creators of colour participants

Aeyliya Husain

Project Title: REFRAMED

Aeyliya Husain is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work focuses on issues of representation, women, and photography. She has exhibited at festivals both nationally and internationally including, Tribeca Film Festival, where her film ‘Shooting War’ was nominated for best short documentary. This film examined the Iraq War through the lens of a photojournalist, revealing the stories behind the images and the story of the war itself. ‘The World at Ten’, follows the story of two ten- year-old inner-city children as they navigate the world around them. Her film ‘Daughters of the Revolution’, tells the story of Iranian activist lawyer and her fight for women’s rights in Iran. These films have also screened at San Francisco Docfest; Glasgow Short Film Festival and São Paulo Film Festival and have been broadcast on CBC, BBC, RSI (Swiss Public TV) and France 4. Her most recent film ‘The Fifth Region’ had it’s premiere at the ImagineNATIVE Film Festival (October 2018) and aired on The Documentary Channel, SBS Australia, amongst others.

creators of colour participants

Ana de Lara

Project Title: ON THE WINGS OF SORROW

Ana de Lara is a Filipina-Canadian film director, screenwriter and producer who has earned over 30 accolades for her films and screenplays in North America and Europe.  She was the lead producer for the Telefilm Talent to Watch feature ALL-IN MADONNA and the feature mockumentary OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS, which earned her nominations for the 2021 CMPA Emerging Producer Award and 2021 and 2019 BC Leo Award for Best Picture.

Ana has written, directed, and produced a number of eclectic short films, showcasing her skill for telling impactful stories in a variety of genres, most notably, GOOD GIRLS DON’T, NEAR SILENCE, IN CONTROL and FIRST WINTER LAST.

creators of colour participants

Asis Sethi

Project Title: SLAM DUNK, SEHAJ!

Playback Magazine’s 10 to Watch, Asis Sethi is a Canadian filmmaker who graduated from Humber College where she currently teaches. Her career in broadcasting spans over 15 years as producer and host on lifestyle shows. Her REMI Award winning short on menstruation, ‘A Bloody Mess’, was screened at 30 film festivals. Her 16-episode documentary series on Sikh shrines in India, ‘Darshan Dekh Jeeva’, was funded by Rogers Documentary Fund. She directed a documentary on post 9/11 effects on turban wearers which premiered on OMNI Television. Her short film on postpartum depression titled ‘Rock the Cradle’ was funded by the Canada Council for the Arts and is currently in post production. Asis has been chosen for Caribbean Tales and CineFam’s program Limitless where she will be making the proof of concept for her feature film ‘Slam Dunk, Sehaj!’.

creators of colour participants

Ava Torres

Project Title:

Ava Torres brings a unique perspective to the industry having lived across four different countries including Spain, Argentina, Canada and the US. She has a passion for finding fresh and new stories, and is currently Executive in Charge of Development, Drama for the Scripted team at CBC. Ava brings a wide range of experience in production, development, acquisitions, and talent management. Prior to her current role, she was part of the Acquisitions team where they scouted and brought premium international shows and films to CBC Gem.

Before joining CBC in 2019, Ava was an Associate at the talent agency, Meridian Artists, which represents screenwriters and directors in both Los Angeles and Toronto. In this role, she brought a keen eye for talent scouting and development, drawing from her experience as a producer. Ava is a graduate from the University of Toronto, holding a Master’s in Spanish Literature and a Bachelor’s in Cinema Studies and Spanish Literature.

creators of colour participants

Daisy Komujuni

Project Title: OAKWOOD

Daisy is a Toronto based writer and producer. She always had a passion for media but her interest in film was piqued while taking part in the U for Change film cohort. After interning in the film and broadcasting world while working in the market research analysis and publishing industries she channeled the skills acquired into establishing Afrotinis at Sunset, a multi-media platform that explores the stories, history and cultural nuances that form the rich and diverse tapestry of the black experience. In her spare time Daisy enjoys photography, comedy and listening to dramatic cinematic music while doing mundane things.

creators of colour participants

Fennella Bruce

Project Title: BACKBONE

Fennella Bruce is a veteran television producer and writer, she is now at the helm of FKB Media Solutions – a media consulting business and FKB Media Productions Inc. – a livestream, television and film company. Having worked in the field of journalism for over 20 years, Fennella has produced both of Canada’s national morning shows – Your Morning and Canada. She has been the senior writer or producer at numerous major market television stations including CTV News Channel, CTV National, CP24, CityTv, Toronto 1 and BET. Fennella received her Graduate Degree in Journalism from Ryerson University and her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto. For six years, she taught Media Theory at Centennial College. Fennella is the Vice-President of the Board of Dr. Roz’s Healing Place, Vice-President of Women in Film and Television – Toronto (WIFT-T) Foundation Board, a member of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and a recipient of the 2020 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women Award.

creators of colour participants

Jennifer Kawaja

Project Title:

Jennifer Kawaja is the President of English Scripted at Sphere Media Toronto (formerly Sienna Films) and also serves as Executive Producer/Producer. Her credits as Executive Producer at Sphere/Sienna includes television series Primetime Emmy award nominated The Porter, Peabody award winner Sort Of, Trickster, Cardinal, Ransom, and Combat Hospital as well as several movies for television, mini-series and documentaries under the Sienna Films banner. Jennifer has produced feature films including Happy Place, Sweetness in the Belly, How She Move, Touch of Pink, Marion Bridge, Saint Monica and New Waterford Girl. Before joining Sienna, Kawaja produced and directed independent projects for film and television both scripted and unscripted. She has been involved throughout her career in many initiatives relating to diversity and inclusion in the media industry in Canada. She has an undergraduate degree in Philosophy and then went on to study Film and Communications at Concordia University in Montreal.

creators of colour participants

Kai-Little White

Project Title: SOLSTICE STORIES

Writer, producer, director of immersive experiences for kids full of fun, purpose, and heart. Kai’s career spans development to distribution on features, TV, shorts, and music videos. Kai’s work plays with intersectionality and universality with sprinklings of humour and themes around wellness. Kai is a graduate of CFC’s Producer’s Lab and Centennial’s Children’s Media program. Kai associate produced and wrote on CBC Kids in-house content like “Gary’s Magic Fort” and “Studio K”. In 2022, Kai won the YMA-TAAFI John Rooney Creator Fund.

creators of colour participants

Kirsty Plange

Project Title: OAKWOOD

Kirsty Plange is a screenwriter and director based in and from Toronto. Through U for Change’s film program, she created her first project Borders Carry Me Home, a short personal documentary encompassing the struggle of belonging and identity in the face of immigration. She currently works as an assistant production coordinator for the upcoming CBC documentary series, Summit 72. She conceptualized and wrote, Oakwood, a show centered around two unlikely allies set in an everchanging Toronto, Kirsty’s first love. Kirsty’s hope is to create art that reflects difficult truths and bridges the gaps with those unlike ourselves.

creators of colour participants

Kristen Lambie

Project Title: FEVER STREET

Kristen Lambie is a Jamaican/Canadian writer, actress and filmmaker who has worked in front of, as well as behind the camera in a variety of independent film and television projects. Kristen has a Master of Arts in Media Production from Ryerson University and also has an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication and Film Studies with a specialization in Film Production from Wilfrid Laurier University. Kristen strives to tell stories about her experiences as a woman of the Caribbean/African Diaspora; including topics of identity, belonging and her Jamaican culture. She is now taking the next step into a career behind the camera by honing her skills as a writer and producer.

creators of colour participants

Mitch Geddes

Project Title:

One of Playback’s 10 to Watch for 2022, Mitch Geddes is a Production Executive on Bell Media’s Original Programming team, responsible for overseeing the production and ongoing development of current original drama series and feature film projects across Bell Media’s family of channels. He currently manages a portfolio of projects in ongoing production, including the CSA Award-winning drama series TRANSPLANT (CTV/NBC), the original paranormal drama SURREALESTATE (CTV Sci-Fi/Syfy), along with new series LITTLE BIRD (Crave/APTN) and THE SPENCER SISTERS (CTV). Upcoming films for Crave in Mitch’s portfolio include RICEBOY SLEEPS, UNTIL BRANCHES BEND, STELLAR, and THE YOUNG ARSONISTS. He previously served as a coordinator of scripted original programming for the team.

Before joining the Original Programming team, Mitch held various broadcast roles and production positions with independent production companies in Toronto. Mitch actively collaborates with numerous industry initiatives focused on emerging and underrepresented talent, including formerly co-managing the HGF/Crave Shorts to Features program.

creators of colour participants

Muniyra Douglas

Project Title: SANDUKU

Muniyra Douglas is a creator-writer and independent animation director-producer.  She was a selected participant in Black Women Film! Canada’s 2022 residency.  Her academic work, titled African spirituality, a symbol of resistance and hope in black speculative fiction: An analysis of Lovecraft Country was accepted at Co-Futures’ “Future From the Margins” conference held at the University of Oslo in June 2022.  From Scarborough, she has been storytelling for over a decade, from spoken word to radio news to genre-bending work on science fiction, dystopian fiction, Black identities, womanhood, intersectionality, and mental wellness.  Her projects have screened at Cinefam Film Festival, Toronto Short Film Festival, Toronto Lift Off Festival, Cinefam Festival, NY Live Arts x BSAM exhibition, Carnegie Hall, and Toronto Comic Con.

creators of colour participants

Nauzanin Knight

Project Title: NOTES ON BEING UN-POPULAR

Nauzanin Knight is a Canadian woman of Caribbean and Middle Eastern descent. Her nuanced stories reflect the uniqueness of her heritage as well as her international life. She strives with every project she undertakes, whether fictional or factual, to draw attention to pressing social issues and influence the current discourses of society.

Nauzanin completed her MSc at University College London, in the UK, and began her career in creative writing, publishing her non-fiction book “State Terrorism in Iran: understanding the case of the Iranian Bahá’í Community”, before directing her attention to film projects.

creators of colour participants

Roble Issa

Project Title: LAST SHOT

Fennella Bruce is a veteran television producer and writer, she is now at the helm of FKB Media Solutions – a media consulting business and FKB Media Productions Inc. – a livestream, television and film company. Having worked in the field of journalism for over 20 years, Fennella has produced both of Canada’s national morning shows – Your Morning and Canada. She has been the senior writer or producer at numerous major market television stations including CTV News Channel, CTV National, CP24, CityTv, Toronto 1 and BET. Fennella received her Graduate Degree in Journalism from Ryerson University and her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto. For six years, she taught Media Theory at Centennial College. Fennella is the Vice-President of the Board of Dr. Roz’s Healing Place, Vice-President of Women in Film and Television – Toronto (WIFT-T) Foundation Board, a member of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and a recipient of the 2020 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women Award.

creators of colour participants

Suki Motoyi

Project Title: BEYOND BLOOD

Suki Motoyi is an Indigiqueer Nitsiitapi currently living in Southern Alberta, also know as the the sacred place where the prairies meet the mountains. Suki is passionate about creating stories that revolve around indigeneity, sexuality, language, and resistance. They graduated from the Adam Beach Film Institute in 2016, and won the Southern Alberta Indigenous Youth Shine Award for their work within the LGBTQ2S+ Film community in 2017. She has worked on ten short film projects and is looking forward to taking the next steps within her career with the help of the CineFAM Limitless program.

creators of colour participants

Tamara Dawit

Project Title:

Tamara Dawit is an Ethiopian-Canadian filmmaker whose films Forgotten Children (2007), Girls of Latitude (2008), Grandma Knows Best (2014), Finding Sally (2020), and others have been broadcast and screened at festivals globally. She is an alumnus of the Berlinale and Durban Talents, Doha Film Institute, EAVE, and Rotterdam Lab and has been awarded fellowships by Docs in Progress, Logan Nonfiction, and TIFF. Tamara has recently won the Adiaha Award, the Gordon Parks Award and the Doc Institute Vanguard Award. Outside of producing, she is an advisor on anti-racism and equity policies in the creative sector and is the Vice President of Growth and Inclusion at the Canada Media Fund.

creators of colour participants

Yasmin Evering-Kerr

Project Title: IN THE POCKET

Yasmin Evering-Kerr is an award-winning Toronto-based artist who frequently addresses issues of race, sexuality and gender in her films. Her latest credits include; her documentary “The Onyx Butterfly” which has been screened in various film festivals throughout Canada and internationally. As well as receiving a 2021 Canadian Screen Award for Best Direction in a Documentary Series. Her films have been broadcasted on CBC Absolutely Canadian and Canadian Reflections. Yasmin is currently exploring directing within a multitude of mediums, the most recent being the “Opia Experience” music video which has been selected by Prism Prize as the Top 10 Canadian Music Videos of 2021. Yasmin is deeply inspired by her roots and is dedicated to showcasing the intersectionality of Black women and girlhood on screen.

creators of colour participants

Cabral Trotman

Project Title: Cabral Trotman

Cabral LARC Trotman is a filmmaker, certified arts educator and community activist who has worked in the areas of youth development and arts education for over a decade.

creators of colour participants

Camille Selvon Abrahams

Project Title: KRIK KRAK ANANSI

Camille Selvon Abrahams is an award-winning multimedia producer and animator who returned to Trinidad & Tobago after spending five years honing her animation and multimedia production skills in the United Kingdom.
She graduated from Goldsmiths University of London with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Media and Communications, specializing in animation. Her final year animation, The MasterPEACE, won the Royal Television Society Award in London.
Camille has recently invested substantial creative ingenuity into the development of the animation industry in Trinidad and Tobago. She is the Founder and Creative Director of Animae Caribe Animation and New Media Festival, the Caribbean’s first animation and new media festival. She is currently at the University of Trinidad & Tobago as Program Administrator and lecturer for the Animation Diploma. In 2007, Camille launched Full Circle Production animation studio. Camille was honoured with the Toronto-based CaribbeanTales Innovation Award for the work that she has achieved in the Caribbean in the field of animation.
Her most recent production is in development — a 26-part animation children’s series created in the Caribbean using the skills, music and talent of the people of the Caribbean.

creators of colour participants

Clement Richards

Project Title: READIMADE! (“WHO’S DE DADDY?”)

Clement Richards is an aspiring filmmaker and independent producer. In 2009, he won the Cinematic & Entrepreneurial Motivation Award (CEMA), presented by the United Nations Industrial Development Program, Caricom, and the Caribbean Export Development Agency.