FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: National, September 22, 2020 – When the Director’s Guild of Canada announced the nominees for their annual Awards, WIDC organizers were delighted to see that 54% (22/41) of the directorial achievement nominees were women, and that nearly 40% of those women nominees are WIDC alumnae.

WIDC alumnae nominees include:

Feature Film: Sonia Bonspille Boileau, Rustic Oracle
Documentary: Michelle Latimer, Inconvenient Indian
Comedy Series: Jordan Canning, Baroness Von Sketch Show (Eps. 401)
Comedy Series: Joyce Wong, Workin’ Moms (Eps. 405)
Family Series: Siobhan Devine, Gabby Duran & the Unsittables (Eps. 118)
Family Series: Nimisha Mukerji, Gabby Duran & the Unsittables (Eps. 116)
Television Movie and Mini Series: Winnifred Jong, Mystery 101: Dead Talk

And on the DGC Discovery Award Short List: Michelle Latimer, Inconvenient Indian which took home TIFF’s People’s Choice Documentary Award and the Amplify Voices Award, for best Canadian feature film. The film will travel on to the Vancouver International Film Festival.

Three more WIDC alumnae, Loretta Todd (Monkey Beach), Ruth Lawrence (Little Orphans) and Gloria Ui Young Kim (Queen of the Morning Calm), were recently recognized among the Discovery Award Long List. Lawrence and Kim’s debut feature films respectively open and close this year’s St John’s International Women’s Film Festival (October 14 to 18, 2020).  Todd’s much anticipated Monkey Beach bowed at TIFF and opens the Vancouver International Film Festival.

In addition, Kim’s editorial team, Michelle Szamberg and Orlee Buin are up for a DGC Award for Achievement in Picture Editing for Queen of the Morning Calm, which opens in Cineplex theatres this weekend. The film also picked up Directorial, Best Picture and Performance awards at the Canadian Film Fest – Virtual Edition in May 2020.

Notably, among the WIDC alumnae recognized by the DGC this year, four are past recipients of the WIDC Feature Film Award. They include Gloria Ui Young Kim (Queen of the Morning Calm) and Sonia Bonspille Boileau who’s Rustic Oracle recently won the Leo Award for Best Motion Picture and Best Performance by a Lead Actress for Carmen Moore; as well as, Jordan Canning (Suck It Up) and Siobhan Devine (The Birdwatcher) who have each moved solidly into the television series space while developing new features with the support of the Harold Greenberg Fund. Winnifred Jong is a WIDC-supported Telefilm Talent to Watch recipient for her widely successful web series, Tokens.

According to the DGC web site, nominees were selected from among over 300 submissions.

“These nominees represent the inventiveness and perseverance of the Canadian film & television industry,” said DGC President, Tim Southam. “The exceptional work that these filmmakers have created have earned them recognition not just in Canada but around the world. It is a privilege to be able to celebrate this talent year after year at the DGC Awards.

The winners of the 2020 DGC Awards will be announced at the 19th Annual Awards on consecutive nights beginning on October 24th, 2020.

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About WIDC
Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) was founded in 1997 by ACTRA, The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and Women In Film and Television Vancouver and is administered by national non-profit society Creative Women Workshops Association. WIDC offers mentorship for Canadian women screen directors, along with project development and production awards to help them get their narrative stories on screen. With more than 260 award-winning director alumnae across Canada, over the last twenty-three years WIDC has advanced the voices of a generation of women screen directors.

WIDC is presented with major support from Telefilm Canada, CBC Films, and ACTRA, and with the participation of the Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des Arts du Canada, Actra Fraternal Benefit Society, ACTRA National, TELUS STORYHIVE, Creative BC, UBCP/ACTRA, Independent Production Fund, ACTRA Alberta, Ontario Creates; WIDC appreciates community collaborations with 1st Weekend Club, National Film Board, WIFT Vancouver’s International Women In Film Festival, Female Eye Film Festival, St John’s International Women’s Film Festival, Crazy 8’s, and the Whistler Film Festival.

WIDC Awards is valued at up to $200K and is supported by some of Canada’s most influential screen industry companies including Panavision Canada, Sim, Post Moderne, Keslow Camera, William F. White International, Walters Lighting and Grip, Encore Vancouver, Technicolor Toronto, Skylab Vancouver, White Hart Post Productions, North Shore Studios, The Bridge Studios, Vancouver Film Studios, The Research House Clearance Services Inc., Descriptive Video Works, Front Row Insurance, National Captioning Canada, and Line 21 Media. CBC Films recently announced their support for a $10,000 Talent Development Award for WIDC alumnae to take their scripts to the next draft.

WIDC Contact: enquiries@widc.ca | Mobile: 1-778-809-0747