing her first feature-length screenplay, “Good Little Indians” and was fortunate enough to have director Chris Eyre (“Smoke Signals”) mentor her.

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Arne Vainio

Minnesota, USA

Arne is an Ojibwe physician who works on the Fond du Lac Reservation in northern Minnesota. Frustrated by middle-aged First Nations men avoiding health screenings, he came to the realization that he was also evading the necessary screenings. The film is based on Dr. Arne Vainio’s mid-century life years, a critical turning point when it’s important to become earnestly involved in health and well-being.

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