Cam Bennett
Program Manager
Cam is a writer / director based in Winnipeg.
He was previously executive producer for MTS TV (Bell MTS) Stories From Home. His work has been broadcast on APTN, CBC, CTV, Global, Discovery, Life Network, History UK and The SciFi Network. Cam is currently senior story editor on the series, Ice Vikings.
Danielle Sturk
Program Advisor
Danielle est une Franco-Canadienne des Prairies passionnée par le pouvoir du récit et son expression à l’écran. Ancienne danseuse moderne et chorégraphe, elle a réalisé plus de 20 documentaires uniques et courts métrages, des captations de spectacles destinées à la diffusion et plus de 40 épisodes de séries dramatiques et d’émissions jeunesse. Artiste multidisciplinaire reconnue pour son travail visuellement marquant et empreint d’émotion, ses films ont trouvé leur public en festival et sur d’importantes plateformes de diffusion nationales.
Son documentaire hybride El Toro a été nommé au prix Allan King du meilleur film documentaire de la Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) et a reçu deux prix Golden Sheaf au Yorkton Film Festival : meilleur réalisateur, non-fiction et meilleur film expérimental. Le film s’est également classé parmi les cinq coups de coeur du public du Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival (Hot Docs) en 2019.
Danielle a adapté le documentaire en une série dramatique d’une heure en six épisodes, El Toro, qui a été nommée pour un prix DGC en réalisation exceptionnelle pour une minisérie et pour le meilleur montage, ainsi que pour un prix Golden Sheaf de la meilleure série au Yorkton Film Festival.
Elle a reçu le Manitoba Hothouse Award for Creative Development en 2020, le Major Arts Grant du Manitoba Arts Council en 2015, la Médaille du couronnement du roi Charles III en 2025 et plus de 30 subventions de conseils des arts aux niveaux national, provincial et municipal au cours de sa carrière.
En 2026, Danielle a produit la série courte de comédie dramatique Les faillites d’Astrid pour ICI TOU.TV, a mis en scène la pièce Soutensions du Théâtre Cercle Molière et a réalisé le documentaire Meeting A Moment: The Art of Social Architecture pour CBC. Elle écrit actuellement un long métrage.
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Danielle is a French-Canadian prairie girl addicted to the power of story and its expression on screen. A former modern dancer and choreographer, she has directed more than 20 one-off documentaries and short films, live performance-to-broadcast specials and more than 40 episodes of drama and children’s television. A multidisciplinary artist known for her emotionally resonant, visually striking work, her films have found audiences at festivals and on major national broadcast platforms.
Her hybrid documentary El Toro was nominated for the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) Allan King Award for Best Documentary Film and received two Golden Sheaf Awards at the Yorkton Film Festival: best director, non-fiction and best experimental film. It also earned a spot on the 2019 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival (Hot Docs) top five audience pick list.
Danielle adapted the documentary into a six-part, one-hour dramatic series, El Toro, which was nominated for a DGC Award for outstanding directorial achievement in a miniseries and best editing, as well as a Golden Sheaf Award for best series from the Yorkton Film Festival.
She has received the 2020 Manitoba Hothouse Award for Creative Development, the 2015 Major Arts Grant from the Manitoba Arts Council, the King Charles III Medal in 2025 and more than 30 grants from arts councils at the national, provincial and municipal levels throughout her career.
In 2026, Danielle produced the short-form dramedy series Les faillites d’Astrid for ICI TOU.TV, directed the Théâtre Cercle Molière play Soutensions and directed the documentary Meeting A Moment: The Art of Social Architecture for CBC. She is currently writing a feature film.
Elise Swerhone
STORYHIVE mentor
Mentoring:
The Language of the North (Fort St. James, BC)
Welcome to Pagliacci’s (Victoria, BC)
Elise Swerhone is an award-winning producer, director and writer. She has written, directed and edited episodes for all five seasons of the Gemini-winning series Recreating Eden. She recently retired as manager of programs and development at the National Screen Institute, a position she held for nearly 10 years.
Elise’s documentaries include Mysteries of the Deep (part of the award-winning series, One Ocean, which aired on CBC, Discovery US and National Geographic), Surviving The Teenage Brain, Ballet High, Ballet Girls, The Science of the Senses: Hearing, The Pill and Drug Deals for CBC’s The Nature of Things.
She also directed Restitution and Me, My Brother and My Father’s Van Gogh for CBC’s Witness. TuTu Much, a theatrical feature documentary she directed about aspiring ballerinas, won awards in China and Chicago. It was released theatrically in Canada and around the world including the Cannes Film Festival as part of Telefilm’s Showcase on Canada.
Leona Krahn
Mentor
Leona Krahn is a Winnipeg filmmaker whose award-winning body of work spans over 20 years.
Her films (documentary and narrative short) have screened on documentary Channel, CBC Newsworld, CBC News: The National, CTV, Bell MTS and on networks including Poland, Hong Kong.
Festival showings include the Socially Relevant Film Festival New York, Harlem International Film Festival, New Haven Documentary Film Festival, Montreal World Film Festival and Festival Mental – Mental Health Arts and Film Festival in Portugal to name a few.
She strives to create meaningful, affecting and entertaining programs that will long be remembered. Her memberships include the Canadian Screen Academy and DGC, and she is currently a 2022 Banff Sparks Fellow.
Rebecca Gibson
Mentor
As a writer, director, producer, series creator, story editor and actor, Rebecca’s work in documentary, drama and comedy has played in festivals, theatres and on TV screens around the world.
Following graduation from the New York Film Academy, a Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) International Internship took Rebecca to Los Angeles at the start of her film career. Credits include her ACTRA Award-winning role in The Pinkertons (Netflix); her Blizzard Award-winning role in the film that launched the series The Murdoch Mysteries; co-writing and producing the award-winning feature H&G; serving as co-creator, executive producer, showrunner, writer and director for four seasons of the series Taken, for which she won a Beyond Borders Media Award and was nominated for three Canadian Screen Awards; and writing, directing and producing the award-winning shorts Hard Way Girl and don’t loiter on the way, which played festivals around the world.
Formerly a partner and head of development for Eagle Vision during the most productive period in its 20+ year history, and current co-owner, Rebecca continues to work with Eagle Vision to develop feature and series projects around the world, including her own.
With her partners, she shared in the 2022 Banff World Media Festival’s Innovative Producer Award. Rebecca was part of the Eagle Vision team who were honoured as finalists for five international Shorty Awards (the best of the world’s social media), winning gold distinction for two. Formerly one of western Canada’s top casting directors, Rebecca also oversees casting for many of Eagle Vision’s projects.
Recently, Rebecca wrote, directed and shared show running duties with Dinae Robinson for Snapchat’s first Canadian original series. She is also producing the soon-to-be released feature films Diaspora (world premiere Festival du Nouveau Cinema in October, 2022), Finality of Dusk (in post-production) and executive produced the feature documentary Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On (opening night of Toronto International Film Festival 2022) and the feature documentary True Story for History Channel and Global (world premiere September 30, 2022).
Other projects released in 2022 include the factual series 7th Gen (co-creator, executive producer, showrunner, writer, director – renewed for season two) and the hit comedy web series DJ Burnt Bannock (executive producer, showrunner, director).
Rebecca is devoted to mentorship, working with the Women in Film and Television (WIFT) Toronto and Vancouver, the Canadian Media Producers Association, Women in the Director’s Chair, ACTRA, WIFT, among several other local and national organizations to support equity, diversity, accessibility and inclusion.
She is a frequent moderator and guest speaker at industry panels around the country. She has been an acting coach for over two decades – on film and television sets and as a teacher to thousands of performers.
In 2015, Rebecca founded Orange Daisy Project, a social action campaign in support of mental health for teen girls. She was honoured nationally as a CAMH Difference Maker and was ACTRA Manitoba’s 2018 Woman of the Year. Her true passion is supporting others to follow their passion and connecting them with opportunities to do so.
Shereen Jerrett
Mentor
Shereen Jerrett is a producer, director and writer who has directed a variety of award-winning documentaries, short dramas, TV series and commercials.
In recent years, Shereen has worked as the showrunner for In Plain Sight, a Discovery ID (US) series and the fourth season of Animal Planets’ Dr. Keri, Prairie Vet; overseeing 52 episodes of the anterior program and 10 of the latter.
As a producer, Shereen has worked on Polar Bear Town, a Smithsonian series. In addition to her time as story editor for numerous dramatic and feature films, she has served as a faculty member with the National Screen Institute on NSI Drama Prize and NSI Script to Screen.
Shereen is an accomplished academic, having taught at both the University of Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg for over two decades. She continues to grow academically as she participates in cross-country workshops and seminars hosted by world-renowned organizations such as the American Film Institute, Columbia University, Banff Centre and the Canadian Film Centre.
She is currently in early pre-production of Cub Camp, a Love Nature episode.
Alumni 2022
- Alice Teufack – Grand Frère (Winnipeg, MB)
- Carolyn Gray – Escape! (Winnipeg, MB)
- Faustina Dalmacio – After School (Winnipeg, MB)
- Hilary McDonald – We Haven’t Yet Said Thanks (Flin Flon, MB)
- Jessica Landry – Testament (Winnipeg, MB)
Program Partners
