Mentoring in Pan-Asian Storyteller Edition:

• Silk Moth Dream (Edmonton, AB)
• Maya (Edmonton, AB)

Mentoring in Scripted Edition:

• Across Two Worlds (Surrey, BC)
• The Last Flight (Burnaby, BC)

Arnold Lim is a writer, director and producer.

He recently directed his second Telefilm-funded feature film The Bryce Lee Story in summer 2025.

He won the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) BC Greenlight award established category for Obscura / 옵스큐라, which also won a 2024 Leo Award for best screenwriting and best short film.

He is a video journalist of more than a decade, a photography manager for five Olympic Games, a past recipient of Telefilm’s Talent to Watch grant (twice) and a graduate of the National Screen Institute’s NSI Features First program.

He has been a recipient of awards and grants from the BC Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, BravoFACT and the Harold Greenberg Fund. 

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 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 in Scripted Edition:

• Cleaner on Call (Prince George, BC)

A prize-winning graduate of the University of Alberta’s playwriting department, Ian Barr began his career as TV writer and story editor on youth shows Mentors (Family Channel), MythQuest (CBC/PBS) and renegadepress.com (APTN), before moving to sitcoms Da Kink In My Hair (Global), She’s the Mayor (Vision) and four seasons running the writing room of Canadian Screen Award (CSA) nominated Tiny Plastic Men (Superchannel/Hulu).

Ian was also showrunner on seasons four and five of the CSA nominated sketch comedy show, CAUTION: May Contain Nuts (APTN). Prior to that, Ian was supervising producer / writer on the one-hour crime series, Shoot the Messenger (CBC).

Currently, Ian has a family-friendly feature film Skyhorse (MarVista Entertainment; Elevation Pictures; Neshama Entertainment) looking for production in summer 2025.

In 2023, Ian joined Fenix Film & Television, a Calgary based production company, as their head of scripted, and has been building their development slate with several one-hour projects under option and / or commissioned to pilot stage.

Representation: Carl Liberman, Head of Literary, The Characters Talent Agency Bus: 416-964-8522 Mob: 416-948-7167, carl[at]thecharacters.com

Mentoring in Scriped Edition:

• Earth to Colby (Calgary, AB)

Jason Filiatrault is a passionate writer of feature film, television and awkward birthday cards.

His credits include writing and co-producing on two seasons of the cult Netflix drama The Order, the award-winning feature film Entanglement (WGC Best Screenplay 2018), as well as bits of genre fave A Christmas Horror Story (starring William Shatner), APTN drama Tribal, CTV comedy Jann, the CBC series Young Drunk Punk and his upcoming short film, Now I Am A Bear.

Jason has projects in development with Copperheart Entertainment (Ginger Snaps), Letterkenny producers New Metric Media, Jackass director Jeff Tremaine and a new upcoming feature, All Night Wrong, starring Zach Cherry (Severance) and Oscar nominee Maria Bakalova.

Jason is an alumnus of the Torino Film Lab (2023), the Toronto International Film Festival Writers’ Studio (2021), Whistler Screenwriters Lab (2024), the Sundance Institute (2023), the Canadian Film Centre (2010, 2018), the National Screen Institute (2013) and was chosen for Playback Magazine’s “5 to Watch” list.

Jason is also serving his second term as a Western region councillor for the Writers Guild of Canada. He lives in Calgary.

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 in Scripted Edition:

• Fire Weather (Kamloops, BC)
• The Wild Times (Penticton, BC)

Dr. Jules Arita Koostachin (Attawapiskat) is an award-winning filmmaker, mother, writer, performance artist and academic.

With her background in community work, social justice themes emerge in her films, alongside bravery, healing, connection and humour. Jules honours her Cree-speaking grandparents who raised her, and her mother, a residential school survivor / warrior.

Relying on a creative eye, keen mind and strong heart, Jules’ accomplishments include raising four sons while pursuing academics and artistry.

After graduating from Concordia University’s theatre program, she went on to Ryerson University’s (now Toronto Metropolitan University) documentary media master’s program, receiving early recognition with an award of distinction and an academic gold medal for her thesis documentary film, Remembering Inninimowin.

She went on to do her Ph.D. in Indigenous documentary and protocols and processes, through the Institute of Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice program at the University of British Columbia.

Jules is represented by The Characters Talent (acting) and Lucas Talent (writing, directing).

www.juleskoostachin.com

Mentoring in Scripted Edition:

• The Knitting Diaries (Vernon, BC)
• Life with Dotty (Victoria, BC)

Kate Green is an award-winning director and producer with a passion for storytelling across short and long formats. With expertise in factual, lifestyle, competition, and reality television, she brings curiosity to every project.

As creator of the sci-fi series NarcoLeap, the first season (TELUS OptikTV and CBC GEM) earned multiple nominations, including a Canadian Screen Award (CSA), and won awards at Miami Web Fest, Baltimore Next Media Web Fest, and the Asia Web Awards. The series reached 2.4 million people, generating 600,000 views. Season two (Highball TV) earned a second CSA nomination and won Leo Awards for best web series and performance.

Kate has worked for networks like HGTV, W Network, CBC, and History Channel.

Her documentaries Not a Stranger and Melting Stars received recognition, with Melting Stars winning Best Short at the International Wildlife Film Festival.

Her zombie western Murphy’s Law aired on CBC, winning Best Horror Thriller at the Wild Bunch Festival.

Kate is currently in post-production on Breakthrough, a WWII film slated for release in 2025.

She is an alumna of Women in the Director’s Chair and the Reykjavík Talent Lab, where she got to meet the president of Iceland and Björk!

Mentoring in Scripted Edition:

• My Big Fat Gay Wedding (Calgary, AB)
• NEMESIS (Edmonton, AB)

Katrina Beatty is an Edmonton based filmmaker working in varying formats, including short and feature films, web series, music videos and multi-media projections.

In 2019, she was awarded the Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award for Multi-Media & Project Design for her work with Northern Light Theatre on The Cardiac Shadow.

Katrina produced the Telefilm funded feature film Before I Change My Mind, which premiered at the 75^th annual Locarno Film Festival in 2022. It was awarded the Alberta Motion Picture Industry Association Award for best original screenplay, cinematography and scripted feature film. For her work producing the film, Katrina received the 2023 Edmonton Film Prize. The film was released on Crave in November 2024.

Most recently, Katrina premiered the long-form documentary The Wounds Within: An Endometriosis Story at the 2024 NorthWestFest International Documentary Film Festival. It placed as the number one audience choice selection of the festival.

Mentoring in Scripted Edition:

• Never Use Alone (Kamloops, BC)

Kevin Eastwood is an award-winning writer, director and producer based in Vancouver.

Recent credits include writing, directing and producing The Society Page, a half hour documentary about newspaper columnist and photographer Malcolm Parry that won a 2024 Leo Award for best direction.

Before that, Kevin wrote and directed British Columbia: An Untold History, a critically acclaimed history series that won five Leo Awards (including for best direction and best screenwriting) and was nominated for five Canadian Screen Awards (CSA).

Previous credits as writer / director include Humboldt: The New Season and After the Sirens (both CBC Television, both nominated for best documentary program CSAs), The Death Debate for TELUS (CSA nominee for best direction), and Emergency Room: Life + Death at VGH (CSA nominee for best direction and documentary series).

Kevin’s producer credits include the award-winning documentaries Haida Modern and Haida Gwaii: On The Edge of the World, Eco-Pirate: The Story of Paul Watson, The Romeo Section (CBC) from creator Chris Haddock; Elijah (CTV) (Gemini Award winner for best TV movie), and the feature films Preggoland, Fido and The Delicate Art of Parking.

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 in Scripted Edition:

• Where We Landed (Calgary, AB)
• Limerance (Edmonton, AB)

Lora Campbell is a Canadian Screen Award nominated, disabled, trans-nonbinary filmmaker from Newfoundland.

They have created award winning content for over a decade. They have directed the Emmy Award-winning television series Odd Squad (PBS), Canadian Screen Award-winning The Fabulous Show with Fay And Fluffy (Family), Auntie B’s Place (CBC) and more.

Lora has created, written and directed on digital series including Yoga 101 (CBC), Soul Decision Comedy (CBC), The Beaverton Digital (Comedy Network) and Calico Chats (Family Channel).

In 2018, they received Canadian Screen Award and Canadian Comedy Award nominations for The Beaverton Digital and Soul Decision Comedy respectively.

Since 2020, they completed the Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) Career Advancement Module program, Breaking Through The Lens Directing Lab and Attagirl development program.

Lora has also facilitated short film production programs for the Inside Out LGBTQ Film Festival, St. John’s Women’s International Film Festival and was previously the artistic director of the ReelAbilities Film Festival Toronto.

Recently, they were selected for the Diversity Showrunner Bootcamp where they will continue to hone their comedy and dramatic film and television projects which focus on authentic disabled and transgender experiences.

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 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:

• Goals Beyond Borders: Farkhunda Muhtaj’s Journey from Athlete to Advocate (Calgary, AB)

Mentoring in Scripted Edition:

• The Eldest Daughter (Edmonton, AB)

Nimisha Mukerji is an award-winning director best known for Hulu’s Emmy–nominated limited series Under the Bridge, the hit CBS action series Tracker and David E. Kelley’s crime drama Big Sky for ABC.

Recently, she was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for directing on season one of the CBC / NBCU police drama series Allegiance and was the directing producer on seasons two and three.

Additional directing credits include the Emmy Award-winning episode of Life By Ella for Apple TV+, the Netflix original drama series My Life with the Walter Boys and Virgin River.

A critically acclaimed filmmaker, Nimisha’s work has premiered at Tribeca Festival and Toronto International Film Festival.

Her breakout feature 65_RedRoses was selected by Oprah Winfrey for her documentary club on OWN and Jacinta won the Albert Maysles Award at Tribeca before being broadcast as a Hulu Original.

She is represented by the Kaplan Stahler Agency and Writ Large. 

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 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 in Scripted Edition:

• Tides of Longing (Nanaimo, BC)
• Good Intentions (Victoria, BC)

Sara Blake is an award-winning producer (Indiescreen Awards Kevin Tierney Emerging Producer Award) with a focus on director-driven works and refreshing stories.

Her company Ceroma Films produces noteworthy features including: Seagrass (award winner at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) 2023 and Festival du nouveau cinéma 2023), Swiss-Canadian co-production Until Branches Bend (screened at TIFF 2022, PÖFF 2022, SXSW 2023, Locarno Film Festival 2023), Raf (screened TIFF 2019), and Be Still (screened at Vancouver International Film Festival 2021).

She is a Banff Spark alumnus, has mentored through the National Screen Institute and Screen Production Yukon Association.

Sara is the co-founder of non-profit Filmable – a casual networking space to uplift the amazing talent in British Columbia.

Mentoring in Scripted Edition:

• Fort MacBeth (Forth McMurray, AB)

Sara Corry is an independent producer and production coordinator currently residing in Alberta.

Sara has built a diversified freelance career in the Alberta production world, with recent credits including Netflix, MGM+, Crown Media, FX, and Polyscope Productions.

Alongside this work, Sara is also a proud, long-standing member of the independent production company, North Country Cinema (NCC). Her contributions include co-producer on frequent collaborator Kyle Thomas’ critically acclaimed debut feature-film, The Valley Below.

Her feature film producing credits include Range Roads (awarded best scripted feature from the Alberta Media Production Industries Association) and Alberta Number One (released in 2024).

Sara is a producer on the feature film co-production Hey, Viktor! with Lightning Mill Inc, which had its world premiere at Tribeca Festival 2023 and its Canadian premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Most recently, NCC and Lightning Mill Inc have teamed up again and are currently in pre-production for their next feature, Smudge the Blades, which Sara will produce.

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.