Mentoring in Pan-Asian Storyteller Edition:

• Falling in Action (Edmonton, AB)

Mentored in Anniversary Documentary Edition:

• Kelty’s Kello (Edmonton, AB)
• Accessible? (Lloydminster, AB)

Adam Scorgie is an award-winning Canadian producer and founder of Score G Productions, dedicated to telling bold, human stories at the intersection of sports, culture and social impact.

His documentary work includes Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo (Universal Pictures), Bisping (Universal Pictures), Breaking Olympia: The Phil Heath Story, Thunder: The Life & Death of Arturo Gatti and Tootoo. These are alongside ongoing projects with partners including Maximum Effort, Seven Bucks, Super Channel and OEG Sports & Entertainment.

Adam’s productions have screened at top festivals worldwide and reached audiences across major global platforms.

Known for championing underrepresented voices and creating films that inspire resilience and connection, he continues to develop premium documentary series and features that celebrate perseverance, community and cultural impact. 

Mentoring:

• Up in Flames (Revelstoke, BC)

Andrea Wing has spent the last 15 years directing commercial content and award-winning documentaries. She has made content for some of the top brands in outdoor, sports and apparel including: Vans, LLBean, Arcteryx, Skiddo, Yeti and LuLuLemon.

Her documentary films The Pass, Leo & Chester and Trapline have played multiple festivals and garnered industry attention for her sharp camera work and attentive storytelling.

She is currently the director of video and content at Origin, an outdoor-focused agency. She is also the co-founder of Well Travelled Collective, a female-led production company focused on conscious content making and building capacity for underrepresented creatives.

Mentoring in Pan-Asian Storyteller Edition:

• Salsa Saved Me (Kelowna, BC)

Mentoring in Scripted Edition:

• A Bundle of B*s (Edmonton, AB)
• Bismillah (Edmonton, AB)

Mentored in Anniversary Documentary Edition:

• Farm to Table (Edmonton, AB)
• Practise As Ceremony: The Making of Community (Edmonton, AB)

Ava Karvonen is a second-generation filmmaker who loves to travel.

Her work has been recognized with more than 70 international awards and nominations and 120 worldwide screenings.

She recently produced the critically acclaimed feature documentaries Finding Bobbi, Wochiigii-lo: End Of The Peace (screened at 20 festivals including a premiere at Toronto International Film Festival) and Lessons From The Sunflower (which she also directed).

She directed seasons one and two of Chaos and Courage; The Lie Detective (producer and creator); Homefront (producer) which took her to Afghanistan; and Seeds of Change (director) which took her to China.

She is currently in production on Going Fiercely, a deeply personal and intimate feature documentary that tells the story of an artist’s determination to experience the closing chapter of her life with dignity, meaning and purpose and the challenges her daughter faces in helping to make that possible.

Mentoring in Pan-Asian Storyteller Edition:

• China Lily: Where North Meets South (Vancouver, BC)

Mentoring in Scripted Edition:

• Senior Discount (Victoria, BC)

Mentored in Anniversary Documentary Edition:

• Beyond the Dungeon (Lethbridge, AB)
• FSJ Bayanihan Spirit (Fort St. John, BC)

Barbara Todd Hager (Métis/Cree) is a documentary producer, director and writer.

She is the creator of four television series including 1491: The Untold Story of the Americas Before Columbus (APTN, ZDFE), Down2Earth (APTN) and All Our Relations II (APTN).

1491 won Leo Awards in 2018 for best documentary series, best screenwriting and best music composition.

Barbara is the director of five documentaries including Leaving Beringia (TELUS Independent), Truth Dance and Reconciliation (CBC, APTN) and Forbidden Music (Knowledge).

She is currently directing and co-producing the feature documentary Tomson Highway: Permanent Astonishment (CBC, APTN) with White Pine Pictures.

Barbara mentors emerging filmmakers through TELUS STORYHIVE and Whistler Film Festival’s Indigenous Film Fellowship program.

She has served on the board of directors for Whistler Film Festival, Victoria Film Festival, DOC Canada and the Alliance of Aboriginal Media Professionals. 

Mentoring in Pan-Asian Storyteller Edition:

• Mana (“Inheritance”) (Vancouver, BC)

Mentored in Anniversary Edition :

• Settler’s Questions (Penticton, BC)
• UNDUing Stigma (Prince George, BC)

Cari Green has been producing award-winning social issue documentary films for over 30 years. Films such as The Learning Path, The Corporation and Scared Sacred have screened at Sundance, International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam, Hot Docs Festival and Toronto International Film Festival.

Cari has produced the works of leading filmmakers, including Loretta Todd, Velcrow Ripper and Barb Cranmer.

She has a background in marketing with Moving Images Distribution, and she has also taught film production at University of British Columbia (UBC), Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Langara College and Vancouver Film School.

A long-time advocate for documentary film, Cari served on the board of the Hot Docs Festival and was co-chair of DOC BC and DOXA Documentary Festival.

She has an MFA in film production from UBC, is a recipient of the Mayor’s Arts Award and received an honourary lifetime membership from Women in Film and Television (GEMS) for her contribution to the film industry.

Cari is a producer of Not Quite That and continues to work as a mentor and advisor in the film industry.

Mentoring in Pan-Asian Storyteller Edition:

• Keeping The Dream Alive (Penticton, BC)
• Kwong Hing Lung: Skating Through History (Vernon, BC)

Mentored in Anniversary Edition:

• Black Light Unveiled, Choose the Power Within You (Kamloops, BC)
• The Ebb and Flow of the Toxic Drug Supply (Chilliwack, BC)

Cheryl Binning is a showrunner, series producer, director and writer who has spent over 15 years working in factual and documentary television.

Her showrunning credits include the upcoming the CBC series Must Love Dogs starring Winnipeg Blue Bomber running back Brady Oliviera; two seasons of the HGTV Canada / Hulu series Pamela’s Garden of Eden, following Baywatch star Pamela Anderson as she renovates her family legacy property on Vancouver Island; and the Discovery Canada series Bush Wreck Rescue and Jade Fever.

Before moving into television production, Cheryl was a lifestyle and entertainment reporter with the Winnipeg Free Press. 

Mentoring:

• Calgary Chef Stories (Calgary, AB)

Chris Hsiung is an engineer turned documentary filmmaker. He runs Hidden Story Productions, a company dedicated to using digital media to nurture a more compassionate, just and intelligent society.

His friendships with Indigenous communities have led to several film collaborations including two feature documentaries Elder in the Making (co-produced with Cowboy Smithx) and Fox Chaser, both of which aired on CBC and won an award for best feature documentary.

He executive produced over 30 short films and a 360 projection at the Royal Alberta Museum and recently completed a multimedia Indigenous Cultural Centre in Fort Edmonton which won a Themed Entertainment Association award for outstanding heritage exhibit.

Mentoring:

• It Starts Within Me (Kamloops, BC)
• Hul’qumi’num Tsetsuwatil (Victoria, BC)

Cody Graham is a digital media producer with 20 years of storytelling experience with in-studio and on location production services, specializing in production management and educational storytelling.

As the founding director of the Media One Group including M1 Films, Cody has produced, directed, shot and/or edited over 500 film projects, including commercials, web series and feature films.

He is also a partner in Taxam Films, an Indigenous owned and operated film company with a focus on stories of truth.

His recent feature film Picking Up the Pieces: The Making of the Witness Blanket premiered at Vancouver International Film Festival in 2018 and was installed in the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

As a director and producer, his feature film Before I’m Gone won several laureates, including the Austin Film Festival 2021. Cody is BC-based and passionate about impact storytelling.

Mentoring:

• A Hustle for Freedom (Edmonton, AB)
• Melisizwe Brothers: Development (Leduc, AB)

Connie Edwards brings many years of experience as a producer / director / writer in an illustrious career in television and series production.

Her most recent award-winning production The Musical Animal was her fourth program for CBC’s The Nature of Things. The Nature of Invention aired in 2019.

Connie delivered the multi award-winning I Got Rhythm: The Science of Song in 2016. This followed on the heels of her international award-winning documentary Survival of The Fabulous!

Mentoring:

• Trailblazing: The Matt Hadley Story (Canmore, AB)

Corey Lee is an award-winning filmmaker working in narrative and documentary, and based in Calgary, Alberta.

His work has screened on Netflix, Amazon, CBC’s documentary Channel, CCTV China, CMT, TELUS, Bravo, Movie Central and in theatres across Canada and festivals around the world.

His feature documentary Legend of a Warrior premiered at Hot Docs in 2012.

Mentoring:

• Digging for Dialogue: Exploring Coal Communities in Alberta (Lethbridge, AB)
• Skate the Red Road not the Dead Road (Medicine Hat, AB)

Cowboy Smithx is an award-winning filmmaker of Blackfoot from Piikani and Kainai tribes of Southern Alberta who uses his culture as a foundation to create.

He is the founder and curator of the highly acclaimed international Indigenous speaker series REDx Talks. He discusses the important steps to empower his people and keep them resilient while sharing insights with audiences for discourse and silence.

Cowboy works in documentary, narrative, music video and experimental art. His best-known work is a full feature documentary co-produced with Chris Hsiung called Elder in the Making.

Mentoring in Scripted Edition:

• Bowline (Campbell River, BC)
• Boy Meets Girl (Coquitlam, BC)

Mentoring in Anniversary Documentary Edition:

• Same Sky Collective (Kamloops, BC)
• Infinity in Concrete: Arthur Erickson’s Ross Street Gurdwara (Vancouver, BC)

Born and raised in Victoria, on the unceded traditional territory of the Lekwungen-speaking people, writer / producer Daniel Hogg is a storyteller at heart whose award-winning projects have been screened around the globe.

As a producer, his first feature, Two 4 One, picked up several best picture and audience awards from LGBTQ festivals.

His second feature, The Devout, won seven Leo awards, including best picture, and earned a nomination for the John Dunning Discovery Award from the Canadian Screen Awards.

In 2018, he was named to Telefilm Canada’s inaugural Talent to Watch program. He is currently developing a handful of screenplays and working as a story editor for several projects in development.

Mentoring:

• Critter Aid (Penticton, BC)
• Save-On-Meats (Vancouver, BC)

Danny Berish is an award-winning documentary film director and the co-founder of Black Rhino Creative, a film production company that showcases diverse voices.

He was featured at Hot Docs for a six-part Indigenous food and travel series entitled Red Chef Revival and again officially selected in 2021 for Nude to Me which is currently airing on CBC Gem.

In the fall of 2022, Danny premiered his first feature length film Outside In which explores the science of healthy home design. He also premiered a five-part food and travel series, House Special, a TELUS originals project which explores Chinese Canadian history through small town Chinese food.

He is currently in production on a feature length documentary chronicling the life of world-famous architect Arthur Erickson set to air on Knowledge Network, and a five-part travel series airing on AMI, exploring Canada through the lens of the disabled community.

Mentoring:

• Hey Pansy! (Edmonton, AB)

Elise Graham has been working in film and television for more than 20 years. Her career spans across some of the most prolific production companies in Alberta.

She has worked as a production coordinator, script supervisor, first assistant director, digital media project manager, production supervisor, director and producer.

Elise made her directorial debut on the feature film Picture It, as a project of Girls in Film and Television, a non-profit that provides mentorship and training to teen girls looking toward film as a career. Picture It went on to be nominated for Rosie Awards for director, feature film and performance by an Alberta female actor.

Elise continues to work as a producer in Edmonton and enjoys lending her expertise as a consultant on developing projects, as well as mentoring new filmmakers.

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.

Mentoring:

• After the Call (Parksville, BC)
• Keepers (Duncan, BC)

Erik Virtanen began his career as a writing assistant and script doctor in Montreal, writing pitches and treatments for hire, punching-up podcasts and ghostwriting screenplays for indie- to Oscar-winning filmmakers.

A passion for music also led him to manage sound and music for broadcasts on National Geographic, ABC, FOX, Food Network, Slice, Discovery Channel, CBC and many more.

He has since produced two feature documentaries: Shuckers (CBC documentary Channel); and the award-winning The Weekend Sailor (Amazon Prime).

Mentoring:

• The Artist: A Creative Journey (Sherwood Park, AB)

Eva Colmers is an award-winning director and producer of scripted, non-scripted and animated films including Swallow, Dear Swallow, QUINN, The Suburbanight, Happy Birthday, Mango!, Not a One-Way Street and 2.57k.

She has also written and directed the National Film Board feature- length documentaries We Regret to Inform You… and The Enemy Within and The Elder Project.

Her TV work includes directing for APTN’s series Caution May Contain Nuts (produced by Mosaic Entertainment); directing / producing for Bell Media’s BravoFACT and BravoFACTUAL; and most recently writing, directing and co-producing QUINN for TELUS Originals.

She is the founder and executive director of No Problem Productions, a production company based in Edmonton.

Mentoring:

• disABILITY (Spruce Grove, AB)

Frederick Kroetsch has created and directed dozens of eclectic projects, including Dangerous Breed: Crime. Cons. Cats for NBC Universal, the TV series Queen of the Oil Patch and the documentary Last of the Fur Traders.

He spends half of his time directing documentary TV series and half of his time producing them. He recently received funding from Telefilm’s Talent to Watch program and was runner-up for the 2023 Edmonton Film Prize.

Mentoring:

• Niek Theelen: Wow… So Inspirational (Red Deer, AB)

Griffin Cork has been working professionally in film and television as an award-winning actor and producer for over 15 years. He’s a producer with Numera Films (Abracadavers, OMA) and Thousand Year Films (Father of Nations, If Walls Could Talk).

Numera Films just completed a slate of five feature films this summer in co-production with two international companies and Thousand Year Film’s first feature film released theatrically with Cineplex Odeon.

Mentoring in Scripted Edition:

• Ranger Jane (Kelowna, BC)
• Mother’s Hands (Vancouver, BC)

Mentoring in Anniversary Documentary Edition:

• Synthetica (Burnaby, BC)
• Harvesting the Power of Music (Armstrong, BC)

Jason Margolis brings years of experience in television production, documentary filmmaking, journalism and media education.

He served as the showrunner, supervising producer and writer for six seasons of the award-winning series EP Daily – The Electric Playground, which aired on networks like Rogers in Canada, Hulu in the U.S. and Sci Fi in Australia.

Jason has worked across various media, including documentaries, short films, web series and music videos. His directing credits include the documentary Ayaa: A Hero’s Journey and Tube Tales: TV’s Real Stories. He has directed music videos for artists such as Andrew WK and Great Lake Swimmers.

Mentoring in Scripted Edition:

• Feel the Burn (Coquitlam, BC)
• No One’s Really From Here (Vancouver, BC)

Mentoring in Anniversary Documentary Edition:

• JUST BREATHE (Kelowna, BC)
• Underground Midwives (Sooke, BC)

Writer / director / producer Jessie Anthony is a proud Haudenosaunee woman from the Onondaga Nation, Beaver clan, born and raised in the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory in Ontario.

She was a Telefilm Talent to Watch winner for her first feature film Brother, I Cry, which won the 2020 BC Emerging Filmmakers Award at Vancouver International Film Festival, the audience choice award at imagineNATIVE and, in 2021, best screenwriting award at Vancouver International Women’s Film Festival and best screenwriting and direction in a motion picture at the Leo Awards.

Jessie is the producer of the Canadian Screen Award-nominated Indigenous Queer series Querencia, which won the imagineNATIVE pitch competition, gaining a broadcast deal with APTN/Bell Fund and Telefilm Talent to Watch.

She is currently in development with a television slate supported by Canada Media Fund, Amazon, Indigenous Screen Office (ISO), Creative BC and Bell Media.

Jessie recently wrapped a writer’s room for a brand-new Indigenous TV comedy series titled Acting Good with CTV and a director’s mentorship on The Handmaid’s Tale with Emmy award-winning cinematographer and director Dana Gonzales.

Jessie has produced shorts through her production company Pass-Through Productions, which ISO has funded, TELUS Optik and BravoFact.

Mentoring in Scripted Edition:

• OASIS (Delta, BC)

Mentoring in Anniversary Documentary Edition:

• Disabled (Calgary, AB)
• Starting Anew (Medicine Hat, AB)

Working in the media of film, paint and interactive space, Emmy-nominated director Jill Sharpe is a multi-faceted visual storyteller.

As a director / writer /producer, Jill explores themes of human potential, social transformation and art. Early in her career, she focused on making documentary films with the goal of injecting radical ideas into mainstream media. She then moved into dramatic filmmaking with a desire to work with actors and experiment with form.

Her dramatic films have won numerous awards, screened at international film festivals and along broadcast waves in over 30 countries.

Her credits include the clip film celebration of Canadian cinema, Weird Sex and Snowshoes: A Trek through the Canadian Cinematic Psyche, where she interviewed Canada’s leading drama directors.

Jill has enjoyed mentoring on five past TELUS STORYHIVE Editions. She has taught filmmaking at the Vancouver Film School, Emily Carr University of Art + Design and the University of Ireland.

Today, she continues working on her own films as well as supporting the creativity of others.  Jill is also a SAG/AFTRA trained intimacy coordinator working on both union and indie productions.

www.jillsharpe.ca.

Mentoring in Scripted Edition:

• The Spotlight Within (Red Deer, AB)

Mentoring in Anniversary Documentary Edition:

• Okanagan Sasquatch Stories (Kelowna, BC)
• The Thin Orange Line (Penticton, BC)

Josh Epstein is an award-winning director, writer, producer and actor with a global footprint in the film industry.

His work has garnered 39 Leo Award nominations. Recently, he penned Astrid’s Deathlist for Paramount Pictures, Knight’s Camp in collaboration with Good Question Media and a re-imagining of Youngblood with Aircraft Pictures.

Josh has also re-written multiple studio features, served as an executive producer on film and TV projects and is developing television content predominantly with his long-time collaborator, Kyle Rideout.

As an industry mentor and educator, Josh is the producer facilitator for the National Screen Institute Series Incubator program and a mentor for the Whistler Film Festival Producer’s Lab and TELUS STORYHIVE. He has also hosted panels for Vancouver International Film Festival, Whistler Film Festival and Women in Film.

Additionally, Josh won the Ovation Award for directing Cabaret at Studio 58.

As an actor, Josh has won four Jessie Awards, been nominated for three Dora Awards and was recognized as the Most Promising Actor at the Stratford Festival.

@joshepstein1

Mentoring:

•  Queer & Muslim (Vancouver, BC)
• Ukrainian Artists (Maple Ridge, BC)

Julia Ivanova is a Canadian documentary director, cinematographer and editor who was honoured with a retrospective at Hot Docs Film Festival in 2019 as a significant Canadian filmmaker.

Julia has over 10 feature documentary titles to her name. Her film Family Portrait in Black And White screened at Sundance Film Festival and won the best Canadian feature award at Hot Docs in 2011.

Her feature documentary, Limit is the Sky, produced by the National Film Board, won a Canadian documentary award at DOXA in 2017.

Julia teaches documentary filmmaking at the InFocus Film School in Vancouver and is a long-time mentor with STORYHIVE.

Her films have screened at leading international festivals such as Sundance Film Festival, Hamptons International Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, Palm Springs International Film Festival, Los Angeles International Film Festival, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, DOC NYC and Hot Docs Festival.

Her work has appeared on TV for CBC, Knowledge Network and Global TV in Canada, as well as in the US, Europe and Asia.

Mentoring in Scripted Edition:

• Hyponaut (Prince George, BC)
• Hospice (Duncan, BC)

Mentoring in Anniversary Documentary Edition:

• An Ounce of Flesh: Does Theatre Even Matter? (Penticton, BC)

Kyle Rideout is a director, writer and producer.

He has written an action / comedy feature, Astrid’s Deathlist, for Paramount Pictures, a remake of the 1980s film Youngblood, a medieval thriller, Knight’s Camp for Good Question Media that he is set to direct, producing are Daniel Bekerman (The Apprentice, The Witch) and Chris Yurkovich (Slash/Back), along with Josh Epstein.

His most recent directorial credit is Adventures In Public School, which starred Judy Greer, Russell Peters, Andrea Bang, and Grace Park. The film premiered at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and opened TIFF Top Ten Festival before landing on Netflix.

His directorial debut, Eadweard, won five audience choice awards and multiple best feature film award special jury prizes at festivals worldwide.

Kyle is also an established actor, most recently guest starring on Happy Face (Paramount+), The Good Doctor and working with companies such as Legendary, Marvel, 20th Century, Hasbro, Netflix.

Mentoring:

• BIRTH OF A NEW JAZZ: The House of Hope  (Kelowna, BC)
• Cash Cows (Burnaby, BC)

Leah Mallen has produced film, television and digital content for over 20 years. Her past credits have garnered awards and accolades including a best short film award at Cannes Critic’s Week, best documentary film at Zurich Film Festival and multiple best apps awards at Kidscreen.

She has distributed her content around the world, including with HBO, Sundance, Hulu, BBC, ARTE, CBC and Knowledge Network.

She was one of six international producers selected to attend Binger Film Lab in Amsterdam. She is a graduate of the Canadian Film Centre’s Producer Lab and has chaired or sat on many creative boards, including Hot Docs International Film Festival, DOCBC and Vancouver’s Cinematheque.

Mentoring:

• Ancestor’s Path: The Ancient Route of the Monkman Pass (Grande Prairie, AB)

Len Morisette is a proud Mistawasis (Saskatchewan) band member that grew up urban Indigenous. His dad is Cree and his mother has European ancestry. He moved to Grande Prairie, AB in 2000 from Vernon, BC with his beautiful wife and two daughters.

Over the past 10 years, Len and his team have filmed and produced over 200 commercials, films and music videos. He is currently working on the first underwater exploration show with an Indigenous perspective that will air on APTN.

Mentoring:

wonder wander (Kelowna, BC)

The Lion’s Den Café (Vancouver, BC)

Linda Coffey is one of the very few story editors in Canada to have worked successfully in every aspect of film, television and web series development and production. She has written for stage, radio and narration for a number of documentary films, including the award-winning feature documentary, On A String.

After three years as a private consultant to the Faculty of Commerce at UBC, Linda spent eight years as an executive script consultant in charge of western-based drama development for the CBC. She was responsible for developing dramatic series and movie projects including The Odyssey, Northwood, Liar Liar and Little Criminals.

Currently, Linda has a feature film in development and is co-creator and writer / producer of a one-hour dramatic Canadian / US co-production series. She is also co-creator and writer of the upcoming reality series Comedy Countdown.

Mentoring:

• French-speaking Communities in Calgary (Calgary, AB)

Lionel Vialaneix’s career path has seen him collaborate on all kinds of projects in the film and television industry. During his assignment at Euro-Media France for seven years as CEO, he worked closely with the Centre National Cinéma on the financing and production of films and documentaries.

Mentoring:

• Ice & Iron (Grande Prairie, AB)
• Our Earthly Ways (Tangent, AB)

Mariah Braun, an indie filmmaker, aims to amplify underrepresented voices. Known for her empathetic approach, Mariah connects deeply with her interview subjects, fostering trust to convey their stories authentically.

Mariah’s portfolio includes directing and producing resilience-themed short documentaries like Life Without Diagnosis, Able and Kiesha’s Story: A Path to Wellness.

In addition to short documentaries, Mariah has worked on narrative sets, union and independent film projects, such as The Last of Us and SCOUT, an indie web series.

Recognized with the City of Grande Prairie 2022 Young Woman of Influence Award, Mariah continues to help shape stories through mentorship, commercial projects and Alberta film projects.

Mentoring:

• Oh Deer, It’s a Ghost (Red Deer, AB)
• Pioneers (Red Deer, AB)

Mark Collings has over 35 years of media production experience, including producing factual television programming and documentaries and managing development of online learning programs, videography and post-production.

He recently executive produced the series, The Awakeners for AMI (2022) and produced the series, Growing Community for TELUS (2023).

Mark is a graduate of the film production program at Algonquin College and has taught video production at Centennial College. He is president of the Central Alberta Historical Society and is on the board of the Historical Society of Alberta.

Mentoring in Pan-Asian Storyteller Edition:

• The Newcomer (Red Deer, AB)

Mentoring in Scripted Edition:

• The Lion, the White Flower, and Hope (Calgary, AB)
• The Rejects (Lethbridge, AB)

Mentored in Anniversary Documentary Edition:

• Arts Inc. (Fort McMurray, AB)

Matt Watterworth is an Alberta filmmaker who jumps between producing, directing, writing and building creative teams that actually complete work.

His credits include features In Plainview and Cold Road, the long running Alberta Filmmakers Podcast and a growing slate of projects through his company No Cap Content.

He has worked with SEVEN24 Films, co-founded the Stinger Awards and built partnerships with broadcasters, distributors and funders across Canada.

Matt teaches at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) where he brings real world production and business experience into the classroom.

He is known for clear thinking, smart problem solving and pushing projects from idea to delivery with a mix of creativity and common sense. 

Mentoring:

• Roslyn Frantz – Live (Kelowna, BC)
• Why the need for NeuroInclusivity in Education and How (North Saanich, BC)

Maureen Levitt is a multi-series producer and the Super Channel creative development representative in British Columbia and the Yukon. She has also been the western regional manager and commissioning editor for Vision TV.

She was responsible for developing the first mentorship program at Vision TV through Women in Film and Television Vancouver (now Gender Equity in Media Society), where in 2007 she received the Wayne Black Service Award.

Maureen works as a story editor and has been a mentor for previous STORYHIVE editions. She enjoys working on projects that tackle the big issues that face us individually and collectively in our communities around the world.

Mentoring:

• Liam Gill – Snowboarding For The Community (Calgary, AB)

Michael Brown excels as both an adventure athlete and a filmmaker. He has been to the summit of Mount Everest five times with cameras rolling.

In his 35 years as a filmmaker, his films have received many film festival and industry awards, including three Emmys. For the past 16 years, he has and continues to co-lead the Banff Adventure Filmmakers Workshop.

Mentoring in Scripted Edition:

• RAW HEEL (Dawson Creek, BC)
• Recognition (Vernon, BC)

Mentoring in Anniversary Documentary Edition:

• My Grandfather & Me (North Vancouver, BC)
• Sage Advice (Williams Lake, BC)

Mike Wavrecan is an award-winning producer having worked in almost every role in television for over the past twenty plus years. He has credits in numerous countries with broadcasters such as Bravo!, Much, APTN, Netflix, Knowledge, CityTV, Global, History, Discovery, VisionTV, Movie Central, AMI, OutTV, Evasion, AWE (USA), AB Groupe (France), and Maori TV (New Zealand) – garnering recognition from the Canada Screen Awards, Leo Awards and many others.

He recently completed post-production on the seventh and final season of APTN’s Moosemeat & Marmalade as co-creator / producer.

He has finished a lengthy film festival circuit with the multiple award-winning TELUS Originals feature documentary Aitamaako’tamisskapi Natosi: Before The Sun which premiered on Paramount+ and TELUS Optik in Canada.

Select credits include line producer on two award-winning TELUS / Bell Fund web series – Hospital Show and Spiral, producer / director on multiple episodes of Accessible Media Inc’s series Our Community and original documentaries Across the Line and The Road Ahead. He also directed and produced on the APTN award-winning short form doc series Food For Thought.

Mentoring in Pan-Asian Storyteller Edition:

• The Village (Calgary, AB)

Mentoring in Scripted Edition:

• Crumbs (Calgary, AB)

Mentored in Anniversary Documentary Edition:

• Fringe Movements: Ethnic Dance in White Alberta (Calgary, AB)
• Sticks & Sikhs (Chestermere, AB)

Nina Sudra is a Canadian director, producer, writer and actor.

She is committed to creating dialogue about social issues revolving around the multicultural experience in Western countries.

She has embraced her passion for filmmaking as a powerful tool to build bridges between people of different ages and cultures.

Her films have traveled the globe and touched many lives. These works have encouraged conversations between a varied spectrum of people, from children in impoverished villages to graduate students in universities.

Nina’s films have received national and international accolades and have won several awards. 

Mentoring:

• Unbreakable: Stories of Kelowna’s LGBTQIA+ Community (Kelowna, BC)
• Buddy Check for Jesse: Destigmatizing Mental Health in Youth (Victoria, BC)

Peggy Thompson taught screenwriting as an associate professor at the University of British Columbia in the School of Creative Writing for over 20 years.

She is a screenwriter, film producer, story editor and author, best known as the screenwriter and co-producer of the award-winning queer feature film Better than Chocolate.

Other credits include Sharon McGowan’s documentary Bearded Ladies: The Photography of Rosamond Norbury, which won best Canadian documentary at the Female Eye Film Festival, and Mo Simpson’s award-winning documentary The Least We Can Do.

She was also the screenwriter of the feature film The Lotus Eaters which won three Genie Awards (now Canadian Screen Awards), including best screenplay.

Peggy is a recipient of the Woman of the Year Award from Women in Film and Television Vancouver (now Gender Equity in Media Society) and is also an honorary lifetime member.

Mentoring:

• Building Pinoy: A Centre for Filipino – Edmontonians (Edmonton, AB)

Rebecca Campbell was a producer for Peacock TV’s (NBCUniversal) true crime limited series, Dangerous Breed: Crime. Cons. Cats.

She is an alumna of ‘Top 25’ – Banff World Media Festival and Canada Media Fund’s ‘Diversity of Voices.’ She was selected by the National Screen Institute, Shaw Rocket Fund Fellowship, Whistler Film Festival Digital Lab and was a Banff Spark Accelerator participant.

She wrote and directed The Secret Society, her first feature documentary and an international one-hour spin-off documentary called Cracked.

Mentoring:

• The Lighthouse Project (Kamloops, BC)

Robert Hardy is a seasoned television writer, producer and director with extensive experience in the development and production of documentary, lifestyle and factual television as well as scripted comedy and drama.

His recent credits include Big Timber (Netflix / History), Pamela’s Cooking with Love (Food Network), Pamela’s Garden of Eden (Hulu / HGTV), Ice Vikings (Cottage Life / Viasat) and Rust Valley Restorers (Netflix / History).

Fun fact: Robert helped create one of the world’s first web series in 1997. He has served as president for Fireworks Media Group, senior vice-president at Entertainment One, a network executive with Bell Media and as a senior communications officer with CBC-Radio Canada. He has also worked as a consultant and collaborator with organizations including Corus, CBC, TELUS, Bell Media and Cirque du Soleil.

Mentoring in Pan-Asian Storyteller Edition:

• Learning to be Chinese (Vernon, BC)
• Chinese School (Victoria, BC)

Mentoring in Scripted Edition:

• On Gordon Alley (Kelowna, BC)
• Green is the colour of evil (North Vancouver, BC)

Mentored in Anniversary Documentary Edition:

• Casting Shadows (Dawson Creek, BC)
• Small Town, Big Sound (Terrace, BC)

Ryan Mah is a filmmaker based in Vancouver.

He has been producing and directing documentary content for TELUS, AMI, CBC and Knowledge Network.

Alongside Black Rhino Creative partner Danny Berish, he released his feature film debut Arthur Erickson: Beauty Between the Lines theatrically and it is broadcasting on Knowledge Network.

He was also lauded for his work on the five-part series House Special (TELUS), a culinary journey through small town Asian food joints. 

Mentoring:

• Queers Of Calgary (Calgary, BC)
• Breaking Ground: Christine Lewington’s Inspiring Journey (Lethbridge, AB)

Sandi Somers is a filmmaker, theatre artist and educator. She is an independent award-winning filmmaker who has called Alberta her home for over three decades. Only occasionally does the lilt of her Cape Breton Island accent give her away.

Working in a variety of genres, Sandi creates thought-provoking films that often revolve around human nature and the personal discovery of truth, while addressing themes of connection (or lack thereof).

Mentoring:

• Cull of the Wolves (Terrace, BC)

Sarah Robertson is an independent Canadian documentary filmmaker living in Victoria, BC. She has 30 years of experience in the business with a specialty in arctic wildlife, science, northern geopolitics and climate change.

Her company, Arctic Bear Productions, has produced and contributed to several notable projects including BBC’s Planet Earth, To the Arctic (an IMAX movie), National Geographic’s Great Migrations series, BBC’s Frozen Planet and A Summer Odyssey for the CBC.

Several of these projects have earned American Emmy and Canadian Screen Awards in production and cinematography.

Mentoring in Scripted Edition:

• Junk Boys (Red Deer, AB)
• There Are No Squirrels In Lethbridge (Lethbridge, AB)

Mentoring in Anniversary Documentary Edition:

• Calgary Unfiltered: Melody Makers (Calgary, AB)
• Living Well With Schizophrenia (Edmonton, AB)

Scott Lepp has over 200 episodes of network television experience. He was most recently the producer of APTN’s hit series Tribal and is the executive producer of three feature films set for release in 2024: Hailey Rose, Cold Road, and Faultline.

Previously, Scott served as associate and digital producer for CBC’s Heartland and was on the board of directors for the Alberta Motion Picture Industry Association (AMPIA). He continues to serve on the board of the Okotoks Film Society.

As president of Iylond Entertainment, Scott’s latest feature, Hailey Rose, premiered at Cinefest Sudbury and will be released theatrically and on Super Channel in 2024.

Iylond’s first feature, Ice Blue, won several festival awards, including Best Canadian Feature at Regina 2018 and Best Feature Director at LA Femme Los Angeles 2017. The company also produced two digital series in 2019: Hudson for CBC Gem and Realization for TELUS Originals.

In his free time, Scott enjoys learning about finance, psychology, and filmmaking. He is passionate about mentoring emerging filmmakers and spending time with his family.

Scott graduated from Vancouver Film School and now lives in Okotoks, Alberta with his wife, Crystal and their two children, Iyla and London.

Mentoring in Scripted Edition:

• Gas Money (Calgary, AB)

Mentoring in Anniversary Documentary Edition:

• Sharing the Dream – Chasing Athletic Greatness (Lethbridge, AB)

Scott Westby is a Calgary filmmaker who has been making films for over 20 years.

He is an alumnus of Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) film and video production program and the National Screen Institute’s Features First program.

He has written, directed and produced scores of short films and web series and has produced / directed two feature films.

He produced the feature In Plainview in 2016 with support from the Telefilm Micro-Budget Production Program, and he directed the feature film Jonesin’ in 2018 with support from the Calgary Film Centre’s Project Lab.

His documentary series Opera Labs won the AMPIA Award for Best Web Series in 2022, the same year he won the AMPIA for Best Director for Jonesin’.

Scott recently produced, wrote and directed the film Low in partnership with Diabetes Canada and the University of Calgary.

He is committed to the growth and health of the Alberta film industry, has served on numerous committees and boards around the province and has mentored many students and TELUS STORYHIVE projects throughout the years.

Mentoring:

• Ippon: Judo in Northern BC (Prince George, BC)
• Anaheed (Victoria, BC)

Sean Horlor is an award-winning, Canadian, LGBTQIA+ director and part of a co-directing team with Steve J. Adams. Their latest feature documentary Satan Wants You was one of the buzziest and most talked about titles at South by Southwest 2023.

Sean is the author of Made Beautiful By Use as well as the co-creator and former host of Don’t Quit Your Gay Job, a lifestyle comedy reality series produced by OutTV. He also worked for a number of years as a creative non-fiction writer.

Steve and Sean’s debut feature length documentary Someone Like Me won a Rogers Audience Award at Hot Docs in 2021. It was produced by the National Film Board, along with their short The Day Don Died which screened at the 2019 Palm Springs International ShortFest.

His path to feature filmmaking began after an appearance on OutTV’s Hot Pink Shorts reality series in 2012.

Mentoring:

• Empowered Elders (Coldstream, BC)

Sharon McGowan has a master of fine arts in film studies and is an associate professor at the University of British Columbia, teaching in film production and creative writing.

Sharon started her career writing and directing documentaries at the National Film Board and later moved into producing independent documentaries, documentary series and feature films. Her films have screened in theatres and on television screens around the world and premiered at major film festivals including Toronto International Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival.

Mentoring:

• A Movement In Motion (Kamloops, BC)
• Burcu’s Angels (Vancouver, BC)

Steve J. Adams is an award-winning, Canadian, LGBTQIA+ director known for his visually stunning and emotionally raw storytelling. He is part of a co-directing team with Sean Horlor. Their latest feature documentary Satan Wants You was one of the buzziest and most talked about titles at South by Southwest 2023.

He has co-directed and produced over 20 award-winning projects, including Steve and Sean’s debut feature-length documentary Someone Like Me which won a Rogers Audience Award at Hot Docs Film Festival in 2021. It was produced by the National Film Board, along with their short The Day Don Died which screened at Palm Springs International ShortFest 2019.

His path to feature filmmaking began after an appearance on OutTV’s Hot Pink Shorts reality series in 2012.

Mentoring:

• Sea to Land: Bridging Communities (Cowichan Bay, BC)
• Tide of the Day / YUT CHOW (Cumberland, BC)
  日潮 

Steve Sxwithul’txw is an award-winning producer from the Penelakut Tribe located just off Vancouver Island, Canada. He was raised by his mother in the Cowichan Valley, along with his five siblings.

Steve is senior producer of Kwassen Productions / OCM Productions. He has a new TV docuseries called Ocean Warriors ~ Mission Ready which focuses on a team of volunteer First Nations mariners who react to calls for boaters in distress along BC’s vast coastline. It debuted in January 2024 on APTN and CHEK. It has been greenlit for season 2 and will commence principal production in 2024.