festival guests \

Denis Côté, Director + Writer of Social Hygiene

Né au Nouveau-Brusnwick en 1973, il tourne plusieurs courts métrages dès la fin de ses études en Cinéma. En parallèle de son travail de critique de cinéma, Denis Côté termine un premier long métrage en 2005 intitulé Les états nordiques. Le film remporte le Léopard d’Or vidéo du Festival de Locarno en Suisse puis fait le tour du circuit festivalier. Carcasses (2009) est présenté à la Quinzaine des réalisateurs à Cannes en 2009. Il s’intéresse aux thèmes de la solitude, des peurs intimes et de l’aliénation dans des documentaires et des fictions qui confrontent et questionnent le langage cinématographique. Ses films ont été vus dans plus d’une vingtaine de rétrospectives à travers le monde. Côté est aussi responsable de Curling, Bestiaire, Vic+Flo ont vu un ours, Répertoire des villes disparues et Wilcox.

Born in New Brunswick in 1973, he began making short films after completing his studies in Cinema. While working as a film critic, Denis Côté finished his first feature-length film in 2005, Les états Nordiques (Drifting States). The film won the Golden Leopard Award at the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland, then made the rounds of the festival circuit. Carcasses (2009) was presented at the Directors’ Fortnight at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. Côté is interested in exploring themes of solitude, intimate fears, and alienation through documentary and fiction filmmaking that confronts and questions the language of cinema. His films have been shown at more than twenty retrospectives throughout the world. Social Hygiene is Denis Côté’s 13th feature-length film, following films such as Curling, Bestiaire, Vic+Flo ont vu un ours (Vic+Flo Saw a Bear), Wilcox and Répertoire des villes disparues (Ghost Town Anthology).

Matthew Rankin, Director + Writer of The Twentieth Century

Matthew Rankin was born in Winnipeg and studied history at McGill and Université Laval. He is the director of some 30 short films and one feature which have been the object of both critical acclaim and outraged censorial attack. Matthew’s work has been presented at Sundance, SXSW, TIFF, Annecy, Ottawa International Animation, the Berlinale, Cannes Critics Week and on the Criterion Channel. His feature film, The Twentieth Century (2019), was given an award at TIFF for Best Canadian First Feature as well as the FIPRESCI Prize of the International Film Critics at the Berlinale. He works in English, French and, increasingly, Esperanto.

Katie Boland, Director + Writer of We're All In This Together

Katie is a multiple award-winning actress, director, actress, best selling author and screenwriter. As an actress she has over 85 roles to her name and is a Canadian Screen Award winner. Her short film Lolz-Ita screened at TIFF, Share Her Journey, was nominated for numerous jury prizes and was a Vimeo Staff Pick. She sold her shortform series Long Story, Short to Hulu which garnered millions of views. Her first feature that she wrote, directed and played twins in called We’re All In This Together has won over 30 awards worldwide at film festivals and will be released theatrically in the United States in March. She currently has television shows in development with Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment, Chernin, Endeavour Content and Corus Media. As an actress, she is currently recurring on the new Apple + show “Five Days At Memorial” from Academy Award winner John Ridley, and is in post on her Lifetime movie. She has been called Canada’s Lena Dunham and Pheobe Waller Bridge.

Sarah Fortin, Director + Writer of Nouveau-Québec

Après des études en cinéma, Sarah Fortin tourne plusieurs courts-métrages de fiction (Deux enfants qui fument, 2004, Synthétiseur, 2008, Le fleuve à droite, 2010 et Manouk, 2014). Intéressée depuis ses débuts par le documentaire, elle réalise J’m’en va r’viendre en 2011, en plus de travailler à de nombreux projets pour la télévision.

Elle s’est attaquée ces dernières années à Nouveau-Québec, un long-métrage de fiction tourné à Schefferville, dans le nord de la province, dont la sortie est prévue pour 2022. Elle écrit actuellement un nouveau film de fiction intitulé Le beau temps.

William MacGillivray, Director + Writer of Under the Weather

“William D. MacGillivray has been responsible for some of the most singularly resonant, poignant and stylish films made in Canada. His films are those of heart and head, emotionally engaging and deeply thoughtful.” Piers Handling, CEO Toronto International Film Festival

Governor General’s Award winner, William D. MacGillivray studied Fine Art at NSCAD and Concordia and filmmaking at The London Film School. Returning to Canada, he became a force within Canada’s early independent cinema and his films have been invited to festivals around the world, being the subject of retrospectives in both Canada and abroad.

MacGillivray’s features include, STATIONS, LIFE CLASSES, UNDERSTANDING BLISS, THE MAN OF A THOUSAND SONGS, HARD DRIVE etc. In television, MacGillivray co-created, wrote and directed the comedic series, GULLAGES and wrote the award-winning series, STUDIO BLACK!

As UNDER THE WEATHER prepares for release, MacGillivray is editing his feature documentary, SO LONG, BOB (A CAUTIONARY TALE).

Terry Greenlaw, Producer of Under the Weather

One of the first female independent producers in Atlantic Canada, Terry has been a partner in Nova Scotia based production company Picture Plant
since 1988.

Notable producer credits include the 13-episode dramatic series Gullage’s (CBC); multi-Gemini nominated MOW One Heart Broken Into Song (CBC); feature documentary The Man of a Thousand Songs (Super Channel/CBC, TIFF, Atlantic Film Festival awards for Audience Choice, Outstanding Direction and Best Documentary); indie feature film Hard Drive (Super Channel/Netflix USA) and two seasons of dramatic mini-series Studio Black! (CBC, nominated for a Best Limited Series Canadian Screen Award, winner of NS Screen Award for Best TV Series). Her recent feature films Under the Weather and Dawn, Her Dad & The Tractor are both heading into theatrical release.

Terry is developing several film and television projects through Picture Plant, including co-productions with partners in Halifax, London and Munich along with a slate of debut feature films by Atlantic women filmmakers. Terry’s upcoming Bystanders, a first film by Koumbie is slated for production in 2022.

Michael McGowan, Director + Writer of All My Puny Sorrows

Sook-Yin Lee, Star of Shortbus

 Screen Summit guests \


Fab Filippo

Fab is an award-winning actor, screenwriter, playwright and director. Most recently he wrote, directed (6 out of 8) and was co-showrunner of SORT OF, a half-hour for CBC and HBOMAX (Sienna Films Prodco). Before that he wrote and directed the critically acclaimed and award-winning digital series Save Me, which was nominated for over 20 international festival awards and a Webby. He has over 20 episodes of true crime under his belt as a director and is in preproduction to shoot his first feature. Before that, he developed half-hours for Amazon, and 20th Century Fox. As a playwright, he was nominated for a Dora Award for his play The Summoned. He co-wrote true crime indie Perfect Sisters starring Abigail Breslin and Mira Sorvino and co-wrote Lifetime movie Too Late To Say Good-Bye starring Rob Lowe. He also co-created and directed half-hour Showcase and ABC hit comedy Billable Hours in which he starred. As an actor you might also know him from such projects as Lives Of The Saints starring opposite Sophia Loren, indie hit waydowntown, or as Ethan Gold in the groundbreaking Showtime series Queer As Folk. He is often recognized for an acting stint on the hit Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

Mel Woods

Mel Woods (they/them) is a Vancouver-based writer and editor currently working as a culture editor at Xtra Magazine. Prior to joining Xtra, they were an associate editor at HuffPost Canada prior to its closure in March 2021. Their writing has appeared in the Globe and Mail, the Walrus, Slate, Vice, NBC, and the CBC. Mel graduated with a Master of Journalism from the University of British Columbia in 2019, and has won or been nominated for Digital Publishing Awards, Canadian Publishing Awards, Canadian Association of Journalists Awards, and Canada Radio, Television and Digital News Awards. They host a weekly community radio show and love playing Magic: The Gathering. You can find them on Twitter at @intothemelwoods.

Bilal Baig

SAVE AS Guests \

Bruno Boëz

Installé au Canada depuis 2020, Bruno Boëz est expert dans la création et la gestion d’actions culturelles en faveur de la préservation et la valorisation du cinéma. Formé en France, il est titulaire d’un Master en cinéma et audiovisuel, spécialité Réalisation et Création. Il a travaillé 15 ans au Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC) dans les domaines de l’éducation à l’image et du patrimoine cinématographique, avant de rejoindre, à sa création, La Cinémathèque du documentaire dédiée à la diffusion du film documentaire. Il est aujourd’hui consultant, programmateur, critique de cinéma et administrateur d’organismes canadiens dans le secteur de l’audiovisuel et des arts médiatiques.

Gérald Duchaussoy

Gérald Duchaussoy has been in charge Cannes Classics (the section dedicated to restored heritage films, documentaries about cinema, Cinéma de la plage, masterclasses) at the Festival de Cannes since 2014 under the direction of General Manager Thierry Frémaux and Head of Programming at the International Classic Film Market (MIFC) organized as part of the Lumière festival since 2013, where he has been supporting MIFC director Juliette Rajon and Institut Lumière director Thierry Frémaux.

Jimmy Fournier

Directeur de la recherche et développement et de l’ingénierie depuis sept ans, et des plateformes numériques depuis deux ans, Jimmy Fournier s’est joint à l’ONF en tant qu’ingénieur en 2004. Détenteur d’un baccalauréat en génie informatique, il est membre de l’Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec et directeur ad hoc à la Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, section de Montréal. Fort d’une vaste expérience dans le domaine audiovisuel, Jimmy a été un acteur de premier plan dans la définition et l’opérationnalisation de la stratégie de numérisation, de restauration, d’accessibilité et de préservation des œuvres de l’ONF. Plus récemment, il a joué un rôle clé dans le choix et le déploiement des technologies des nouvelles installations de l’ONF au centre-ville de Montréal et de sa salle de conservation et de numérisation de l’arrondissement Saint-Laurent.

Jimmy Fournier has been the NFB’s R&D and Engineering Manager for seven years and its Digital Platforms Manager for two years. He joined the NFB more than 17 years ago as an engineer. He has a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and is a member of the OIQ, as well as the ad hoc director of the SMPTE’s Montreal chapter. Jimmy has extensive experience in the audiovisual field, and he played a leading role in conceptualizing and operationalizing the digitization, restoration, accessibility and preservation processes for the NFB’s works. More recently, Jimmy was a key player in choosing and implementing the technology for the NFB’s new headquarters in downtown Montreal and for its conservation and digitization room in Ville St-Laurent.

Marina Gallet

Marina Gallet est Directrice de la préservation et du développement des collections à la Cinémathèque québécoise. Elle œuvre depuis dix ans dans le domaine de la conservation et de la valorisation du patrimoine audiovisuel et s’intéresse en particulier au libre accès de la culture et aux humanités numériques. Elle est titulaire de deux masters, « Gestion de patrimoines audiovisuels » de l’Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (France, 2009), et « Arts et médias numériques » de l’université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (France, 2011).

Brian Belovarac

Brian Belovarac works in theatrical distribution at Janus Films, the longest-running distributor of global cinema in the United States. While at Janus, he has handled restorations of works by filmmakers like Abbas Kiarostami, Satyajit Ray, Ousmane Sembène, and Agnès Varda, regularly collaborating with archives, rights holders, and preservation organizations around the world. In addition to re-releases, Janus also distributes new films, most recently bringing Eyimofe (This Is My Desire), Faya dayi, and Drive My Car to U.S. screens. Brian is a curator, writer, and regular guest at festivals, speaking about the business of distribution at the Cartagena Film Festival, the Art House Convergence, and now IFFO.

David Marriott

David Marriott is the Co-Founder of art house restoration/distribution labels Arbelos Films and Canadian International Pictures. From 2016 - 2017 he was head of distribution for Cinelicious Pics, where he earlier served as Director of Acquisitions from 2013-2016, and helped acquire and release numerous critically acclaimed films. He has co-produced and released numerous 4K restorations, including Chameleon Street (1990), Sátántangó (1994), Funeral Parade of Roses (1969), and Private Property (1960).

David Marriott est le cofondateur des maisons de restauration et de distribution de cinéma d’art, Arbelos Films et Canadian International Pictures. De 2016 à 2017, il dirigeait la distribution pour Cinelicious Pics, où il avait travaillé comme directeur des acquisitions de 2013 à 2016, et a aidé à faire sortir de nombreux films acclamés par la critique. Il a coproduit et fait sortir plusieurs restaurations en 4K, dont Chameleon Street (1990), Sátántangó (1994), Funeral Parade of Roses (1969) et Private Property (1960).

Dominique Dugas

After studying cinema, Dominique Dugas became television and video curator at the Cinémathèque québécoise, then programming director of Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma, and since 2012 director of the latter institution. He currently serves as the director of Éléphant: The memory of Québec cinema, Québecor's philanthropic film restoration project founded in 2008.

Après avoir étudié le cinéma, Dominique Dugas est devenu conservateur télévision et vidéo à la Cinémathèque québécoise, puis responsable de la programmation des Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma, et depuis 2012, directeur de cette dernière. Il œuvre présentement à diriger Éléphant : mémoire du cinéma québécois, le projet philanthropique de restauration de films de Québecor, fondé en 2008.

Dr. Aboubakar Sanogo

As the North American Regional Secretary for the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI), Dr. Aboubakar Sanogo initiates and oversees the FEPACI Archival Project. In that capacity he is instrumental in establishing and heading the African Film Heritage Project (AFHP), a major film preservation and restoration initiative in partnership with Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation and UNESCO.

À titre de secrétaire régional - Amérique du Nord, de la Fédération panafricaine des cinéastes (FEPACI), M. Aboubakar Sanogo entreprend et supervise le projet d’archivage de la FEPACI. En ce rôle, il est essentiel à l’établissement et à la direction du Projet du patrimoine cinématographique africain (AFHP), un important projet de préservation et de restauration de films en partenariat avec The Film Foundation, de Martin Scorsese, et l’UNESCO.

Dr. Antoine Damiens

Dr. Antoine Damiens is a MITACs Accelerate Postdoctoral Fellow at York University. His research focuses on the history of film festivals, queer cinema, and minoritized film/video archives. Antoine is the author of LGBTQ Film Festivals: Curating Queerness (Amsterdam University Press, 2022) and the co-editor of Rethinking Film Festivals in the Pandemic Era and After (Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming). He is also working as the Knowledge Mobilization Officer for Archive/Counter-Archive - a seven-year research-creation project dedicated to activating and remediating audiovisual archives created by Indigenous Peoples, the Black community and People of Colour, women, LGBT2Q+ and immigrant communities. Led by Janine Marchessault and funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Partnership Grant, Archive/Counter-Archive is composed of four universities (York, Ryerson, Queen's, and Concordia), numerous communities, memory institutions, and policy advocates. Our research is committed to finding solutions for safekeeping Canada's audiovisual heritage.

M. Antoine Damiens est un stagiaire postdoctoral du programme accéléré de Mitacs à l’Université York. Sa recherche se concentre sur l’histoire des festivals du film, le cinéma queer et les archives de films et de vidéos minorisés. Antoine est l’auteur de LGBTQ Film Festivals: Curating Queerness (Amsterdam University Press, 2022) et le coéditeur de Rethinking Film Festivals in the Pandemic Era and After (Palgrave Macmillan, à venir). Il travaille également comme agent de mobilisation des connaissances pour Archive/Contre-Archive, un projet de recherche et de création s’étalant sur sept ans et visant à activer et à réparer des archives audiovisuelles créées par les peuples autochtones, la communauté noire, les personnes de couleur, les femmes, les personnes LGBT2Q+ et les communautés d’immigrants. Mené par Janine Marchessault et financé par une subvention de partenariat du Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines, Archive/Contre-Archive est composé de quatre universités (York, Ryerson, Queen's et Concordia), de nombreuses communautés, d’institutions de mémoire et de défenseurs de politiques. Par cette recherche, le projet s’engage à trouver des solutions afin de préserver le patrimoine audiovisuel du Canada.

Jack Blum

Jack Blum is the co-founder and executive director of REEL CANADA - a charitable organization that celebrates Canada through film. With his longtime partner Sharon Corder, he has written and produced more than fifty hours of television drama for both Canadian and American broadcasters. He attended the National Theatre School and his early acting career included appearances in dozens of feature films and television shows. Jack has written about and advocated for Canadian cinema his entire career. Under the auspices of REEL CANADA, he and Sharon also created National Canadian Film Day which, last April, saw more than two and a half million Canadians watch a Canadian film.

Jack Blum est le cofondateur et directeur général de REEL CANADA, un organisme de bienfaisance qui célèbre le Canada grâce au cinéma. Avec sa partenaire de longue date, Sharon Corder, il a rédigé et produit plus de cinquante heures de drames télévisés, tant pour des diffuseurs Canadiens que des diffuseurs Américains. Il a étudié à l’école nationale de théâtre du Canada, et dans les débuts de sa carrière d’acteur, il est apparu dans des dizaines de longs métrages et d’émissions de télévision. Jack a écrit sur le sujet du cinéma canadien et l’a défendu pendant toute sa carrière. Sous les auspices de REEL CANADA, lui et Sharon ont aussi instauré la Journée du cinéma canadien qui, en avril dernier, a vu plus de 2,5 millions de Canadiens regarder un film canadien.

Paulina Abarca-Cantin

Paulina has led content acquisitions, restorations and the operations of the Canada Media Fund’s Encore+ YouTube channel of classic Canadian film and TV shows since its launch in 2017. The channel surpasses 50 million views and has over 170,000 subscribers, which led the recent launch of Encore Plus, dedicated solely to French-language content, under her direction. She has worked extensively as a film programmer, actor, director, producer and project manager across a wide range of Canadian audiovisual, Imax, digital media and theatrical initiatives. As Director General of Montreal-based AdaX, she created and managed First Person Digital, a landmark two-year digital media training and co-production initiative with the National Film Board of Canada. She was the founder and lead programmer of the Women in Film and Television International’s (WIFTI) Short Film Showcase, screened across three continents for ten years.

Paulina dirige l’acquisition de contenus, la restauration et l’exploitation de la chaîne YouTube Encore+, du Fonds des médias du Canada, depuis son lancement en 2017. La chaîne comporte des centaines de séries télé et longs métrages canadiens marquants. Elle surpasse les 50 millions de visionnements et compte plus de 170 000 abonnés, ce qui a récemment mené au lancement d’Encore Plus, une chaîne entièrement consacrée aux contenus canadiens de langue française, sous sa direction également.
Celle-ci cumule une solide feuille de route à titre de programmatrice, actrice, réalisatrice, productrice et gestionnaire de projets. Elle compte de nombreuses productions canadiennes à son actif, tant dans le secteur de l’audiovisuel que dans les médias numériques et au théâtre. À titre de directrice générale du studio AdaX, basé à Montréal, Paulina a mis sur pied et dirigé avec l’Office national du film du Canada
Le numérique à la première personne, une initiative de formation de culture numérique et de coproduction sans précédent. Elle fut également fondatrice et programmatrice principale de La vitrine de courts métrages international pour Women in Film and Television International (WIFTI), un événement qui s’est déroulé sur trois continents durant dix ans.

Pauline Saint-Hilaire

Pauline Saint-Hilaire graduated from EDHEC and previously worked at Upside Distribution (Havas Group) as Head of sales and acquisitions.
She joined Studiocanal in 2018 and has been promoted Head of International Library Sales.

Ron Mann

Canadian filmmaker Ron Mann is renowned for his genre-bending approach to documentary cinema that explores art forms and contemporary popular culture with vision and verve. In 2003 Ron co-founded Films We Like, a boutique distribution company for international, documentary and independent films. In addition to producing, directing and distributing films, Ron has helped restore to digital many classic films, and facilitated the donation of over 150 film and television collections for preservation.

Le cinéaste canadien Ron Mann est reconnu pour sa démarche défiant les genres envers le cinéma documentaire qui explore les formes d’arts et la culture populaire contemporaine avec vision et verve. En 2003, Ron a cofondé Films We Like, une entreprise de distribution style boutique de films internationaux, documentaires et indépendants. En plus de produire, de réaliser et de distribuer des films, Ron a aidé à restaurer en format numérique plusieurs classiques du cinéma et a facilité le don de plus de 150 films et séries télévisées à des fins de préservation.

Steve Moore

Steve Moore’s career has encompassed over 35 years of acquisition, description, appraisal, specialized reference, preservation and representing Library and Archives Canada (LAC) for private and public audiovisual (AV) sources and events. He provides advice to management and his colleagues throughout LAC on the AV collection and the history of AV acquisition and research at LAC.

La carrière de Steve Moore compte plus de 35 ans d’expérience dans les domaines de l’acquisition, de la description, de l’évaluation, des références spécialisées et de la préservation ainsi qu’à représenter Bibliothèques et Archives Canada (BAC) dans le cadre de sources ou d’activités audiovisuelles (AV) privées ou publiques. Il fournit des conseils à la direction et à ses collègues de partout dans BAC au sujet de la collection AV et de l’histoire de l’acquisition d’AV et de recherche à ce sujet à BAC.

Wendy Huot

Wendy Huot is the owner of The Screening Room, a movie theatre in downtown Kingston, Ontario. She bought the cinema in 2011; prior to that she worked as a web development librarian at Queen's University. Wendy serves on the Board of the Kingston Canadian Film Festival and the Steering Committee of the upstart Network of Independent Canadian Exhibitors (NICE). Some favourite Canadian films include Pas de deux (1968), A Married Couple (1969), Videodrome (1983) & Mouthpiece (2018).

Wendy Huot est la propriétaire de The Screening Room, un cinéma au centre-ville de Kingston, en Ontario. Elle l’a acheté en 2011. Avant cela, elle travaillait en tant que bibliothécaire en développement Web à l’Université Queen's. Wendy œuvre au sein du conseil du Festival du film canadien de Kingston et du comité directeur de l’ambitieux Network of Independent Canadian Exhibitors (réseau des exposants canadiens indépendants). Voici quelques films canadiens préférés : Pas de deux (1968), A Married Couple (1969), Videodrome (1983) et Mouthpiece (2018).

Eric Le Roy

Francesca Accinelli

Jean-Pierre Boiget

Juliette Rajon

Kareen Rispal

Mireille Dansereau

Pablo Rodriguez

Robert Spickler