FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – March 2025:   Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) is delighted to announce the eight women directors chosen by a peer jury for their Spring/Summer 2025 Career Advancement Module (WIDC CAM). Included in this impressive cohort are creators from BC, Ontario, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

Meet the Directors: (listed in alphabetical order by first name)

Alexa Jane Jerrett (NL), is the 2024 winner of the St John’s International Women’s Film Festival’s prestigious RBC Michelle Jackson Award, a member of DGC and WIFT-AT, and an alumna of the 2024 AIFF Filmmaker Lab. Her multi-award-winning folk horror short Bedlamer has screened globally. She is currently developing two upcoming shorts and the feature version of Bedlamer.

Aubrey Arnason (BC), won a Best Direction Leo Award for her TV movie directorial debut. Subsequent TV movies have premiered on Lifetime, Prime TV, and Peacock. A member of DGC and UBCP/ACTRA, Aubrey is also an alumna of the Women In view 2xMore initiative, NSI Totally TV, Bell Media BANFF Fellowship. She is developing a slate of two feature films (Mom Com, and, My Best Mom), as well as a series (Lara). 

Cici Clancy (ON), is an Irish-Canadian writer-director whose films (The Randomer, Coco Dreams of Blue) explore female sexuality and desire through a contemporary feminist lens. Her arts council-supported short Ephemera (2024) won awards and secured multiple CSA qualifying screenings. A member of the DGC, she is developing the dark comedy thriller feature The Primal Scream Club as a Canada-Ireland co-pro. 

Joy Webster (ON), is a writer, director and editor from Toronto. An alumna of the CFC Norman Jewison Director’s Lab, her shorts have screened at NewFilmmakers LA, San Diego International Film Festival and Brooklyn International Film Festival, and won awards including two Best Short Awards at Canadian Film Fest, also in the Telefilm: Not Short on Talent showcase at Cannes. Her current slate includes two features, a coming-of-age drama and a crime thriller, as well as an historical magical realism series.

Katrina Reynolds (BC), is a theatre actor (Shaw, Stratford, Broadway) now working primarily on screen who has also crossed over to filmmaking. Her short film, A Day In The (After)Life of Diane Staples made by a 100% female/non-binary cast and crew, won multiple awards including The Warner Bros Discovery Access Canada Filmmaker Award, while her comedy web series ‘Get It Together!’ received IPF and CMF development funding. She will develop her debut feature, the dark romantic comedy City in Colour at WIDC CAM.

Rita Ferrando (ON), is a Canadian-Argentinian filmmaker who focuses on the female experience, exploring themes of intimacy, permanence and memory through narrative, documentary forms. Her films, installations and other projects have been widely programmed including her short film Pleasure Garden (2022) which premiered at TIFF. She is developing a coming-of-age feature, Blue Sky Yellow Sunflower with the support of Telefilm Canada.

Tara Aghdashloo (ON), is a writer, director, multidisciplinary artist, poet and published author born in Iran. A vocal intersectional feminist and advocate for global south and human rights in the SWANA region. Her shorts, Empty Your Pockets, Bridge, The Ride, all received BFI Network, BBC, Canada, Ontario and Toronto Arts Councils funding, among others. A winner of 20 nominations and 9 awards at festivals globally, Tara’s upcoming debut narrative feature is a UK-Canada co-production which has received development support from Telefilm Canada and Ontario Creates.

Tara Thorne (NS), is a writer-director whose second feature Lakeview, an emo comedy about a girls’ weekend celebrating a divorce, is out at festivals including Mardi Gras in Sydney, Australia, and BFI Flare in London. Her first feature, Compulsus, was a Telefilm Talent to Watch, released theatrically in Canada in October 2024 and on VOD in North America, the UK, and Australia. She is now developing Jo & Frankie, a feature supported by Screen Nova Scotia’s The Last Draft program.

Presented in collaboration with GEMFest (March 5 to 9, 2025, Vancouver, BC) and Female Eye Film Festival (July 15 to 20, 2025, Toronto, ON) with major support from Telefilm Canada, the CAM is offered online through Summer 2025.

This edition of WIDC programming includes a specially designed Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI Work) module led by scholar/ filmmaker Dr. Dorothy Cucw-la7 Christian and Vision TV co-founder, Dr. Rita Shelton Deverell C.M. A member of the Order of Canada, Deverell is also a WIDC alumna. Offering insights into navigating career paths and connecting screen projects with the marketplace, WIDC Zoom round tables also include instruction from Digital Marketing Mentor, Annelise Larson, along with in-camera discussions with industry executives from Telefilm Canada, CBC, Bell Media, Independent Production Fund. In-person Festival-sponsored panels feature WIDC alumni directors Dr. Jules Koostachin (NiiMiSak: Sisters In Film screens at GEMFest ‘25) and Anaïsa Visser (Executive Director, GEMS Vancouver), and Leslie Ann Coles (Founder, Executive & Artistic Director, Female Eye Film Festival). WIDC co-creator and producer, Dr. Carol Whiteman who facilitates the CAM and provides one to one career coaching for the eight directors over the six months.

“GEMS is celebrating 16 years of collaboration with WIDC, and we’re delighted to welcome yet another cohort to GEMFest,” says Anaïsa Visser, Executive Director GEMS Vancouver and fellow WIDC CAM alum. “The impact of WIDC’s work on the landscape of Canadian cinema cannot be understated, and we at GEMS are proud to have had a collaborative hand in it over the years.” 

“The Female Eye Film Festival (FeFF), celebrating its 23rd edition July 2025, has been a proud partner of WIDC and the CAM since 2009,” says Leslie Ann Coles, Founder, Executive & Artistic Director, Female Eye Film Festival and WIDC alum. “Congratulations to all the participants!” 

Past WIDC CAM alumni include multiple award-winners and nominees for CSA’s, Leo’s, DGC Awards and more, including Best Direction and Best Motion Picture, Best Direction and Best Web Series, Best Direction Television Movie, Best Direction of Television Drama, Best Direction of a Comedy Series: Winnifred Jong (Tokens, Pretty Hard Cases); Danishka Estherhazy (I Was Lorena Bobbitt); Siobhan Devine (The Birdwatcher, Imperfect High, Reginald the Vampire); Gloria Ui Young Kim (Heartland); Joyce Wong (Sort Of) to name only a few who have attended the CAM in the last sixteen years.

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 mid-career women and non-binary directors. Over 375 WIDC director alumni across Canada earn hundreds of awards and nominations for their work annually and their work reaches millions of audiences world-wide. 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 its home venue for eighteen years, WIDC is presented with major support from Telefilm Canada, and with the participation of Creative BC, Actra Fraternal Benefit Society, ACTRA National, UBCP/ACTRA, Independent Production Fund. WIDC community collaborators include the National Film Board, St John’s International Women’s Film Festival, Reelworld Film Festival and Screen Institute, GEMFest, Female Eye Film Festival, DGC National, DGC BC, Crazy 8’s, TIFF, VIFF, the Whistler Film Festival, and GAT PR.

WIDC Feature Film Award is supported by MELS Studios, Distillery VFX,, Keslow Camera, Panavision Canada, JAM POST Inc., Rocket Science VFX, Sunbelt TV & Film Rentals, Elemental Post, Company3 Vancouver, AA VFX, North Shore Studios, The Bridge Studios, Vancouver Film Studios, The Research House Clearance Services Inc., Front Row Insurance Brokers Inc., Descriptive Video Works, Line 21 Media Services, Power of Babel, EP Canada, Portable Electric, Signal Services, Champ & Pepper.

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