2021 Director Bios — Lakeshorts International Short Film Festival

2021 Director BIOGRAPHIES

The Winter

Director: Xin Li

Bio:Xin is a Chinese born animator and filmmaker based in Melbourne, Australia. He specializes in the traditional method of paint-on-glass stop-motion animation. Through this technique he explores tranquil and often intimate moments of life through abstract narratives.

Milk

Director: Winnifred Jong

Bio: Winnifred Jong is a Toronto-based filmmaker and an alumna of the Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) and Ryerson University. Named Playback’s 5-to-Watch 2018, her recent work can be seen on CBC’s Frankie Drake Mysteries: A Cold Case web series and upcoming on CBC’s one-hour drama, Coroner.

Selected as a Wattpad Studios creator, she is currently producing/directing the short film Destin, with an eye to developing it into a longer format. In addition, Winnifred created the comedic web series, Tokens, which was shortlisted for the Sundance YouTube New Voices Lab and was selected as part of the Banff Media Festival Diversity of Voice Program. She is slated to shoot in Fall 2018 with Telefilm Talent-to-Watch and BellFund financing.

The Offer, her debut short film, won the Deluxe Canada First Award at Lakeshorts International Film Festival and was nominated for Best Short Film in the 2016 DGC Awards. Her second award-winning short, Milk, which she also penned, is currently on the festival circuit. She is in pre-production for her third short, a passion project, Distant Cousins, which was a Finalist in the Reel Asian Film Festival “So You Think You Can Pitch?” competition.

Jeep Boys

Director: Alec Pronovost

Bio: Ex-employee of Club Piscine, Alec Pronovost left the aquatic world and now works as a director and screenwriter (mainly in comedy). His project Le Killing has earned him two nominations in directing at the Gémeaux Awards as well as a Numix award for best comedy web series.

Liminal

Director: Daniel Abramovici

Bio: Dan Abramovici is a member of the LGBTQ community, and an Israel-born actor/writer from Canada. This background has shaped in him an interest in stories that question identity, and explore different shades of grey. These questions are at the heart of liminal, his directorial debut. After graduating from the Canadian Film Centre, Dan wrote his first feature film: Ben's At Home. The film picked up numerous awards and enjoyed a robust life in the festival circuit, winning awards including Best Feature at Rhode Island International Film Festival, Best Feature at the Canadian Film Festival, an Audience Choice award at Gasparilla, and a Canadian Comedy Award. The film is currently available to stream on Netflix.

Detours

Director: Christopher Yates

Bio: Christopher Yates is a director, screenwriter and editor. He directed his first feature documentary in 2009, NOT HERE, a road-movie about the Belgian rock band Girls in Hawaii. He then co-directs REVEKA in 2015, a documentary about silver mining in Bolivia. He is also the co-creator and co-writer of all 20 episodes of the Belgian TV drama PUBLIC ENEMY, and just finished a short action movie, Detours.

The Letting Go

Director: Nick Kewin

Bio: Nick’s narrative output has predominantly focused on family dynamics with comedic elements and a smattering of the surreal. His short film credits as a Writer/Producer include Burn the Tapes, Welcome Stranger, and Cosmo, all of which have garnered online interest and festival inclusion. Nick’s works have played at a diverse array of outlets, such as the Canadian Film Fest, Toronto International Short Film Festival and the National Screen Institute online film festival. As a Producer, Nick worked to bring the Telus Storyhive funded short, The Berg to life. As an alumnus of the Canadian Film Centre’s (CFC) Writer’s Lab, Nick worked to develop his feature film project, The Crow Below. The Letting Go is his directorial debut.

If I Only had a Name

Director: Jacob Hanania

Bio: Jacob Hanania has worked on and produced several films, music videos, commercials and corporate videos. In 2014, he directed an award-winning short film called Street Meet that was accepted into several international festivals and is available to watch online. His second film, Memory Jog (2017), was part of a feature-length anthology called Samanthology. He recently directed a third short film, If I Only Had a Name, which will be making festival rounds in late 2021 and beyond.

Red Balloon

Director: Avi Federgreen

Bio: Avi Federgreen’s over twenty years of experience in the Canadian film industry includes over sixty films produced. Federgreen’s newly completed films, which are travelling around the film festival circuit include Things I Do For Money directed by Warren P. Sonoda. Current films in release include Man Running directed by Gary Burns, Lifechanger directed by Justin McConnell, and Altered Skin directed by Adnan Ahmed.

Federgreen also is the creator of the Indiecan10K & Indiecan20K First Feature Initiatives that have now helped 8 first features get made in Canada including the NWT film Elijah and the Rock Creature directed by Jennifer Walden and the Northern Ontario film Fugue directed by Tomas Street.

Federgreen's other producing credits include One Week, Still Mine, Kiss and Cry, Prisoner X, Score: A Hockey Musical, Relative Happiness, How To Plan An Orgy in A Small Town, Moon Point, I’m Yours, Hungry Hills, High Life, Leslie, My Name Is Evil to name a few.

In the Summer of 2019 Federgreen Directed his first Short film Red Balloon which is now travelling the festival circuit.

Balboa Mist

Director: Linda Spence

Linda has been a stage actor for local theatres in the GTA for over 30 years, and she started to act for TV/film in 2008, represented by The Porter Group. She began directing for stage in 2015 with "Right Bed, Wrong Husband" which was performed right here in the Assembly Hall. Balboa Mist marks Linda's debut into directing/writing/producing for film, and she thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with Adam Revesz in directing the film. She continues to work as an actor for both stage and film/TV while writing her next screenplay. She also works as a Speaker/Trainer and Consultant, and loves being the mother of one amazing young man.

Magralen

Director: Maryam Zarei

Bio: She was born in 1989 in Tehran Iran. She has a bachelor of fine arts from Soore University in Theatre directing and a Master of Fine Arts from University of Alberta in Theatre Practice. She started her career as a director in 2008. Maryam's background is radio theatre. She has won several awards for her works in radio theatre and radio drama. She is interested in experimental theatre and she tries to examine different qualities of sound in each of her directing pieces. Magralen is her very first experience in Film making and it will have its world premiere in Generation Kplus competition of the 69th Berlin International Film Festival.

The Howling

Director: Parsa Bozorgani

Bio: Parsa Bozorgani, born in 1996, is an Iranian filmmaker based in Tehran. Since 2010, his passion for animation has taken him on a self-taught journey in various techniques of animation and storytelling. He has practiced analog and digital animation for many years. He has studied Directing at Sore Cinema University in Tehran. Meanwhile, he has been experimenting with various media to express himself. In 2019, he directed and produced his first independent experimental short film (Howling).

Extra Sauce

Director: Alireza Ghasemi

Bio: Alireza is an Iranian Filmmaker. In addition to receiving his Master’s degree in Film Directing from the Art University of Tehran, he'd spent an exchange year at Film Academy Baden-Württemberg in Germany. He has made several short films which had brought him numerous awards, including the globally admired short “Lunch Time,” which earned him a nomination for short film Palm d’Or of Cannes Film Festival 2017. In addition to his many cultural activities, in 2015, he founded and directed the Globe International Silent Film Festival. In cooperation with the Arte channel at atelier Ludwigsburg-Paris, Alireza had lately finished the short film "Arezo." He continued his path, developing his feature-length film in Cannes Cinefondation Residency.

Moment

Director: Geoffrey Uloth

Bio: Geoffrey Uloth has made five award-winning short films. Two premiered at TIFF, and The Ecstasy Note is one of Quebec's highest-selling short films. He is developing two features and writing and directing the hit adventure series CHASING MONSTERS (Mordu de la pêche) for Discovery, Netflix USA, BBC World, Canal Évasion and Travel & Escape.

Cranberry Nights

Director: Sara Robin

Bio: Sara Robin is a German director, writer, and producer based in Los Angeles. Her work centers on stories of social empowerment across narrative and documentary formats. Sara has written and directed a multitude of projects, from her 2013 LGTBQ short Am I Not Your Girl that was screened in festivals all over the world, to her science-fiction short Listeners, a chilling tale about a world without privacy. Sara is a Fulbright Alumna, and her student work at Boston University awarded her a place in Variety’s 110 Students to Watch List in 2015.

BumbleBee Forgets Mother’s Day

Director: Scott Fiander

Bio: Scott Fiander has been employed in the animation industry for 38 years, mostly in Ottawa, Ontario. He was the Animatic Editor in 2017 on Season 1 of “Wandering Wenda” for Pip Animation Services and CBC Television. He has completed leica timing on several seasons of“Cyberchase”, 52 episodes of “Doki”, leica editing / timing on 14 episodes of “Sumo Mouse”, and 65 episodes as / Assistant Director / leica editor on “Carl Squared” for Pip Animation Services in Ottawa. Before that, Scott handled Board Slugging and Sheet Timing with Disney Television for several seasons of “The Doug Show”, “The Brand Spanking New Doug Show”, PB & J Otter” and “Stanley” for Cartoon Pizza in New York, and “RoboRoach” for Portfolio Entertainment in Toronto.

How The Narwhal Got Its Tusk

Director: Ian Q. Rowan

Bio: Ian Q. Rowan is a multi-disciplinary artist that combines media to create dynamic stories. He's a writer for Men's Journal Magazine, a professional photographer, videographer for commercial and documentary works, and all-around creator. Rowan was born in Oregon, grew up on a sailboat in central America until he was eleven, built a house with his father in Key West and attended Vassar College where he received his Bachelor of Arts. Rowan is also a member of The Life Aesthetic and the founder of the I Love You Letter video art project, producer and director of The Narwhal’s Wake, member of The Explorers Club, and Chief Storyteller for The Assemblage.

Baitullah

Director: Jitendra Rai

Bio: Given his decade of work with theatre legend Makarand Deshpande, Jitendra has built an excellent reputation in the theatre community in Mumbai. He has worked extensively with NGOs that are related to children's issues. He is highly active in conducting theatre workshops with children. He has worked as an assistant director on films like Stanley Ka Dabba , Hawaa Hawaai (with Amol Gupte) and Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola (with Vishal Bhardwaj). He is a gifted visualizer and has written many films, of which 'Baitullah' is very close to his heart.

The Incomplete

Director: Erfan Parsapour

Bio: Born on 17 May 1989 in Tehran, Iran, he started his creativity by painting & drawing at the early ages of childhood. By age 6 his works received attention, awarded & exhibited among adult artists in some international painting festivals. As he was engaged into the world of fantasy & stories by the magic of Disney classics, he decided to be a filmmaker someday. At teen ages, he drew cartoons & illustrations for magazines & educational publications. Years later he began working in feature animation industry by painting color concepts, digital paints, designing characters, animating, writing & directing shorts & game cinematics. Now he is working on his future films.

Baby

Director: Charlie Sporns

Bio: Charlie Sporns is an award-winning writer and director from Montréal, Canada. Deeply passionate about family stories, he often draws from culture clashes experienced in his home province of Québec and applies them through the cultural lens of China, where he has also lived. His bilingual short film “Mei’s Bridge" examines the identity crisis of a Chinese teenager struggling to find her place within American culture, a film that has since been highly acclaimed by critics and film festivals alike while garnering distribution worldwide.

A founding partner of Glasscore Entertainment, based in Los Angeles, Charlie has worked on several feature films, series, and short films, namely directing "Vidiots", a comedy series starring former “Buffy the Vampire Slayer" star James Marsters. Charlie is currently in development on his debut feature film, “Space Families”, which takes place in tropical Hainan, China.

The Square Roots of Twins

Director: Linda Kudzmas

Bio: Linda Kudzmas is an independent animator based in a suburb of Philadelphia, PA. She started animating in college by using paper cut-outs filmed with a 16mm Bolex camera. After graduating, she was hired as full-time faculty in the animation department at the Art Institute of Philadelphia where she continued to teach all levels of traditional and 2D digital animation for over 22 years. During that time, Linda obtained mild success with her independent animation in the festival circuit. She took a leave of absence from teaching to animate and direct segments in season two of ‘VH1 Illustrated’ produced by Camp Chaos. Linda continued to develop her paper cut-out style throughout the years, but digitally, using Adobe programs. Linda currently operates a freelance business and is producing her next independent animated short.

Better than Neil Armstrong

Director: Alireza Ghasemi

Aripi

Director: Dmitri Voloshin

Bio: Dmitri Voloshin was born on August 9, 1974. He graduated from the Polytechnic University in Chisinau, Moldova. In 2002, Dmitri founded the Simpals company, engaged in production of commercials, and later – in 3D animation. In 2019, Simpals Studio announced the release of the first VR animated film in its portfolio, "ARIPI".

Braceball

Director: Rayhaneh Mortezaeenia

Bio: Married, born in Iran Mashhad Master of Science (MSc) in Ferdowsi University of Mashhad Graduated from the Young Iranian Cinema Society Writer & Director of short films: Braceball, Sleep ayes, Knot. Producer of short films: Continuity, Knot, Sleep ayes. Assistant Director: Eclipse, Continuity, Multiform, Elizabet.

Extra Innings

Director: John Gray

Bio: John Gray is a New York based writer-director. He created the long running hit CBS series GHOST WHISPERER, as well as writing and directing many award winning and critically acclaimed movies for television, such as MARTIN AND LEWIS, starring Sean Hayes and Jeremy Northam, A PLACE FOR ANNIE with Sissy Spacek, HAVEN with Natasha Richardson and Anne Bancroft, and many others. He has also written and directed several studio and independent features, including the award winning WHITE IRISH DRINKERS, starring Stephen Lang and Karen Allen, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. His other award winning short films, THE DESECRATED, EXIT PACKAGE, HOUSEHOLD DEMONS, WELCOME TO FOREVER and FRENCH KISS have played and are playing festivals worldwide. FRENCH KISS has notched over 6.3 million views on Youtube.

Cleaning House

Director: Shahaub Roudbari

Bio: Born in California and Raised in Iran, Shahaub was exposed to rich and diverse cultures and experiences, which in turn shaped his passion for performance and storytelling. Receiving his BA from UC Berkeley and MFA from the Academy of Art University, as well as years of training with 87Eleven Action Design, and the Beverly Hills Playhouse, Shahaub strives to continually improve upon his skills and knowledge as a performer and Director. His passions also led him to train Martial Arts in China and compete on the US and Iranian National teams to become an international Gold medalist. Shahaub hopes to utilize his passions to inspire and entertain people from every background.

Short Calf Muscle

Director: Victoria Warmerdam

Bio: Victoria Warmerdam (1991) graduated in 2015 as a director and writer from the Art School in Utrecht, Netherlands with her graduation film Happily I am Happy that played at a lot of international festivals. In 2015 she has won the Burny Bos Talent Award at the Cinekid Festival with her sci-fi feature idea SpaceKees. In 2017 she wrote the short SOAP and currently she is working on her tragicomic feature film debut The Longing For A Black Hole (script and director) and the feature film A little long and sometimes happy in cooperation with screenwriter Randa Peters. In 2019 she wrote and directed her short Short Calf Muscle that is currently traveling the international film festival circuit and has been displayed on over 120 festivals up to now, winning over 20 international awards.

The Cut

Director: Chloé Cinq-Mars

Bio: Chloé Cinq-Mars wrote the screenplay of La Voce, a short film directed by David Uloth, which traveled to over 150 festivals and was awarded 54 prizes. She also wrote the feature film The Far Shore, directed by David Uloth. The Cut is her first experience as a director.

Ironrite

Director: Clayton Combe

Bio: Clayton Combe is a New York based cinematographer and lighting designer, working in narrative, commercials, music videos, and television. He made this film based on a short story his father wrote about himself and his mother. He believes that linking past problems to the present is the best way to avoid them in the future.

Age of Dysphoria

Director: Jessica Petelle
Bio: Jessica Petelle (she/her) is a Director and a Producer of film, television and digital content. Her debut film, ALL GOOD, world premiered at Palm Springs International Short Fest. AGE OF DYSPHORIA, starring Laura Vandervoort and Gordon Pinsent, allowed Jessica to utilize her unique skill set of working in action drama television to the short film medium. AGE OF DYSPHORIA is currently on the festival circuit. Jessica has been selected by HBO as one of ten emerging directors to participate in the 2020 HBOAccess Directing Fellowship. As a digital content producer, she worked with Merman and Ogilvy to produce the award-winning interactive digital film OUTAGE for IBM, garnering 4 Global Ace Awards. Other clients include work for Volkswagen, Comedy Central, GaiamTV.com, Fox, SyFy, BlackBoxTV among others. Over the past several years, she has felt the embrace of the vibrant filmmaking community in Canada, dedicating time and talent toward international co-production. She has served as a production consultant on FOX’s WAYWARD PINES, and SYFY/SPACE Channel series BITTEN, as a Co- Producer for two seasons of THE SHANNARA CHRONICLES for Viacom, and as a Co-Executive Producer for Netflix Original Series, V- WARS. A graduate of Indiana University with degrees in Theatre and Telecommunications, Jessica represents alumni in the music and entertainment industry on the board of the Indiana University Alumni Association LA. She recently completed the Women in the Directors Chair Career Advancement Module in Toronto and is a member of the Directors Guild of Canada, Producers Guild of America serving on the International Committee, the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, Alliance of Women Directors, and Women in Film and Television (LA and Toronto).

Bloom

Director: Christopher B. Derrick, William A. Derrick III
Bio: William and Christopher Derrick are graduates from Ohio University and the University of Michigan, respectively. Before arriving in Los Angeles, as sons of a coffee importer, they traveled extensively in Europe, South America and the Middle East (Germany, France, Austria, Mexico, Columbia, and Ecuador). The Derrick Brothers learned their film craft at USC and UCLA’s prestigious graduate and extension film programs. They went on to write, edit, produce and direct several award- winning short films, commercials and music videos. They recently wrote & directed ARCHITECTS OF CRIME, a sci-fi/noir proof of concept short film as a precursor to the feature film.

Prior to ARCHITECTS OF CRIME, the Derrick Brothers wrote & directed the award- winning sci-fi satire short film F*CK YOU, PAY ME! starring Olympian Carl Lewis and Leonard Roberts (NBC’s Heroes, Lifetime’s The Client List), which predicted the Financial Crisis and the aftermath from the Great Recession. The film won “Best Short” at the Hollywood Black Film Festival, won the Audience Award at the Arizona Black Film Showcase and the Amsterdam-based Africa in the Picture Film Festival, and was an official selection of the San Diego Black Film Festival, the Seattle Science Fiction Short Film Festival, and the Texas Black Film Festival.

Just prior to their festival run, Academy Award-winning producer Wendy Finerman (THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, FORREST GUMP, DRUMLINE) and 20th Century Fox engaged the Derrick Brothers to create the sequel to the hit film DRUMLINE. It was put on the shelf.

The Derrick Brothers developed, produced and directed a Heineken TV commercial (“Now, Ya Know”) which premiered at the opening night ceremonies of the 2003 New Orleans Media Experience. The Derricks created, produced and directed “Splits Ends”, a reality show pilot for Fox Television Studio’s Fox Alternative division.

Their short film THE CHOP SHOP premiered at the Atom Films’ Digital Filmmakers Showcase as part of the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. They co-directed, co-edited and co-produced an international hip-hop documentary called Hip-Hop Resurrection, in Auckland, New Zealand.

You Hired a Hitman

Director: Ravi Steve

Bio: Most recently, Ravi wrote for CBC/NETFLIX's hit series KIM’S CONVENIENCE as part of their Emerging Writers’ Room. He also wrote two episodes of TVO’s 16 HUDSON. His latest short film THIS IS NOT A DRILL, which he wrote and directed, had its world premiere at The Canadian Film Festival in Toronto (2019) and will follow up with a screening at Vaughan Inter- national.

In 2017 Ravi directed seven episodes of RANK THE PRANK, a live action series for Nickelodeon and CBBC. He also wrote two episodes for Nick Jr/Treehouse TV’s animated series RUSTY RIVETS. His film TRAINING WHEELS, which he wrote and directed, was nominated for a Directors Guild of Canada Award in 2012. That same year Ravi directed his first episode of TV with YTV’s tween comedy HOW TO BE INDIE.

In 2010/11 Ravi wrote and directed REMIX-TO-RIO, a multi- award winning one-hour documentary produced in partnership with The Canadian International Development Agency. He also co-produced the one-hour television special TORONTO IN 24 for OMNI, a film that garnered over 20 international awards, nominations, and official film festival selections - including three Gemini Award nominations and one win. In 2006 Ravi’s script for YTV’s PRANK PATROL was nominated for a Ban World Television Award and also helped earn the show a Gemini Award nomination.

Ravi has also worked extensively as an on set acting coach, logging thousands of hours working with actors for shows on YTV, Family Channel, Disney, and others.

Ravi has a BFA from York University and is a former resident of The Canadian Film Centre’s Directors’ Lab as well as The National Screen Institute's Script-to-Screen Program.

Ravi is a proud member of both the Directors Guild of Canada and ACTRA.

Shut Up

Director: Molly Flood

Bio: A graduate of the University of Alberta’s BFA Acting Conservatory, The Second City Conservatory program and an alumnae of Women in the Director's Chair, Molly Flood cut her first film, Shy Vampire, on 16mm at Ryerson’s Chang School of Continuing Education. Her first short film, Orchid, received nominations for Best Actress, Best Film and Best Director at the Austin Breakthrough Film Festival (2018). She is an associate artist with Toronto experimental collective IT COULD STILL HAPPEN, recipient of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Emerging Artist Scholarship and winner of the Toronto ACTRA Women’s Committee Toolkit 4.0 competition. Molly has directed music videos, commercials and short films.

Buzzard

Director: Joy Webster

Bio: Joy Webster is an award-winning director, screenwriter and editor based in Toronto, Canada. A graduate of Ryerson University's film program, Joy was the recipient of the Norman Jewison Award for best thesis film at Ryerson University for her film, In The Weeds (2015).

Her second short film, Game (2017), screened at 21 film festivals around the world, winning 11 awards including “Best Short” at the Canadian Film Fest and two Golden Sheaf Awards for “Best Fiction Short” and “Best Emerging Filmmaker” at the Yorkton Film Festival. The film was also broadcasted on CBC, and featured on Film Shortage and the YouTube channel, Omeleto.

Joy's most recent short film, Buzzard (2019), was selected to be as part of the Telefilm: Not Short on Talent showcase at the Cannes Short Film Corner this year and will have it's film festival premiere this fall. Joy is currently in the process of writing the script for her first feature film.

RED OMEN

Director: Ed Roman

Bio: Ed Roman is an Award-winning singer/songwriter, performer and multi-instrumentalist from Shelburne, Ontario, Canada. Blurring the lines between pop, rock, folk, and country music genres, Ed’s uniquely crafted songs have received regular rotation on more than 100 terrestrial radio stations across North America and more than 600 stations, worldwide. His music video for “Red Omen” helped raise awareness for Dyslexia, a “gift” that Roman is personally affected by. The video has been selected for dozens of film festivals, winning multiple honors, worldwide. He is also a #1 iTunes charting artist. http://www.edroman.net

Director: Nelson Diaz

Nelson Diaz. Hailing from Brooklyn, NY. This round man with a big head is…

An award winning Animator.
A passionate Character Designer.
A professor of Character Design at School of Visual Arts in NYC.
A tired Dad and Husband.

who has worked for clients such as Nickelodeon, Dreamworks, McDonalds, Hallmark, Verizon, Ford, Disney, TED-ed, Sesame Street and Food Network and more.

He has been lucky enough to be Emmy nominated for Nick’s 2013 Halloween IDs as well as been part of an Annie Award Winning Project (Kung Fu Panda 2: Secrets of the Masters made by Duncan Studios for Dreamworks.)

When he’s not drawin’, he can be found at home with his wife son & daughter, trying to make them all laugh.

The Holocaust: A Love Story

Director: Victoria Cesareo

Bio: Victoria Cesareo is an aspiring filmmaker and a graduate from Humber College in the Film and Television Production program. In the future, Victoria aspires to be a feature length film producer.

In 2019, Victoria directed a short documentary called The Holocaust: A Love Story. A film about a child Holocaust survivor. The short documentary was chosen to screen at the Lakeshorts film festival in Toronto Ontario, on September 24th, 2021.

Victoria has had a lot of on-set experience, including shoots for McDonald's, McCafé, and shoots for Humber College productions. She also has an interest in video editing and has been editing for over 8 years. Victoria is self-taught, and over the years has tried different editing styles and techniques. These edits range from commercials to tutorials to family-oriented videos–Whatever the need may be!

Over the years Victoria has worked closely with producers, and came to the conclusion that this is what inspires her the most. This is something Victoria would like to pursue as a career. She wants to be able to create memorable content for people of all ages.