FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Vancouver, BC – Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) organizers are pleased to announce the 2024-2025 cohort for their flagship four-part program, Story & Leadership, which includes a Whistler Film Festival Industry Immersion at the  powered by Warner Bros. Discovery Access Canada. 

This year’s award-winning director participants are:

Dani Kind – Toronto, Ontario-based member of both UBCP/ACTRA and the DGC. She played Anne Carlson for seven seasons on the popular CBC and Netflix series Workin’ Moms. Kind is bringing a dark acerbic comedy series, How to Leave Your Husband (working title) to WIDC. 

“I am thrilled to be joining this program,” says Dani. “I think this opportunity is meeting me at the exact time I need in order to push my story to the place it is asking to get to.”

Jessica Hinkson – Award-winning independent filmmaker currently based in Toronto, Ontario. A graduate of The Neighborhood Playhouse, Jessica is a member of UBCP/ACTRA, WIFT-Toronto and the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. She is developing her first feature, Concrete Marshmallow, with C’mon Mort Productions.

“Being a part of WIDC’s highly esteemed Story & Leadership Program will allow me to keep telling stories that matter, which are women-centric, about real experiences that continue to shape and mould our lives’ journey,” says Jessica Hinkson. “By way of furthering my understanding, deepening, awareness and investigation as a storyteller, it is a privilege.”

Susan Bayani – An Iranian Canadian film director, writer, producer, and lecturer based in Toronto, Ontario. An alum of York University and Luchino Visconti School in Milan, Italy, her art focuses on political issues and women’s rights. Her co-directed feature drama Papa Sierra is in post-production and she brings her next feature drama, Good News to WIDC.

Christina Katsiadakis – A Montreal, Quebec-based filmmaker with 20 years of experience in the film and TV industry. Her creative projects focus on themes of history and the immigrant experience, including her upcoming feature Panoptikon set in a not-so-distant future of AI dominance.

Lu Asfaha – A Toronto, Ontario-based writer-director who utilizes the horror genre to externalize the internal. Her CFC Directors Lab short, the body horror Sight (2023) screened at Fantasia International Film Festival. She brings her debut feature film project, They Echo to WIDC Story & Leadership. 

“I am delighted to be able to spend this time developing my work amongst dedicated women creators and with the guidance of such storied mentors,” says Lu Asfaha. 

Kristina Mileska – A Macedonian-Canadian filmmaker based in Toronto, Ontario. Director of five short films that have screened internationally and garnered numerous awards. Kristina is developing her debut feature film, Summer 2002, a coming-of-age drama.

“WIDC has been instrumental in supporting my development as a filmmaker (CAM Spring/Summer 2024) and helping me navigate the industry,” says Kristina Mileska. “I’m excited and grateful for the opportunity to continue learning and growing through WIDC’s Story and Leadership Program.”

Rachel Rose – A cis gay, Vancouver, BC-based filmmaker passionate about the role of film in shifting perspectives and inspiring action through femme-driven stories inspired by lived experience. She is an alum of the Crazy8’s and VIFF Catalyst programs. She is developing the feature drama Little Booms, based on her short film of the same name. 

Tamara Black – An award-winning Canadian-Italian director, producer and writer based in Vancouver, BC. An alum of the BANFF Spark Accelerator for Women in Media, Tamara holds a BA in Criminology and is developing the drama thriller series Pilled.

This year’s Mentor Directors include awarding-winning Cree filmmaker and author, Dr. Jules Arita Koostachin whose sophomore feature Angela’s Shadow took home a VIFF Audience Choice Award, while her feature doc, MiiMiiSak: Sisters in Film is at WFF; and award-winning writer, director and showrunner, Sherry White (Pretty Hard Cases, Rookie Blue, Maudie, Crackie). White has just completed production on her sophomore feature, Blueberry Grunt. Both also happen to be WIDC alumni. WIDC co-creator and Producer Dr. Carol Whiteman (With Love and a Major Organ) who recently received the 2024 Leo Award for Outstanding Achievement for her contributions to the BC screen industry, leads the WIDC program. 

Additional mentors and guests scheduled to support this year’s cohort include Dr. Rita Shelton Deverell C.M. (co-founder Vision TV and WIDC director alum), Dr. Dorothy Cucw-La7 Christian; Jungian expert Dr. Carolyn Mamchur; Lori Triolo, (Riverdale), Veena Sood, (Children Ruin Everything); Kim Derko csc (What We Do In the Shadows), Sylvaine Dufaux csc (Solo: A Star Wars Story); Digital Media Marketing mentor, Annelise Larson, Veria.ca., along with a cast of 12 ACTRA  and UBCP/ACTRA actors who workshop the directors’ original scripts in Part one of the program. Part two includes an Industry Immersion presented in collaboration with the Whistler Film Festival (December 4 to 8, 2024), powered by Warner Bros. Discovery Access Canada where the directors travel to Whistler and meet with industry including Telefilm Canada, CBC Films, Bell Media, Independent Production Fund along with Directors, Producers and business affairs experts. Parts three and four of the program include a month of one to one story consultations with Sherry White followed by three months of career coaching with Carol Whiteman.

BACKGROUNDER

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 director alumni living across Canada and around the world earn hundreds of awards and nominations for their work annually. 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 Warner Bros. Discovery Access 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, DGC, BC, Crazy 8’s, TIFF, VIFF, the Whistler Film Festival, and GAT PR.

WIDC Feature Film Award is supported by MELS Studios, Keslow Camera, Panavision Canada, JAM POST Inc., Rocket Science VFX, Distillery VFX, Sunbelt Film & TV 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, Champ & Pepper.

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