Directors Panel: First Feature
Join Canadian directors, who have completed a successful feature film, for an indepth discussion on their careers, directing debut and the talent and perseverance that moved them to success. Learn about their creative choices from casting and cinematic approach, to the post-production and distribution process.
Jeremy LaLonde, originally from Cayuga, Ont, put himself through college by co-creating the Ontario Visual Heritage Project, a documentary series which airs on TVO. He made his first feature The Untitled Work of Paul Shepard, through independent financing. With a successful festival and theatrical run Jeremy was nominated for 'Best Director' at the Canadian Comedy Awards, and awarded the Irving Avrich Fund for emerging talent in Canadian filmmaking as part of TIFF 2010. Jeremy has finished production on his second feature film, Sex After Kids, having raised the budget through crowdfunding. Jeremy lives in Toronto with his wife and two children.
Ant Horasanli is an award winning Writer/Director/Producer. His documentary Redline won Best Feature Documentary at the 2003 Long Island, New York Film Festival. In 2011 his first feature film Lost Journey was picked up by Mongrel Media and released theatrically in Canada and the US. The film can currently be seen on TMN, Super Channel, and Netflix. Currently, Ant Horasanli is penning his second feature film a Sci-Fi/drama to be produced through Telefilm Canada and to star Michael Biehn (Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss.)
Liz Marshall is an auteur filmmaker who fuses cinematic storytelling with social and environmental justice issues. Since the late 90s she has created award winning and socially relevant projects which focus on a range of significant global issues including the Right to Water; HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa; the rights of girls in developing countries; censorship affecting writers and journalists; war-affected children; corporate globalization; sweatshop labour, and refugees. Liz's most recent film is Water on the Table (2010), an award winning and Gemini nominated theatrical and broadcast documentary featuring Maude Barlow’s crusade to have water declared a right. The Ghost in our Machine (2011) is a feature length cross-platform documentary that sheds new light on the complex social issue of animal rights within the context of our voracious consumer driven world. Currently in production and scheduled for release in early 2013. Marshall’s work has premiered for diverse audiences.
www.lizmars.com
Sara St. Onge is a Canadian filmmaker who spent her formative years clad in plaid flannel in Seattle, WA before studying photography at the Rhode Island School of Design. Moving to Toronto in 2004, she cut her directorial teeth on indie music videos such as Final Fantasy, Gentleman Reg and Ghettosocks. Since then, her short films (The Funeral 2007, Lobotomobile 2008, Turkey 2010) have screened at major festivals such as Sundance and the Toronto International Film Festival and aired on CBC, Bravo and Sundance Channel. The upcoming Molly Maxwell is her debut feature film.
