Narrative Features
PRESIDENT: Christine Rodriguez, Screenwriter & Filmmaker
Christine Rodriguez is a writer from Montréal who creates from a mixed-race, Afro-Trinidadian perspective as a means to explore identity and self-expression in an ever-changing multicultural world. She’s received two Rogers – Black Screen Office development grants. Her debut short film Fuego was an official selection at festivals in Toronto, the US and France, earning her a nomination for Filmmaker of the year by Gala Dynastie. She was part of the first cohort of the WBD Access x Canadian Academy Writers Program to write a feature version of Fuego. An alumna of the Norman Jewison Writers’ Lab at the Canadian Film Centre, Christine also holds a Certificate of Professional Screenwriting from UCLA.
JURY MEMBERS:
Coralie Ladouceur, Director of Content Development, VVS Films
Coralie Ladouceur has been working in the field of production and distribution for nearly 15 years. She notably worked at Alliance Films, Films Séville, Sony Pictures and Encore Télévision. She is now responsible for the development and distribution of Canadian content at VVS Films.
Élie Michaud-Alexis, Administrative Coordonnator and projets analyst, Bell Fund
Élie holds a bachelor’s degree in Cultural and Media Production Strategies from UQAM University and is passionate about the arts, culture, and media. Before joining Bell Fund as Administrative Coordinator and Project Analyst, she was contributing editor at UQAM’s cultural magazine where she covered a variety of events and worked as programming coordinator at Montreal’s Fashion Week. Élie also interned at the production company Urbania under the media exploration program LAB URBANIA.
Feature Documentaries
PRESIDENTE: Ebonie Finley – Founder & Creator, The Nomad GenerationIn 2017, Ebonie quit her job and left her hometown to create her first web series: Génération Nomade. This gave her the opportunity to learn on the spot and combine her passions of traveling, directing, and storytelling. The series grew into an instant success and generated over 3 million views. Recently, she produced her first snowboard movie: Night Riders in collaboration with Moment Factory. The short film premiered at the IF3 International Mountain Film Festival in October 2022. She is currently working on an English version of Nomad Generation.
JURY MEMBERS:
Aziz Zoromba, Writer, Director & Producer
Aziz Zoromba is a Canadian-Egyptian writer, director and producer. He is a graduate of the Mel Hoppenheim school of cinema and an alumni of the 2019 Sundance Ignite fellowship.
His work mainly explore the themes of ethnocultural identity, assimilation, the effects of stereotypes and intergenerational trauma through different genres and mediums.
FARAWAY (2020), his first documentary short, has screened at over 30 film festivals around the world (Slamdance, Camerimage, RIDM). Aziz also co-produced the short documentary NO CRYING AT THE DINNER TABLE (Carol Nguyen, 2019), winner of over 25 awards and selected by over 80 festivals including TIFF, SXSW & IDFA.
His first fictional short film SIMO (2022), won the Best Canadian Short Film Award at TIFF, had its international premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and its European premiere at the 73rd Berlinale Generation. Additionaly, SIMO was the recipient of the Denis Villeneuve’s favourite short film award at the 19th Prends Ça Court! Gala and the winner of the Canadian Screen Award for the best live action short.
Anaëlle Béglet, Producer
After completing her bachelor’s degree in film studies at Université de Montréal, Anaëlle joined the team at Apartment 11 Productions, where she assisted producer Jonathan Finkelstein on various children’s series. In 2019, she enters the Institut national de l’image et du son (L’inis) and completes the Cinéma program, production profile. She then joined the Art et Essai team as a producer, developing new fiction and documentary series projects and producing several short films. Anaëlle is an associate producer on Ariane Louis-Seize’s first feature film, Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant, which has been selected for Venice Days at the 80th Venice Film Festival and for the 2023 edition of TIFF. Anaëlle also works as a content producer for series with Trio Orange and KOtv, on projects such as Pa t’mentir and T’es belle pour une noire. She won a Gemini Award and a Numix Award in 2022 for Pa t’mentir season 1.
Short & Mid-Length
PRESIDENT: Reda Lahmouid – Director & Screenwriter & idéateur
Reda Lahmouid is a director-writer-ideator who was born and raised in Casablanca, Morocco, and now lives in Montreal.
After studying communications and advertising at the Université Jean-Moulin Lyon III (France), film scriptwriting at UQàM and working for over ten years in advertising design, Reda sees his craft as telling human stories to human beings, whatever the medium.
Reda’s credits include short fiction films, music videos and commercials, as well as co-directing a feature-length film, “Première Vague”, which was released in Quebec theatres and, following a premiere at the RVQC 2021, was distributed on video-on-demand on the Crave platform. “Première Vague” won the Prix Réals-ARRQ 2022 for Best Single Fiction Work.
Reda is currently developing fiction and documentary projects, and has participated in a number of workshops and writing residencies, including Talent Lab Netflix (RIDM), Produire au Sud (F3C) and Durban FilmMart.
JURY MEMBERS:
Bogdan Anifrani-Fedach, Animation Filmmaker
Bogdan Anifrani is a filmmaker and animator of Togolese and Ukrainian descent, based in Montreal. His credits include Temporary Comfort (2016), DiM (2018), Le Givre de Bobby-Yves (2021) Advice (2021) for the Dreams in Vantablack program by CBC Gem and By Winds and Tides (2022) in the Alambic program with the NFB. His proficiency in character and effects animation allowed him to work on a variety of short films and feature films including Archipelago (2021), Princess Dragon(2021) and Paws of Fury: Legend of Hank (2022). Bogdan’s work, rooted in themes of identity, the unconscious and disorientation, is often supported by a play of lights, shadows and patterns.
Sarra El Abed, Director & Screenwriter
Sarra El Abed is a Tunisian filmmaker who gained recognition with her first short film “Y’a pas d’heure pour les femmes,” which was awarded in multiple international festivals. Her creativity has also led her to participate in the TIFF Filmmaker Lab and the Pitch FNC, which she won. She enjoys elevating the everyday through flamboyant characters and a rich aesthetic.