WIDC Advantage Award
(formerly Telefilm Canada Talent to Watch Program & WIDC mentorship award)

Launched in 2022 as part of the WIDC 25th Anniversary celebration, the WIDC Advantage Award is a peer juried development award for a WIDC alum preparing to direct her/their first feature film (low or ultra-low budget). The award includes a spot at an upcoming WIDC Program, a one-year tailored mentorship and WIDC’s nomination for the Telefilm Talent to Watch program.

As determined by the CWWA Board, all WIDC Director alumni are eligible to apply for this nomination and award. Application criteria and deadlines are subject to change per WIDC and Telefilm Canada.

Telefilm Canada Talent to Watch Program
Telefilm’s Talent to Watch Program aims to support emerging filmmakers, accelerate their career development, and to allow them to develop their authentic artistic voice in feature length filmmaking.

The intended outcome of this [Telefilm Talent to Watch] Program is to discover and develop the next generation of Canadian filmmakers, and to allow them to establish their voice and sensibility through a first feature.

Creative Women Workshops Association (CWWA) through our Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) program, is one of Telefilm Canada’s designated Talent to Watch Industry Partners.

To be eligible for WIDC’s nomination to Talent to Watch, at least one of the applicant team members MUST be either a current participant or an alum of the WIDC program. The director of the project must identify as a Canadian woman or non-binary individual. Only projects that are narrative live-action fiction will be considered. Scripts featuring a protagonist who identifies as female or an under-represented gender identity or expression, are preferred.

WIDC Advantage Award*
In order to strengthen the chances of WIDC-nominated projects being selected by Telefilm Canada for Talent to Watch program funding, the WIDC Nominee director and by extension, the project’s key creative team (writer, producer) will receive coaching to polish the nominee submission package. Additionally, a one-year mentorship will receive a specially tailored to the needs of the team including assisting them with services towards further project development, polish and packaging. The Award also includes an automatic director’s chair spot (for the project’s director) in one upcoming WIDC Program:

*Should the project achieve funding support and/or upon mutual agreement, the WIDC Advantage Award may be extended through to project completion, and an executive producer credit may be extended to the WIDC mentor. WIDC’s role in the project does not assume or claim copyright or ownership of the project.

According to Telefilm’s program instructions, and as they may change from time to time, the CWWA Board provides its official recommendation of the WIDC’s Nominee.

WIDC Advantage Award Deadline:
March 28, 2025 (extended)

How to Apply:

Send an email to: widc.ca@gmail.com cc: directors@widc.ca

Using the Telefilm Guidelines, include a link to a Google folder.

The Google folder should include:

  • Cover Letters x 2
    • 1) To WIDC Jury:
      • Up to one page
      • Including how this award and nomination will benefit you and your project.
    • 2) To Telefilm Selection Committee:
      • Up to one page
      • Including why this project, why you, why now, and any special qualities about this project that are not included elsewhere in the submission.
  • Creative Materials
    • Synopsis (up to 750 words)
    • Director’s Vision (up to 3 pages)
    • Pitch Deck
    • Scripts
      1) Screenplay of a narrative live action fiction, no less than 75 pages in industry standard script format, in PDF.
      2) Pitch Video Script, 5 pages in industry standard script format, in PDF.
  • Feasibility & Plans
  • The Team

N.B. The Telefilm Canada Talent to Watch program, criteria and deadlines are all subject to change and/or cancellation at the sole discretion of Telefilm Canada. WIDC reserves the right to change any part of or cancel this WIDC Award accordingly.

Further, while Telefilm Canada Talent to Watch is open to both narrative fiction and documentary formats, the WIDC program seeks to support narrative live-action fiction project development.

Past WIDC Advantage Award Recipients:

2024 – Jenny Lee-Gilmore, Doormant
2023 – Giselle Miller, Sweet Plantain
2022 – Luvia Petersen, Human Nature

Past Talent to Watch Nomination Recipients:

Feature Film:
2021 – No Talent to Watch program offered due to COVID-19
2020 – Hayley Gray, Send the Rain (aka Dry Year, Telefilm regional low-budget funding recipient)
2019 – Paige K. Boudreau, Just Off Main Street
2019 – Meeshelle Neal, Sweet Release
2018 – Elizabeth Lazebnik, Be Still (Telefilm TTW funding recipient)
2018 – Reem Morsi, Banned (aka Hysteria) (Telefilm TTW funding recipient)
2017 – Shelley Thompson, Dawn, Her Dad & the Tractor (Telefilm low-budget regional funding recipient)
2016 – Adelina Suvagau, Box of Freedom (film completed)
2015 – Patricia Harris Seeley, My Human
2014 – Gail Maurice, Bloodlines
2013 – Maureen Bradley, Two4One (Telefilm TTW funding recipient)

Digital Short Series*:
2019 – Ana de Lara, Best Friend Me (Telefilm TTW funding recipient, production delayed due to COVID-19, currently in post on season 1)
2018 – Leah Cameron, The Communists Daughter (produced with IPF, Ontario Creates; 1 season)
2017 – Winnifred Jong, Tokens (Telefilm TTW funding recipient; 2 seasons)
2016 – Kate Green, NarcoLeap (produced with IPF, Telus Storyhive, Creative BC; 2 seasons)

*(award stream discontinued by Telefilm Canada)