Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC), a professional development organization for female filmmakers in Canada, has announced the eight women who will participate in its Story & Leadership Program at the Whistler Film Festival later this month. Sonia Bonspille Boileau, Jessica Bradford, Elizabeth Lazebnik, Shannon Walsh, Sandi Gisbert, Sophie Jarvis, Katia Café Fébrissy, and Leah Cameron have been selected for the script development and director mentorship program.
Walsh, Gisbert, and Jarvis are working on their feature narrative directorial debuts. Bonspille Boileau, Bradford, and Lazebnik are developing their second features, and Café Fébrissy and Cameron are creating web series.
“These eight directors-to-watch will join the ranks of WIDC’s prestigious alumnae network of over 220 women directors across Canada,” a press release details. “Between 2006 and 2016 over 60 percent of Telefilm Canada funded features directed by women were directed by WIDC alumnae.”
The filmmakers will receive mentorship from directors Gail Harvey (“Looking Is the Original Sin”) and Siobhan Devine (“The Birdwatcher”) as well as writer and academic Dr. Carolyn Mamchur, screenwriter Linda Coffey (“These Arms of Mine”), and actor-producer Lori Triolo (“Candiland”).
Participants will also have the chance to network with industry guests like producer Lael McCall (“Exes and Ohs”) and Telefilm Canada’s Lauren Davis.
In honor of its 20th anniversary, WIDC launched an online directory of its filmmakers in May. It includes profiles of all WIDC alumnae, including short filmmakers, showrunners, series creators, and feature directors.
The Whistler Film Festival will be held November 29–December 3 in Whistler, British Columbia. WIDC alumnae Jackie English, Jordan Canning, Renukua Jayapalan, and Ana de Lara are among the directors screening projects at the fest.
Check out the Story & Leadership Program participants’ bios below, courtesy of WIDC.
Sonia Bonspille Boileau is a bilingual Mohawk filmmaker based in Quebec. She has been working for the past decade on bringing Indigenous content to the screen for viewers of all cultural backgrounds. In 2015 Sonia wrote and directed her first feature film “Le Dep,” which made the official selection of several festivals around the world. She is now preparing to direct her second feature, “Rustic Oracle.”
Jessica Bradford is a Gemini award-winning writer and director based in Vancouver, BC whose films have screened at festivals worldwide. A graduate of the CFC, NSI, and WIDC Banff, Jessica is completing her MFA in Creative writing at UBC. She teaches at Vancouver Film School and the Reel 2 Real Youth Film Festival. She is developing her second feature film, “Finn McKain and the Lost Toad.”
Katia Café Fébrissy is a writer and director based in Toronto, ON. Her latest environmental cinéma vérité-style film,“ Root up” / “À la racine” (2017) has won four international film awards. Her NFB-produced documentary, “Social Me” / “Mes réseaux social et moi” (2015) premiered on CBC’s French counterpart, Radio Canada TV. She is now developing her web series, “Grounded.”
Leah Cameron is a Toronto-based director and writer who loves telling awkward and funny human stories. A graduate of the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, her short films have played major festivals, earning jury recognition. TV is Leah’s passion. Since 2015, she has worked as a writer’s assistant for several show runners and has story edited S01 and S02 of the host-driven series, “Where Cool Came From.” She is developing the comedy web series “The Communist’s Daughter.”
Sandi Gisbert is a Vancouver-based writer, director, and producer of online content, commercials, music videos, TV, and short films. Her most recent project is producing and directing the AMI series “AppTV,” a tech show for the visually impaired. She directed the “I Want to be Evil” music video for jazz artist Andrea Superstein. Her short film “My Daphne” screened at festival across Canada, the US, and Mexico and won at Los Angeles’ Golden Egg Film Festival. She is now developing her debut feature, a comedy called “All Pranks and No Fun.”
Sophie Jarvis is a Vancouver-based filmmaker whose award-winning films have screened internationally. Her SFU grad film “The Worst Day Ever” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and won the award for Best Direction at the 2013 enRoute Film Festival. Her other shorts have been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the BC Arts Council, and Bell Media’s BravoFACT fund. Her latest short “Medical Drama” was shot on 16mm. She is developing her debut feature, an eco-thriller called “Invasions.”
Elizabeth Lazebnik is a multi-lingual Toronto-based writer-director who has been making fiction, documentary, experimental films, and new media content with screenings at TIFF and the Festival du Cinema Nouveau. Her work has received awards and grants from the Female Eye Film Festival and HotDocs. In 2015 she completed her MFA in film production at York University. She is currently working on her second feature film, “Hannah,” about pioneering BC photographer Hannah Maynard.
Shannon Walsh has written and directed three feature documentary films, which have screened in cinemas, museums, and over 60 film festivals around the world. Her films have been broadcast in Canada, South Africa, and the U.S. Now based in Vancouver, she is currently finishing her fourth feature doc, and working on her first fiction feature, “Unidentified Minor.”
