Vancouver, Canada (June 2011) – Creative Women Workshops Association (CWWA) is pleased to announce the winner of the 2011 Women In the Director’s Chair (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 BANFF.
Award-winning filmmaker Wendy Ord is the 2011 recipient of the WIDC BANFF Fellowship, to be presented June 13 at the annual WIDC Launch Event during the Banff World Media Festival.
This award, administered by Creative Women Workshops Association, provides a full-access pass for Ord to attend the Banff World Media Festival where she will be meeting with potential funders, producers and broadcasters. In addition to the festival pass, the fellowship includes mentoring and ongoing support in-kind from Creative Women Workshops Association.
“We are proud to partner with CWWA and support the WIDC program once again particularly on the occasion of its 15th anniversary,” said Ferne Cohen, Executive Director, Banff World Media Festival.”
“I’m very honoured and excited to be attending the festival this year as the WIDC BANFF Fellow. This opportunity comes at the perfect time for me. I’ve been developing a diverse slate of projects that are now poised to move ahead. To that end, I look forward to meeting and creating relationships with potential Canadian and International partners in the idyllic setting and industry focal point that is Banff,” says Wendy Ord. “Many thanks to the Creative Women Workshops Association and the Banff World Media Festival for providing this invaluable opportunity!”
”Wendy Ord really deserves this year’s fellowship,” says Carol Whiteman, President & CEO CWWA and award-winning WIDC Producer. “She has the drive and enthusiasm to maximize this opportunity. She has wall-to-wall meetings set up and an impressive line-up of creative projects ready to pitch!”
The award presentation will be made at the WIDC Launch Event, June 13 at 3:00 pm MT, in the Conservatory of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. Previous recipients of the WIDC BANFF Fellowship have included: Leslie Ann Coles and Jinder Oujla Chalmers, each of whom earned development deals at their BANFF’s; Anita Doron, Veronica Tennant, Carole Ducharme, Karen Hines, Paula Kelly, and Sharon Lewis.
Research shows that women are still under-represented in leadership and non-traditional roles in the screen-based media industry world-wide. In Canada, since 1997, Creative Women Workshops Association has been working in partnership with The Banff Centre and ACTRA to present the critically acclaimed Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) program which now boasts 150 alumnae directors across Canada. WIDC receives major support from Telefilm Canada, William F White International, Panavision Canada, Fund, IATSE 669, IATSE 891, and the Directors Guild of Canada, BC District with the participation of Actra Fraternal Benefit Society, the Independent Production, the Banff World Media Festival, and many others who help to level the playing field for women screen directors in Canada.
CONTACT: Carol Whiteman, CWWA / WIDC | 1-604-913-0747 | carol@creativewomenworkshops.com
About the WIDC Banff Fellowship 2011 recipient
Wendy Ord was the first female 1st A.D. in Canada and has worked in the film and television industry for 30 years.
As director, Wendy has several short films to her credit as well as her feature film, Black Swan, theatrically released and distributed by Lions Gate in 2003. Black Swan won awards, festival acclaim and sold around the world. She recently completed TORA, an epic short film starring David Suzuki, which is gaining momentum and awards on the festival circuit, including the 2011 Vancouver Women In Film Festival Moving Images Distribution Award.
Wendy is the creator of www.canadianfilmmaker.com, a website in partnership with WIFT-T and she has taught directing courses at the post-graduate level. An alumna of the CTV WIDC Career Advancement Module (CAM), Wendy was also recently selected to participate in the 2011 LA Market Accelorator presented by BC Film and the Canadian Media Production Association.
About Creative Women Workshops Association
Creative Women Workshops Association (CWWA) is a national non-profit organization whose main activity, The Women In the Director’s Chair Workshop (WIDC), now celebrating its 15th Anniversary, is a one-of-a-kind annual professional development and mentoring program specially designed to advance the leadership and creative capacities of mid-career women screen directors of fiction, presented in partnership with The Banff Centre, ACTRA with major support from Telefilm Canada, William F White Intl, Panavision Canada, CTV, IATSE 669, Directors Guild of Canada, BC, Actra Fraternal Benefit Society, North Shore Studios, The Bridge Studios, Deluxe Vancouver, Post Modern Sound; with the participation of the Independent Production Fund, the Banff World Media Festival, and many others. www.creativewomenworkshops.com
About the Women in the Director’s Chair Program (WIDC)
Since 1997 the WIDC program has advanced the careers of 150 Canadian women screen directors, 66% of whom reported career advances in the past twelve months.. There are currently four fiction television series airing on six different networks, created or co-created by WIDC alumnae: Stephanie Morgenstern, FLASHPOINT (CTV/CBS); Zarqa Nawaz, (LITTLE MOSQUE ON THE PRAIRIE, CBC); Carol Geddes, (ANASH AND THE LEGACY OF THE SUN ROCK, APTN) and Jinder Oujla Chalmers (COMBAT HOSPITAL, Global/ABC), and four feature films directed by WIDC alumnae: Katrin Bowen (AMAZON FALLS), Penelope Buitenhuis (A WAKE), Jennifer Kierans (THE BEND), and Anne Marie Ngo (A TROIS MARIE S’EN VA), have been theatrically released in the past twelve months. Modules one and two of the WIDC program are delivered at The Banff Centre, and cover all aspects of screen fiction production: Story to Screen. Module three includes awards, fellowships and other practical opportunities to advance the projects and careers of women screen directors.
CONTACT: Carol Whiteman, CWWA / WIDC | 1-604-913-0747| carol@creativewomenworkshops.com
Get Social