FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 2024 – The organizers of Canada’s acclaimed Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) program are delighted to announce that recent Story & Leadership alum, Jenny Lee-Gilmore is the recipient of the 2024 WIDC Advantage Award for her debut feature film, Dormant. The prize includes a one-year mentorship for Lee-Gilmore, a spot at an upcoming WIDC Career Advancement Module and WIDC’s Industry partner nomination for the 2024 Telefilm Canada Talent to Watch program.

Dormant is a supernatural thriller about a university student whose vivid nightmares and increasingly overwhelming fatigue leave her exposed to a supernatural presence entangled in a sinister campus secret. The story is inspired by Lee-Gilmore’s lived experiences with her diagnosis with narcolepsy, a chronic neurological disorder that affects the brain’s ability to control its sleep and wake cycles.

“The supernatural thriller genre offers a unique opportunity to explore the fear, isolation, and vulnerability that often accompanies having an invisible disability,” says award-winner Jenny Lee-Gilmore. “I want audiences to feel empowered to listen to their bodies, advocate for themselves and never let anyone invalidate their lived experiences. The WIDC Advantage Award offers me great tools and a real opportunity towards getting my debut feature film, Dormant, made!”

Recently selected for the 2024 GEMS Genre Lab, Dormant is being produced by feminist and genre-lover Eloise Cameron-Smith who is known for her VFX work on Blockbuster films like Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore and Spiderman: No Way Home. Cameron-Smith’s latest short, Hellmark is up for a 2024 Leo Award.

Over the last 28 years WIDC alumni have gone on to direct thousands of hours of quality screen entertainment including more than 100 feature-length films (over 60% of the women-directed feature films funded by Telefilm Canada).

The award was presented June 7, 2024, at WIDC’s Annual Launch Event on Zoom, where Jenny was a guest of honour.

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About the Director: Jenny Lee-Gilmore (she/her) is a filmmaker and actor based in Vancouver, BC. She started her career as a Producer’s & Director’s assistant and has worked on productions for Netflix, Lionsgate, NBC, Newline & Disney. Her debut short film Breakaway played in festivals across North America and was selected in the Top 9 of 2020’s CBC Short Film Face Off. She recently directed TELUS Originals documentary Overtime about her mom’s 55+ hockey team which earned her a nomination for the “One to Watch” award by the Vancouver Film Critics Circle. Overtime also took home Best Short Doc, Best Director and Best Cinematography at the Vancouver Asian 14 Film Festival. She’s an alumna of the University of British Columbia BFA Film Production Program, VIFF Catalyst mentorship program, BIPOC TV & Film Showrunner Bootcamp, GEMS TV Producer Lab and the Women In the Director’s Chair Story & Leadership program. Jenny is passionate about telling female centric and Asian Canadian stories that are often overlooked or neglected by mainstream media and strives to create meaningful and authentic stories that resonate with audiences.

About WIDC: Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) was launched in June 1996 at the BANFF World Media Festival as an initial collaboration among ACTRA, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and GEMS Vancouver (formerly Women In Film and Television Vancouver). Since its 1997 pilot workshop, more than 360 director alumni across Canada have gone on to create 1000’s of hours of quality screen entertainment. They consistently garner 100’s of awards and nominations annually. https://www.widc.ca/directory/

Presented with major support from Telefilm Canada, Warner Bros. Discovery Access Canada, and with the participation of Creative BC, UBCP/ACTRA, Actra Fraternal Benefit Society, ACTRA National, and the Independent Production Fund; WIDC community collaborations include Directors Guild of Canada, GEMFest (formerly VIWFF), Female Eye Film Festival, St John’s International Women’s Film Festival, Reelworld Screen Institute, Summit & Film Festival, Crazy 8’s, TIFF Share Her Journey, VIFF, Whistler Film Festival, and the BANFF World Media Festival. WIDC Feature Film Award sponsors include MELS, Keslow Camera, Panavision Canada, Raw Camera, MTL Grande, Distillery Visual Effects Company 3, Kalos Studios, Elemental Post Production, North Shore Studios, The Bridge Studios, Vancouver Film Studios, The Research House Clearance Services Inc., Walter Lighting & Grip, Front Row Insurance, Descriptive Video Works, EP Canada, Portable Electric, National Captioning Canada, and Line 21, Champ & Pepper, and GAT PR.