Director

D. W. Waterson

Director

Patrice Sauvé

Director

José Lourenço

Directors

Michael Mabbott

Writer/director Mabbott made his debut with 2005’s Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico, winning Best Canadian First Feature Film at the Toronto International Film Festival. He followed with Citizen Duane and television shows like Baxter and The Yard. His short documentary Music Lessons premiered at Hot Docs 2015. He also wrote, produced, and co-directed Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story, which was named to the TIFF 2024 Top Ten List.

Lucah Rosenberg-Lee

Lucah Rosenberg-Lee is an independent filmmaker, speaker and entrepreneur. He is passionate about telling the stories of marginalized voices through film and he specializes in documentary and LGBTQ+ content. He produced For Nonna Anna, which won the Best Narrative Short Award at the Atlanta Film Festival, and he co-directed the 2024 films Passing and Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story, which won the DGC Special Jury Prize at Hot Docs 2024.

Director

Damon Kwame Mason

Former TV and radio host Damon Kwame Mason transitioned to filmmaker when he wrote, directed and produced Soul on Ice: Past, Present and Future, a documentary about the contributions of black athletes to the sport of ice hockey. He went on to produce The Cannons in 2022, and directed Ice Queens, which was released in 2023.

Director

Tasha Hubbard (Cree)

Hubbard is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and an associate professor in the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Native Studies. Her NFB documentary Two Worlds Colliding won a Gemini and a Golden Sheaf Award. She has also directed the short film 7 Minutes, and the feature docs Birth of a Family, nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up, which won 14 awards, including the CSA for best documentary and Best Canadian Documentary at Hot Docs 2019. She is a founding director of the International Buffalo Relations Institute. Her documentary Singing Back the Buffalo won three awards and was nominated for four others.

Directors

Brenda Michell (Wet'suwet'en)

Brenda Mitchell is Tsakë ze’ K‑eltiy (a hereditary chief) of the Unist'ot'en Clan of the Wet'suwet'en Nation. In addition to participating in Wet’suwet’en governance, she has worked in post-secondary education for the Lake Babine Nation Band for decades, and is currently a resident Elder, language teacher and addictions counselor. Yintah is her first documentary. 

Jennifer Wickham (Wet'suwet'en)

A member of the Cas Yikh (Grizzly House) of the Gidimt’en (Bear/Wolf) Clan of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, Wickham is a poet, youth advocate, and a committed land defender and activist whose work includes language and culture revitalization. She has worked as Media Coordinator for Gidimt’en Checkpoint since 2018. Yintah is her first documentary. 

Michael Toledano

Michael Toledano is a journalist, photographer, and documentarian whose work focuses on environmental pollution and Indigenous land defense. His reporting has appeared on Al Jazeera America, VICE, Ricochet, Upworthy, Rabble, and other outlets. His footage has appeared on CBC News, CTV, CP24, CityNews, APTN, and Democracy Now. Yintah is his first feature documentary. 

Director

Charles-Olivier Michaud

Charles-Olivier Michaud is a director, writer, and producer from Saint-Romuald, Quebec. His directing credits include 4 Minute Mile, On the Beat, and Snow & Ashes, which have won awards from the Slamdance Film Festival and the Washington DC Independent Film Festival. Ru had its world premiere at TIFF 2023 and was nominated for nine Canadian Screen Awards.

Director

Shorts Programme

Director

Charles Officer

Actor, writer and filmmaker Officer’s first feature, Nurse.Fighter.Boy, was nominated for 10 Genies, winning one. Officer also directed the docs Mighty Jerome, The Skin We're In, Unarmed Verses, and Invisible Essence: The Little Prince, as well as the feature Akilla's Escape, which won five CSAs. He directed episodes of Coroner, and executive produced and co-directed The Porter, which was nominated for an Emmy. Officer passed away in 2023. He changed the Canadian film and television landscape with his fierce dedication to portraying Black perspectives and experiences, and is greatly missed.  

Director

Miryam Bouchard

Bouchard is an award-winning writer and director who started her career in music videos, and has directed numerous shorts, including La cérémonie, Couleur Wolfe and Roastbeef, and TV series such as La guerre des sexes, Mon ex à moi, L'Échappée, M’entends-tu?, and Mea culpa, among others. Her feature directorial credits include Mon Cirque à Moi, Lignes de fuite, and 23 décembre.

Directors

Aisling Chin-Yee

Chin-Yee is an award-winning filmmaker who directed the shorts Sound Asleep and Synesthesia, and the mini-series Plan B. Her feature directorial debut was The Rest of Us, and she co-directed the documentary No Ordinary Man, both of which premiered at TIFF. She was on DOC NYC’s 40 under 40 list and was named a Rising Film Star by Now Magazine. She has numerous producing credits, including the features Last Woman Standing and Rhymes for Young Ghouls.

Chase Joynt

Joynt is an award-winning director and writer. His first book, You Only Live Twice, was a Lambda Literary Award Finalist. He recently directed Framing Agnes, which played at Sundance and Hot Docs, and he is starring in John Greyson’s upcoming film, Door Prize.

Director

John N. Smith

An Officer of the Order of Canada, Smith’s credits include award-winning TV docudramas such as Dieppe, Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story, and the Gemini Award-winning The Boys of St. Vincent. He also directed numerous feature films, including Sitting in Limbo, which won Best Canadian feature at TIFF in 1986, Dangerous Minds, A Cool Dry Place, Geraldine’s Fortune and Love & Savagery among others. In 2013, he won the Directors Guild of Canada Lifetime Achievement Award. 

Director

Robin Aubert

Aubert is a filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter. He has starred in many critical and box office hits, such as De père en flic (Father and Guns), Guibord s’en va-t-en guerre (My Internship in Canada), and Mon cirque à moi (My Very Own Circus). He has directed numerous films, including Saints-Martyrs-des-Damnés (Saint Martyrs of the Damned), À l'origine d'un cri (Crying Out), and Les Affamés (Ravenous), which won Best Canadian Feature at TIFF and ten Prix Iris.

Director

Trevor Mack (​​Tsilhqot'in)

Trevor Mack is an award-winning Tsilhqot'in filmmaker. His first short film, The Blanketing, screened at festivals across North America, including the imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival. He has also directed numerous shorts, including Clouds of Autumn, which won the award for best Canadian short at imagineNATIVE. Portraits from a Fire is his first feature. He is currently working on his next film, Journey of a Drop.  

Director

Zoe Leigh Hopkins (Heiltsuk/Mohawk)

Hopkins is an alumna of the Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program, and has directed numerous shorts, including Button Blanket, Mohawk Midnight Runners, Impossible to Contain and a segment of The Embargo Project. She has directed the features Kayak to Klemtu and Run Woman Run, which won the Audience Choice award at imagineNATIVE 2021. She is currently writing and directing the series Little Bird. 

Director

Danis Goulet (Cree/Métis)

Danis Goulet is an award-winning Cree/Métis filmmaker from La Ronge, SK, now based in Toronto. Her films have screened at festivals worldwide including Sundance, Berlinale, TIFF, and MoMA. She has directed numerous short films, including Wapawekka, Barefoot, Wakening, Blind Spot, and others. Night Raiders was her first feature film. It premiered at TIFF 2021 and went on to win 14 awards, including six CSAs. She has also directed episodes of Reservation Dogs and North of North. 

Director

Christian Duguay

Duguay is a film director, cinematographer, and producer renowned for his work in action films and historical television miniseries. He directed numerous thrillers, including Scanners II: The New Order, Scanners III: The Takeover, Live Wire, The Art of War, and the mini-series Human Trafficking, starring Donald Sutherland.  He has also directed episodes of Anna Karenina and Medici and the feature films Un sac de billes (A Bag of Marbles), and Tempête (Ride Above).

Director

Charles Officer

Actor, writer and filmmaker Officer’s first feature, Nurse.Fighter.Boy, was nominated for 10 Genies, winning one. Officer also directed the docs Mighty Jerome, The Skin We're In, Unarmed Verses, and Invisible Essence: The Little Prince, as well as the feature Akilla's Escape, which won five CSAs. He directed episodes of Coroner, and executive produced and co-directed The Porter, which was nominated for an Emmy. Officer passed away in 2023. He changed the Canadian film and television landscape with his fierce dedication to portraying Black perspectives and experiences, and is greatly missed.  

Director

Michael Mabbott

Writer/director Mabbott made his debut with 2005’s Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico, winning Best Canadian First Feature Film at the Toronto International Film Festival. He followed with Citizen Duane and television shows like Baxter and The Yard. His short documentary Music Lessons premiered at Hot Docs 2015. He also wrote, produced, and co-directed Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story, which was named to the TIFF 2024 Top Ten List.