FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 2023, Vancouver, BC. – The 27th annual Launch Event of the acclaimed Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC), held June 8, 2023 presented two awards to BC-based alumnae, and announced the call for submissions for the 2023-24 slate of WIDC programming. Hayley Gray is the 2023 recipient of the WIDC BANFF Fellowship Award. Made possible through [...]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – March 16, 2023 (Montreal, QC): Cameras have started rolling on Montreal-based writer/director, Susanne Serres’ debut feature film Celestine with regional production funding from Telefilm Canada, along with the WIDC Feature Film Award, which includes in kind sponsorships from screen industry companies across the country. An original English-language drama with Afro-futurist elements, Celestine is produced by [...]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (February 1, 2023) - Vancouver-based Canadian-British-Filipina director, Kim Albright’s debut feature film With Love and A Major Organ will have its world premiere at the prestigious South By Southwest Festival (March 10 to 19, 2023). With Love will be screened as part of the Visions programme at South By, with screening dates to be announced shortly. Produced [...]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: National, June 2022 – The organizers of Canada’s acclaimed Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) program are delighted to announce that recent Career Advancement Module alumna Luvia Petersen is the recipient of the inaugural WIDC Advantage Award for her debut feature film, Human Nature. The prize includes a one-year mentorship for Petersen, a spot at WIDC [...]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 2022, Vancouver, BC. – Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) organizers are pleased to announce that award-winning Canadian/UK writer/director, Carolyn Saunders is the 2022 recipient of the WIDC BANFF Fellowship Award. Made possible through a long-standing partnership, the fellowship is designed to provide one WIDC alumna with the opportunity to network and advance her projects [...]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - February 2022: When the Canadian Academy announced the nominees for the 2022 Canadian Screen Awards - the CSA's - WIDC alumnae and their associated projects had earned forty-one nods, including eight nominations for Achievement in Direction. Nominations include: Best Direction of an MOW Sharon Lewis, Death She Wrote Danishka Esterhazy, I Was Lorena Bobbitt Gloria Ui [...]
Published by permission: Greetings to the Lakehead community during Black History Month 2022 Of course, we know that Black people have been in Canada since the 1600s. Don’t we? We know that is not since time immemorial, like Indigenous peoples, whose territories we occupy, but 400 years is a good long time. And we know that the contributions of [...]
WIDC Feature Voices: Back Story, September 2021 – We met with WIDC alumna and Talent to Watch Mentorship Award winner, Elizabeth Lazebnik to talk about the world premiere of her debut feature film, Be Still, now screening at the Vancouver International Film Festival. In this Back Story interview we cover five big C’s: the Calling, the Creative, the Collaboration, the Cast, and the [...]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 2021 – Kicking off the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC), organizers are delighted to announce that the Reelworld Film Institute / Reelworld Film Festival will become an official community collaborator. Together with the St John’s International Women’s Film Festival (SJIWFF), the three organizations will co-present the Fall 2021 Online [...]
Vancouver, Canada (May 2021) – Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) organizers are pleased to announce that BC-based Indigenous filmmaker, Joy Haskell is the 2021 recipient of the WIDC Banff World Media Festival (BANFF) Fellowship. Made possible through a long-standing partnership, the fellowship is designed to provide one WIDC alumna the opportunity to network and advance her projects at [...]