Past Workshop Descriptions

Producing Indie Films in Canada

Join experienced Canadian Dramatic and Documentary producers to dive deep into the ins and outs of how they produced their projects, and work within the industry structure to navigate its competitive landscape. Learn their processes from pre-production to post-production, including funding sources, budgeting, legal considerations, distribution, marketing, as well as accessing resourceful film communities and industry networking. Canada’s film industry is known for its vibrancy, creativity and support for independent filmmakers, leverage these resources and connections to help you succeed in producing and distributing your next indie film.


Moderator:

Marva Ollivierre is a Gemini Nominated Executive Producer; a management accountant; a mask maker; a Floyd Chalmers awarded writer; a WIFT Mentorship Award recipient; a Women On The Move Salute for community service and the Team Appreciation Recognition, awarded by the Set Department Three to Tango Feature Film, Warner Bros Films. Marva`s multi-faceted talents and skills are honed by over twenty-eight in the trenches as an artist, producer, and business affairs executive, across the arts-disciplinary landscape...in these many years, I have come to know for sure; that success, especially in screen content creation, is about story, math, and business affairs savvy - these are the golden threads that keep a project from unraveling at its many seams. The earned wealth of multi-disciplinary experiences from years of service to the arts and culture industry is also the inspiration and feeder for Marva’s continued commitment to mentoring and teaching https://marvadaisley.wixsite.com/barb https://micviews.com/mic-internship For the last twenty years, Marva has been firmly entrenched in screen media production, in which she has accumulated over 90 credited broadcast hours. Five years were spent as Executive Producer, Head of Business Affairs, and Development Executive at Inner City Films http://www.innercityfilms.com/. Several productions on her slate received broad popular acclaim and continue to the present day to deliver significant international sales earnings including US Broadcast revenues. They include Skin Deep, 104 episodes, Gemini Winning Best Lifestyle/Doc, the first documentary/lifestyle television production of its kind on the international scene; and Jozi-H, the Canada/South Africa co-production medical drama series, winner of multiple Gemini Nominations including Best Drama. In 2006, Marva started her own independent production house https://www.doeeyemedia.com/ with an eclectic slate of projects. The commissioned feature documentary Made in Canada, which she wrote and produced, had its festival and broadcast premieres in 2013. Currently, the documentary I am not a Bully is in postproduction; Men In Raincoats- A Case of Arrested Development (MIR) the expository linear multimedia, graphic animated documentary, set in Canada's film community 1896 to 2023 is in the second phase graphic design production; the coming of age feature Bannock & Bratwurst, penned by 2013 Canada Screen Award-winning writer Shannon Masters, is in final production prep, the follow-up documentary Made In Canada-10 Years Later, will go to camera spring 2025, and the period feature drama She Pirate of the Caribbean is in the second draft script development. https://www.doeeyemedia.com  |  https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1331045


Panelists:

Shehrezade Mian (Instructor for Producing Dramatic Films)
Shehrezade Mian is a Pakistan-born, creative producer based between Toronto and Pakistan. In 2022, Mian’s feature film Concrete Valley premiered at TIFF 2022, followed by an international premiere at the Berlinale in 2023. Mian is an alumnus of the Toronto International Film Festival-Netflix Talent Accelerator, EAVE Access and Rotterdam Producers Lab. Mian’s films have played at festivals across the globe, receiving press from The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Criterion Daily, Mubi Notebook, CinemaScope, The Globe and mail and more. In 2021 Mian founded Markhor Pictures, a production company that seeks to champion unique voices from across the globe and places an emphasis on auteur driven cinema that explores innovative ways of storytelling. In her spare time, Mian runs a mentorship program for emerging South Asian/Muslim filmmakers who are immigrants like herself. https://www.markhorpictures.com

Brad Deane (Co-instructor for Introduction to Independent Filmmaking: Class A and Class B)
Brad Deane is the co-founder (with Lina Rodriguez) of the Toronto-based production company, Rayon Verde. He has produced and co-edited Lina Rodriguez’s four feature films: Señoritas, Mañana a esta hora, Mis dos voces and So Much Tenderness. In addition, Brad has also produced Rodriguez’s recent short films, ante mis ojos and Aquí y allá. Their work has been showcased in festivals and cultural venues including the Berlinale, TIFF, Locarno, the Mar del Plata International Film Festival, the Harvard Film Archive, as well as retrospectives at Sala Leopoldo Lugones in Buenos Aires, Cineteca Madrid, Cinemateca de Bogotá and is currently available to view on the Criterion Channel. Brad previously served as the Director of the TIFF Cinematheque, and was the Lead Programmer for the Masters section at TIFF. An alumnus of Berlinale Talents, he has also sat on juries for the Semaine de la Critique in Cannes and the Mar del Plata International Film Festival, among others. https://www.rayonverde.com

Eric Bizzarri (Instructor for Developing Pitch Packages, Directing Actors for Narrative and The Business of Film Distribution)
Eric Bizzarri is an award winning Canadian director and producer based in Toronto. Primarily interested in the nuances of human relationships, Eric's work investigates toxic masculinity, male-male abuse, friendships and intimacy. His films have been distributed by CBC, Super Channel, Revry and Amazon Prime (US, UK, Germany). His most recent producing credits include Dispora (TIFF, Palm Springs International ShortFest), Desi Standard Time Travel (Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, Tallgrass Film Festival, Canadian Film Fest) and Great Seeing You (Miami International Film Festival, Cinefest Sudbury International Film Festival). His most recent directing credits include Mea Culpa (Toronto Black Film Festival, Reykjavik International Film Festival), Pressure Play (Canadian Film Fest, Halifax Black Film Festival), I Wanna Make a Movie, or I Wanna Die Trying (TIFF Next Wave, Whistler Film Festival) and a commercial for Ben and Jerry's, with Label 428. In 2023, he was recently selected for the Reykjavik International Film Festival Talent Lab, an incubator for emerging filmmakers making their debut feature film. Eric is the Co-Founder and CEO of the Future of Film Showcase, an annual film festival based in Toronto fostering the future of emerging Canadian filmmakers, and sits on the Board of Directors for the Breakthroughs Film Festival. He is a graduate of York University with a Bachelors Degree of Fine Arts in Film Production with Honours.  https://www.ericbizzarri.com

Tiffany Hsiung is a Toronto-based filmmaker whose work has garnered multiple Peabody Awards, two Canadian Screen Awards, and two Emmy® nominations for the Apple TV series "JANE" (2023). Named one of DOC NYC’s 40 under 40, Tiffany’s films, including 'Sing Me a Lullaby' (2020), have won accolades like the Oscar-qualifying Grand Jury Prize at DOC NYC and TIFF’s ‘Share Her Journey Short Cuts Award.’ Her debut feature, "The Apology" (2016), earned international acclaim with a Peabody Award. In television, Tiffany began her episodic directing career with the Emmy®-winning company Sinking Ship Entertainment on their shows 'Dino Dana' (2018) 'Lockdown' (2020), 'Dino Dex' (2023), and 'Wordsville' (2024). She co-created the Peabody-winning interactive documentary 'The Space We Hold' (2017) and 'The Bassinet' (2019) a hybrid documentary marking the 50th anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality in Canada for The National Film Board of Canada. Committed to fostering transformative change, she serves on the executive board at The Director’s Guild of Canada Ontario and DOC Institute of Ontario. https://www.tiffanyhsiung.com

Location: 1137 Dupont Street, Toronto, Ontario M6H 2A3
Category: Industry Panels
Maximum Capacity: 50
1 hour of instruction $0 or PWYC donation

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