Directors Announced for WIDC Career Advancement Module Fall 2023

Pictured (L-R): Martina Monro, Teresa Alfeld, Kathleen Cummins, Rosie Choo Pidcock
2nd Row: Shonna Foster, Michelle D’Alessandro Hatt, Eva Tavares, Émilie Martel

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – October 2023: Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) organisers are pleased to announce the eight women and non-binary directors selected to take part in this session of the WIDC Career Advancement Module (CAM), presented with major support from Telefilm Canada and in collaboration with the St John’s International Women’s Film Festival and the Reelworld Film Festival and Summit. Running through October and November 2023, coinciding with both festivals, workshop sessions are designed to help participants build and launch a strategic career plan. Follow up career coaching which will extend through January 2024 and participants become part of the WIDC alumnae network of over 340 women and non-binary directors working across Canada and internationally.

“St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival has been honoured to partner with Women in the Director’s Chair since 2008,” says Jenn Brown, Executive Director, St John’s International Women’s Film Festival. “The Career Advancement Module is a game changer for women and gender-diverse artists nationwide. WIDC uniquely fosters multifaceted artist development like no other. The lasting impact of this program and the community it builds is significant and essential for our sector. Congratulations to this year’s cohort!”

The cohort: includes:

Émilie Martel, based in Ottawa, Ontario who has directed, written and produced diverse series spanning various genres, mostly her original creations, and notably, the fictional teen series about girls in a hockey league called Gang de hockey (8 x 13min, TFO) and her recent one-off documentary Alias Marie-Soleil (TFO). She is currently developing Hauteur, a new drama series centered around teenagers rock climbing, as well as a coming-of-age feature-length film based on the book “Perdue au bord de la Baie d’Hudson”.

Eva Tavares, a Vancouver based creator, director of Theatre/Documentary hybrid Where Women Gather, writer/producer of MAMM finalist Hijack, and writer/director of the award-winning short A Little Vacation, is developing a darkly comedic series based on the short, A Little Vacation.

Kathleen Cummins is a Toronto-based writer, filmmaker and academic developing an historical fiction project about 19th century Irish female emigration, The Cailín Exodus. Dr. Cummins recently published “Herstories on Screen: Feminist Subversions of Frontier Myths” (2020, Columbia University Press) and just completed a short documentary, Leaning Into the Lens, with an all-female crew.

Michelle D’Alessandro Hatt is an award-winning filmmaker based in Toronto and South River, Ontario, developing a first feature, Brave Army Redux – a dark thriller/revenge drama that examines gender-based violence. Described by a fellow filmmaker as “if Quentin Tarantino directed Bridesmaids“, it is the final film in a female-driven fantasy trilogy.

“I had the good fortune to attend St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival in 2018 for the premiere of my first short film, Brave Little Army, made with an all-female crew,” says Michelle D’Alessandro Hatt. “It’s an honour to return as a WIDC CAM participant and follow in the footsteps of so many directors I admire.”

Martina Monro is a writer and co-producer on the CBC series One More Time, premiering January 2024, as well as the critically acclaimed show You Me Her which made its premiere at SXSW. Based in Vancouver and an alumna of the WFF Screenwriters Lab, she is further developing her feature script Nice Jewish Girl.

Rosie Choo Pidcock is a biracial Chinese Canadian writer-director based in Vancouver, BC. Her award-winning debut short film Esther & Sai, a portrait of the friendship between two immigrant nursing students in the 1970s, received distribution on Air Canada and is currently in series development with the support of the Canada Media Fund, Reelworld and the TIFF Series Accelerator. She is in post-production on her sophomore film Sorry For Your Cost which explores the predatory nature of the funeral industry through the eyes of a Hamlet-crazed teenager.

Shonna Foster is an award-winning director-producer based in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. She made her directorial debut with the short film Residue at the Reelworld Film Festival. Her second film Mothers: Out of A Pandemic, is currently in the festival circuit. An alumna of Black Women Film Canada’s Producer Residency, Shonna is currently developing several projects including a short film with the support of the Ontario Arts Council and her first scripted feature film.

Teresa Alfeld is an award-winning writer/director from Vancouver, BC. Her directing credits include the CSA and Leo Awards-nominated feature documentary Doug and the Slugs and Me for CBC (winner Audience Choice Award, ALFF 23, and two Vancouver Film Critics Circle awards), Teresa is currently developing a number of projects including a comedy television series based on her short Charlie Gauvin.

WIDC CAM Fall 2023 offers online sessions including an EDI Work module led by scholar/ filmmaker Dr. Dorothy Cucw-la7 Christian and Vision TV co-founder, Dr. Rita Shelton Deverell C.M., a module with Digital Media and Marketing Mentor, Annelise Larson and a series of round tables with industry executives from Telefilm Canada, CBC, Bell Media, Independent Production Fund, and Reelworld Film Festival and Screen Institute Board members who connect participants with the marketplace. Mentor directors include award-winning WIDC alumnae directors Ruth Lawrence whose latest feature Party Pirate opens the St John’s IWFF and Rama Rau whose feature Coven also plays the festival. Rau is slated to speak on the panel presenting the latest gender study from Women In View. Alumnae films playing Reelworld Film Festival are features With Love and a Major Organ directed by Kim Albright, Lay Down Your Heart by Marie Clements, and shorts by Bruna Arbex (Introduction), Vanessa Magic (Above Us), and CAM cohort member Rosie Choo Pidcock (The Body of My Name). WIDC co-creator and producer, Dr. Carol Whiteman is the lead mentor and facilitates the CAM and follow up coaching. Participants receive passes to both host festivals.

Over one hundred Canadian directors have used the WIDC CAM to help strategically springboard their careers, including recent CAM alumnae Eva Thomas (Redlights, TIFF, VIFF), Giselle Miller (Novelette Is Trying), Bronwyn Szabo (It Doesn’t Show (Puppet Up)), Daniella Pagliarello (The Drop), Laura Adkin (Re:Uniting) who have gone on to earn funding for their projects from agencies including Telefilm Canada, CMF, ISO, Canada Council for the Arts, and the Independent Production Fund.

Women In the Director’s Chair (socials): Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

BACKGROUNDER

MORE ABOUT THE WIDC CAM Fall 2023 DIRECTORS (in alphabetical order by first name)

ÉMILIE MARTEL, Ottawa, ON — Émilie has directed and produced two seasons of the animated youth series called Les Métis: notre culture, nos histoires (19 x 13min, TFO); she created, wrote and directed a Gémeau nominated non-scripted tween cooking series called Petites bouchées du monde (33 x 13 min, TFO) and created, co-directed and co-wrote a fictional teen series about girls in a hockey league called Gang de hockey (8 x 13min, TFO). She has also directed and produced a diverse portfolio of non-fiction series and independent films such as Alias Marie-Soleil (1 x 48 min, TFO & Radio-Canada), Au coeur du Yukon 2 (7 x 52 min, Unis TV) and 180 (14 x 22 min, TVA/TFO). Her independent projects have received support from Hot Docs (2019), the Canadian Council for the Arts (2019, 2022) and the Ontario Council for the Arts (2020 and 2021). She has received the 2018 Canadian Women Artists’ Award from the New York State Council on the Arts. Whether she’s working on a documentary or a fictional series, Emilie is driven by her passion for exploring innovative forms of visual storytelling. She thoroughly enjoys collaborating with a diverse range of artists and is dedicated to sharing narratives that shine a spotlight on women-centric stories, cultural diversity, and environmental themes.

EVA TAVARES, Vancouver, BC– is a Vancouver based director, singer, dancer, and coach. Most recently starring as Christine Daae in the North American Tour of Phantom of the Opera, Tavares is a graduate of the UBC Opera Program, the LAMDA Shakespeare Short Course and the Banff/Citadel Theatre Professional Training Program. When the pandemic shut down live performance, Tavares began investing in her new-found love of TV/film as an actor and director. She has appeared as lead, recurring, and supporting characters in numerous Movies of the Week, and TV shows such as Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, Turner & Hooch and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Recent direction projects include A Little Vacation, a short film about mental health, and Where Women Gather, a making-of narrative/documentary hybrid of Fringe favorite, Hysteria. Previous live performance credits include: Marta in Kiss of the Spider Woman, Anne in A Little Night Music, and the world premiere of Sousatzka starring Victoria Clark. Tavares continues to work as a coach and mentor across North America and the UK. She runs Behind the Mask Masterclass alongside Jennifer Andersen, guiding participants to their most authentic selves within their musical storytelling.

KATHLEEN CUMMINS, Toronto, ON — Dr. Kathleen Cummins is a writer, filmmaker and academic. Dr. Cummins’ production company, Emacha Media, has produced short films that have received funding from the Ontario Arts Council, the NFB’s Filmmaker Assistance Program, TVO, and the CBC. Her films have been screened at major film festivals and/or been broadcast across Canada (CBC, TVO) and internationally (Finland, the Caribbean, and the U.S.). Her film The Seduction of Mary was adapted into a feature screenplay for Shaftesbury Films, with the support of Telefilm-Canada and the Harold Greenberg Fund. Most recently Dr. Cummins completed Leaning Into the Lens (2023), a short documentary about the experiences of female-identifying students enrolled in post-secondary film programs. A professor in the Bachelor of Film and Television Program at Sheridan, Dr. Cummins’ research and publications focus on women filmmakers and feminist cinema cultures. Currently Dr. Cummins is developing an historical fiction project about 19th century Irish female emigration (The Cailín Exodus) and a feature documentary about the Canadian Impressionist painter Helen McNicoll.

MARTINA MONRO, Vancouver, BC — is a Vancouver-born writer, director, and producer. She is a graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She is a writer and co-producer on the CBC series One More Time, premiering January 2024, as well as the critically acclaimed show You Me Her which made its premiere at SXSW. Her short ﬁlm The Tragic Fall of Valerie Mallory Finkerstein played at NewFest Film Festival, among others and was acquired for broadcasting by the CBC. Her feature script Nice Jewish Girl was selected to participate in the Whistler Film Festival’s Screenwriters Lab and was the recipient of the Harold Greenberg Fund: First to Second Draft Grant.

MICHELLE D’ALESSANDRO HATT, Toronto, ON – is an award-winning filmmaker, writer and actor based in Toronto and South River, Ontario. Brave Little Army, Michelle’s directorial debut, was made with an all-female crew under her shingle, Black Lab Film Company (blacklabfilmcompany.com). The story of how four girls become lifelong friends in the aftermath of domestic violence, Brave Little Army premiered at the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival in 2018 and has since been a selection of over 45 festivals, including the Canadian Film Festival, Fantasia International Film Festival, and the Oscar-qualifying Bogota Short Film Festival. The next film in her female-driven fantasy trilogy, Brave Rebel Army, is now in post-production after a successful 3-day shoot, thanks to the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts and Ontario Arts Council. Michelle’s work is a metaphorical examination of how trauma is processed and healed. Rather than re-traumatize audiences with graphic violence, she prefers to useelements of magical realism, providing audiences with an inventive, surreal lens on trauma, and the healing fantasy of processing and acting on the terror and rage it provokes. Michelle is currently developing a TV series and her first feature,Brave Army Redux. She is a voting member of the Canadian Academy of Cinema and Television, a member of Women in Film & Television Toronto and serves on the board of directors for Breakthroughs Film Festival.

ROSIE CHOO PIDCOCK 朱薇颖, Vancouver, BC — a biracial Chinese Canadian actor and ﬁlmmaker living on the Unceded Territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, colonially known as Vancouver, Canada. Her work explores grief, feminine solidarity, and the nuances of holding multiple identities. She received the Voices With Impact grant on immigration and mental health for her short ﬁlm Esther & Sai which is currently streaming on Air Canada’s in-ﬂight entertainment and being adapted into a TV series with the support of the Canada Media Fund. Rosie is also an alumna of the VIFF Catalyst Mentorship Program and a member of BIPOC TV & Film’s inaugural delegation to TIFF 2022. She is currently developing her next short ﬁlm (a dark comedy about the hyper-capitalism of the funeral industry) with the support of the National Film Board. A passionate mental health advocate, Rosie also volunteers with Art With Impact as an Advisory Board member. She is ﬂuent in Mandarin and loves thrift stores, libraries, and swimming in the ocean.

SHONNA FOSTER, Richmond Hill, ON — is an award-winning director-producer based in Ontario, Canada. She made her directorial debut with the short film Residue at the Reelworld Film Festival. Residue was featured on CBC Arts, Breakfast Television, CHCH TV, TO Indie and Black on Both Sides. The film also debuted on national television broadcast (CBC) and on streaming through CBC’s Gem. Shonna’s second film Mothers: Out of A Pandemic, is a documentary short currently in the festival circuit, and was Executive Produced by Jennifer Podemski and Lauren Grant. Shonna has also directed impactful branded content, including Gold Series x Pantene which won MLS and Procter & Gamble the Grocer Impact Award. Shonna has completed several mentorships with acclaimed directors and producers including Jasmin Mozaffari, Hubert Davi, Dawn Wilkinson, and Robert Teitel. She has also had the opportunity to director-shadow on multiple television shows as she is working towards her first television director credit. Shonna is currently in funded development on her next short film and writing her first feature film.

TERESA ALFELD, Vancouver, BC — is an award-winning writer/director from Vancouver, BC. Directing credits include the feature documentaries Doug and the Slugs and Me for CBC (winner of the Audience Choice award at ALFF 23, nominated for one CSA, four Leos, and two Vancouver Film Critics Circle awards), and The Rankin File: Legacy of a Radical (opening night film at DOXA 2018), the short documentary Jean Swanson: We Need a New Map (Hot Docs 2021, VIFF 2021) and short dramatic films Bossbabe (Cinema Spectacular 2023), Charlie Gauvin (Female Eye Film Festival 2012), and BUNKY The Vampire Killer (Toronto Independent Film Festival 2010). Teresa recently premiered her short comedy David Foster’s Eggpaa (NFB 2022) starring David Foster and Katharine McPhee. Teresa holds a BFA in film production (SFU 2010), a Master’s in Dispute Resolution (UVic 2017), is fluent in French, and – as a teenager – once helped build a pirate TV tower, successfully knocking out the CBC’s signal for nearly ten minutes to broadcast her and her colleagues’ content. With a keen interest in music, comedy, and social justice, Teresa is currently developing a number of projects including a comedy television series based on her short Charlie Gauvin.

ABOUT WIDC

Founded in 1996/97, Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) is an internationally respected Canadian professional development offering, specially designed to advance the skills, careers and fiction screen projects of women and non-binary directors, with over 340 director alumnae across Canada, who earn hundreds of awards and nominations for their work annually. Co-created by representatives of ACTRA, GEMS Vancouver (formerly Women In Film and Television Vancouver), and The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity which was WIDC’s GEMFest (formerly home venue for eighteen years, WIDC is presented with major support from Telefilm Canada, and Warner Bros. Discovery Access Canada, and with the participation of Creative BC, Actra Fraternal Benefit Society, ACTRA National, UBCP/ACTRA, Independent Production Fund. PR sponsor, GAT PR.

WIDC appreciates community collaborations with the National Film Board, Vancouver International Women in Film Festival), Female Eye Film Festival, St John’s International Women’s Film Festival, Reelworld Film Festival and Screen Institute, Crazy 8’s, TIFF, VIFF, Weengushk Film Institute, and the Whistler Film Festival.

The WIDC Feature Film Award is supported by Keslow Camera, Panavision Canada, Raw Camera, William F. White International / Sunbelt Rentals, Elemental Post, Company3 Vancouver, North Shore Studios, The Bridge Studios, Vancouver Film Studios, The Research House Clearance Services Inc., MELS Studios, Front Row Insurance, Descriptive Video Works, Line 21 Media Services, Power of Babel, EP Canada, Portable Electric, Champ and Pepper.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – October 2023: Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) organizers are pleased to announce the eight women and non-binary directors selected to take part in this session of the WIDC Career Advancement Module (CAM), presented with major support from Telefilm Canada and in collaboration with the St John’s International Women’s Film Festival and the Reelworld Film Festival. Running through October and November 2023, coinciding with both festivals, workshop sessions are designed to help participants build and launch a strategic career plan. Follow up career coaching which will extend through January 2024 and participants become part of the WIDC alumnae network of over 340 women and non-binary directors working across Canada and internationally.

“St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival has been honoured to partner with Women in the Director’s Chair since 2008,” says Jenn Brown, Executive Director, St John’s International Women’s Film Festival. “The Career Advancement Module is a game changer for women and gender-diverse artists nationwide. WIDC uniquely fosters multifaceted artist development like no other. The lasting impact of this program and the community it builds is significant and essential for our sector. Congratulations to this year’s cohort!”

The cohort: includes:

“I had the good fortune to attend St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival in 2018 for the premiere of my first short film, Brave Little Army, made with an all-female crew,” says Michelle D’Alessandro Hatt. “It’s an honour to return as a WIDC CAM participant and follow in the footsteps of so many directors I admire.”

Shonna Foster is an award-winning director-producer based in Ontario, Canada. She made her directorial debut with the short film Residue at the Reelworld Film Festival. Her second film Mothers: Out of A Pandemic, is currently in the festival circuit. An alumna of Black Women Film Canada’s Producer Residency, Shonna is currently developing several projects including a short film with the support of the Ontario Arts Council and her first scripted feature film.

WIDC CAM Fall 2023 offers online sessions including an EDI Work module led by scholar/ filmmaker Dr. Dorothy Cucw-la7 Christian and Vision TV co-founder, Dr. Rita Shelton Deverell C.M., a module with Digital Media and Marketing Mentor, Annelise Larson and a series of round tables with industry executives from Telefilm Canada, CBC, Bell Media, Independent Production Fund, and Reelworld Film Festival and Screen Institute Board members who connect participants with the marketplace. Mentor directors include award-winning WIDC alumnae directors Ruth Lawrence whose latest feature Party Pirate opens the St John’s IWFF and Rama Rau whose feature Coven also plays St John’s where Rau is slated to speak on the panel presenting the latest gender study from Women In View. WIDC co-creator and producer, Dr. Carol Whiteman is the lead mentor and facilitates the CAM and follow up coaching. Participants receive passes to both host festivals.

Women In the Director’s Chair (socials): Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

BACKGROUNDER

MORE ABOUT THE WIDC CAM Fall 2023 DIRECTORS (in alphabetical order by first name)

KATHLEEN CUMMINS, Toronto, ON — Dr. Kathleen Cummins is a writer, filmmaker and academic. Dr. Cummins’ production company, Emacha Media, has produced short films that have received funding from the Ontario Arts Council, the NFB’s Filmmaker Assistance Program, TVO, and the CBC. Her films have been screened at major film festivals and/or been broadcast across Canada (CBC, TVO) and internationally (Finland, the Caribbean, and the U.S.). Her film The Seduction of Mary was adapted into a feature screenplay for Shaftesbury Films, with the support of Telefilm-Canada and the Harold Greenberg Fund. Most recently Dr. Cummins completed Leaning Into the Lens (2023), a short documentary about the experiences of female-identifying students enrolled in post-secondary film programs. A professor in the Bachelor of Film and Television Program at Sheridan, Dr. Cummins’ research and publications focus on women filmmakers and feminist cinema cultures. Currently Dr. Cummins is developing an historical fiction project about 19th century Irish female emigration (The Cailín Exodus) and a feature documentary about the Canadian Impressionist painter Helen McNicoll.

MICHELLE D’ALESSANDRO HATT, Toronto, ON – is an award-winning filmmaker based in Toronto, Ontario. Brave Little Army, Michelle’s directorial debut, was made with an all-female crew under her shingle, Black Lab Film Company. (blacklabfilmcompany.com) Since premiering at the St. John’s International Film Festival in 2018, Brave Little Army has been an official selection of over 40 festivals worldwide, including the Canadian Film Festival, Fantasia International Film Festival, and the Oscar-qualifying Bogota Short Film Festival. Throughout its festival run, Brave Little Army has garnered 14 awards and special mentions. The next film in Michelle trilogy, Brave Rebel Army, is now in post-production after a successful 3-day shoot, thanks to the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts. Michelle is a proud voting member of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. She has served on the selection committee for Berlin Feminist Film Week, as a judge for the Nova Star Awards, and in on the board of directors for Breakthroughs Film Festival.

SHONNA FOSTER, Toronto, ON — is an award-winning director-producer based in Ontario, Canada. She made her directorial debut with the short film Residue at the Reelworld Film Festival. Residue was featured on CBC Arts, Breakfast Television, CHCH TV, TO Indie and Black on Both Sides. The film also debuted on national television broadcast (CBC) and on streaming through CBC’s Gem. Shonna’s second film Mothers: Out of A Pandemic, is a documentary short currently in the festival circuit, and was Executive Produced by Jennifer Podemski and Lauren Grant. Shonna has also directed impactful branded content, including Gold Series x Pantene which won MLS and Procter & Gamble the Grocer Impact Award. Shonna has completed several mentorships with acclaimed directors and producers including Jasmin Mozaffari, Hubert Davi, Dawn Wilkinson, and Robert Teitel. She has also had the opportunity to director-shadow on multiple television shows as she is working towards her first television director credit. Shonna is currently in funded development on her next short film and writing her first feature film.

ABOUT WIDC

Founded in 1996/97, Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) is an internationally respected Canadian professional development offering, specially designed to advance the skills, careers and fiction screen projects of women and non-binary directors, with over 340 director alumnae across Canada, who earn hundreds of awards and nominations for their work annually. Co-created by representatives of ACTRA, GEMS Vancouver (formerly Women In Film and Television Vancouver), and The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity which was WIDC’s home venue for eighteen years, WIDC is presented with major support from Telefilm Canada, and Warner Bros. Discovery Access Canada, and with the participation of Creative BC, Actra Fraternal Benefit Society, ACTRA National, UBCP/ACTRA, Independent Production Fund. PR sponsor, GAT PR.

WIDC appreciates community collaborations with the National Film Board, GEMFest (formerly Vancouver International Women in Film Festival), Female Eye Film Festival, St John’s International Women’s Film Festival, Reelworld Film Festival and Screen Institute, Crazy 8’s, TIFF, VIFF, Weengushk Film Institute, and the Whistler Film Festival.