NARRATIVE FEATURE
PRESIDENT: Gavin Seal – Writer and Director
Gavin Seal is an Indian Québécois Canadian filmmaker on a mission to dissolve otherness using the universal language of cinema. He is also the Founder and Chief Creative Officer at Intersectionnel Films.
His latest film, “Brotherly”, won Best Director at Yorkton (the oldest festival in North America), the Writers Guild of Canada prize at SODEC’s Cours écrire ton court competition, and the Jury Prize at Cinema on the Bayou, where it was the first film in history to screen in both the General and Quebecois programs.
MEMBRES DU JURY :
Myriam Charles – Filmmaker
Miryam Charles is a filmmaker of Haitian descent based in Montreal. Her films have been screened at various festivals in Quebec and internationally. Her debut feature film, Cette maison, premiered at the Berlinale, was subsequently shown at the AFI Film Festival, and was included in both the TIFF Top 10 and Sight and Sound’s Best Films of 2022. Her work has been exhibited at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, the Leonard and Bina Ellen Gallery, the Everson Museum, and the Palais de Tokyo.
(picture credit Claudie-Ann Landry)
Karl R. Hearne – Film Director and Screenwriter
Writer/Director Karl R. Hearne was raised in Ireland and Québec where he studied at McGill before earning a graduate diploma from the University of Nanjing, China. His films have premiered at TIFF, SXSW and New Directors/New Films. His latest feature “The G” won a Special Jury Prize at Fantasia, 2024, for Best Director. Critics have universally praised the new film, calling The G “a blistering winter noir” (Wendy Ide, Screen International) and a “gender-flipping tale of violent revenge” (-Variety.)
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
PRÉSIDENTE : Marie-Hélène Cousineau – Filmmaker
“I’m a filmmaker and videographer with a long history of working alongside Inuit women. In 1991, I co-founded the production house “Arnait Video,” and since then, our films, including the award-winning “SOL” and others like “Before Tomorrow” and “Uvanga,” have been showcased at international festivals, galleries, and museums. My background is in art history, and I’ve explored various forms of art, but my time in the Arctic truly shaped my focus on creating socially responsible work. Collaborating with Indigenous communities has deeply influenced my creative process and strengthened my commitment to addressing social and political issues through my art.”
JURY MEMBERS :
Jean-Hervé Désiré – Screenwriter, Director, and Multidisciplinary Artist
Jean-Hervé Désiré is a Haitian-born screenwriter, director, and multidisciplinary artist based in Montreal. After completing college, he pursued studies in communications and film at the Université de Montréal, then went on to direct music videos (for Bran Van 3000, Dramatik, KNLO, Barnev Valsaint, among others), commercials, and short films. A visual aesthete, he has also worked as a creative director, concept designer, fashion designer, branding consultant, and art director for a music label.
A socially engaged artist, his work focuses on themes of injustice, social inequality, identity discourse, and Black representation.
His short film Dear Mr. President was featured as part of visual artist Stanley Février’s exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 2022.
His first screenplay, N.O.I.R., released in 2015, was produced by Nicole Robert (Go Films) and directed by Yves-Christian Fournier. He later directed the short films April 15th, Dear Mr. President, and Chasing Shadows (currently in postproduction).
Jean-Hervé Désiré is now working in parallel on three feature-length film projects—Dear Mr. President, Pour Leïla, and La Fêlure du Prince—as well as developing television series and working on an art installation. He is currently directing a pan-Canadian documentary on the Supporting Black Canadian Communities Initiative.
Diana Goudrouffe – Filmmaker
Diana Goudrouffe is an independent filmmaker based in Montreal. After studying film and public communications, she worked for several years on television series and major American productions, including X-Men, as well as on award-winning Quebec series. She later went on to write, direct, and produce several short films and a unique feature documentary. Her films have been screened at festivals both in Quebec and internationally. Her documentary Ma traversée (52 minutes) aired on the national broadcaster ICI Radio-Canada Télé, in the category “Best Local Documentary.” It was also selected at several festivals and earned the Regards d’Ici award at the 41st edition of the Vues d’Afrique Festival. She is currently developing a fiction project, continuing her commitment to a form of cinema that is both powerful and deeply sensitive.
MEDIUM LENGTH & SHORT FILM (Narrative, Documentary and Animation)
PRÉSIDENTE : Phyllis Gouden – Film, Television, Theatre and Voice Actress.
Phyllis is a talented film, television, theatre and voice actor. During her career she has successfully incarnated a wide range of characters, ranging in both age and temperament, and her performances have been destined for both Canadian as well as American audiences. Phyllis began her career on stage, playing lead roles with well-established theatre companies such as Montreal’s Centaur Theatre and the BlackTheatre workshop. She later went on to work in film and television, in both English and French. Some of her more recent credits include supporting roles in the feature films, “Celestine” and “The Draft”, as well as in Sony Entertainment’s videogame release “Season: A letter to the future”, which features a Black female protagonist.
Some other credits include, an episodic lead in the American television series, “Broken Trust”, appearances in Disney’s“Home Sweet Home Alone”, in NBC’s “The Bold Type”, in CTV’s “19-2” and in CBC’s “Plan B”. In terms of French-language credits, Phyllis successfully interpreted the principal character of Bintu in the award-winning
film,“Le coeur de madame Sabali”. She has also appeared in various TV series such as “L’air d’aller”, “Doute raisonable” and “Contre offre”. In addition to acting, Phyllis is also an accomplished singer/songwriter, whose music has aired on CBC radio and Radio Canada, and can also be heard on iTunes, Apple Music and Spotify.
Beyond her artistic pursuits, Phyllis has been involved in advocacy with The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA). After serving as a Branch Councilor at ACTRA Montreal, she later went on to serve on ACTRA National’s Diversity Committee. While there, she produced the short, “From Set to Reality”, an advocacy piece aimed at promoting the casting of culturally diverse actors in Canadian film and television productions. Eventually, Phyllis was elected to the position of Ombudsperson at ACTRA Montreal, and in 2022 was awarded the ACTRA Montreal Life Member Award for all of her contributions.
MEMBRES DU JURY :
Samuel Suffren – Film Director
Samuel Suffren is a Haitian director and producer. He is making a trilogy of short films inspired by the story of his father, which has been screened at over a hundred festivals worldwide. The first film, “Agwe” (2022), was selected at Locarno and won the Best Diaspora Film at FESPACO. “Dreams Like Paper Boats” (2024) is the second film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and qualified for the Oscars. “Blue Heart” (2025), the final part, is presented at Cannes (Quinzaine des réalisateurs).
Jean-Bastien Niyigaruye – Filmmaker and Screenwriter
Jean-Bastien Niyigaruye is a Burundian filmmaker and screenwriter based in Montreal. His work primarily revolves around the visual arts. For him, cinema is a natural extension of his interest in drawing, painting, and sculpture. As with all the mediums he explores, his approach involves constructing and deconstructing the image to create a space of freedom for language and, ideally, to bring us closer to one another. In this spirit, he wrote and directed Sirius, a film that was showcased at Regard, one of North America’s leading short film festivals, as well as at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in California.
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