Dan Briceno is a picture editor born in Caracas, Venezuela and based in Toronto, Canada. He started his career as an assistant editor on a number of TV dramas such as The Tudors, The Borgias, and Vikings. His recent editing credits include the sci-fi series: Halo, the western: Billy The Kid, and dark comedy: The Consultant. Dan is currently editing Hotel Cocaine for MGM+. 

Matt Middleton is a production designer who has worked in scripted entertainment for over 20 years. Following set design work on series The Strain, The Expanse, and features Pacific Rim, Crimson Peak, and Suicide Squad, he was Emmy nominated for Art Direction on Amazon series Annedroids. He was production designer for the surreal FX comedy series Man Seeking Woman and indie feature Patch Town. As supervising art director of Paramount Plus' series Star Trek Discovery, he helped establish the Holodeck - Canada's first virtual production (VP) stage. Recently he was a producer and production designer for 8 short films shot using VP.

Sumeet Vats is a motion graphics and VFX supervisor who has worked in television for the past 8 years. Originally trained in visual effects and game development, he took his love of story and applied that to motion design.

Toronto Film School President, Andrew Barnsley is an Emmy and Golden Globe winning Executive Producer (Best Comedy Series) based in Toronto and Los Angeles. He is a six-time Canadian Screen Award winning Executive Producer. He is the CEO of Toronto-based Project 10 Productions Inc. and the President of the Toronto Film School. Barnsley is currently an Executive Producer on CBC’s 26 x ½ hour comedy series Son Of A Critch.

He recent producing credits include CBC/PopTV’s 80 x ½ hour Schitt’s Creek starring Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara, CTV/Bell Media’s 24 x ½ hour comedy series Jann starring Jann Arden and Amazon Prime’s 8 x ½ hour reboot of Kids In The Hall.

Since 2001, Barnsley has produced content across multiple genres and formats including comedy, animation, live-action, children’s documentary, and multiple live concert specials.

Barnsley is a member of the Producer’s Guild of America, the Canadian Media Producers Association, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (USA) and the Academy of Canadian Film & Television. He holds an MA in Communications and Culture from Ryerson and York Universities, a BAA from Ryerson University’s Radio and Television Arts Program and a B. Ed from St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Chandler Levack grew up in Burlington, Ontario and lives in Toronto, where she studied cinema at the University of Toronto and screenwriting at the Canadian Film Centre. She has directed numerous music videos, earning two JUNO nominations, and is a veteran journalist and a current film critic for the Globe & Mail. In 2017, her short film We Forgot to Break Up premiered at TIFF and went on to play SXSW. In 2022, her debut feature film I Like Movies premiered at TIFF and was selected for Canada's Top Ten Film Festival.

Simone Smith is a Canadian Screen Award winning editor working in film and television. Previous credits include I Like Movies, Firecrackers, the Amazon original series The Lake as well as the upcoming film Float.

Anthony Shim was born in Seoul, South Korea and then immigrated to Vancouver, Canada with his family in the early 90s. Anthony co-founded and served as the artistic director of Blind Pig Theatre then later co-founded and co-curated Railtown Lab, an initiative designed to support the development of original theatre works.

In 2019, Anthony completed his first independent feature film, Daughter, which he wrote, directed, produced and edited. His sophomore film, Riceboy Sleeps, had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022 and was named the winner of the prestigious Platform Prize.

Christopher Yip is a Queer Chinese Canadian writer & director based in Toronto whose works examine love, family, and sexuality through a distinct diasporic lens. His latest film Fish Boy, will have its World and European Premiere at the BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival. His series Streams Flow From a River, produced by Fae Pictures, will have its Digital World Premiere at the Canadian Film Fest. It will air on Super Channel, Amazon Prime Video, and Apple TV in April. In 2020, Christopher was named one of Playback Magazine's 10 to Watch and Reelworld Screen Institute's Emerging 20. He is represented by Jennifer Irons at META Talent Agency.

Karen Knox is a filmmaker and actor based in Toronto. She has served as the showrunner for Homeschooled (CBC), Slo Pitch (IFC/AMC+) and BARBELLE (Shaftesbury) for multiple seasons, while also directing and writing. Knox's directorial debut feature film Adult Adoption (Level Film) premiered at the Glasgow Film Festival in 2022, before its critically acclaimed theatrical release in North America. Knox's sophomore feature film We Forgot to Break Up (Motel Pictures) based on the award winning novel Heidegger Stairwell by Kayt Burgess is slated for a festival run in 2023. As an actor Knox is best known for SYFY's LTSC and opposite Gabourey Sidibe in Paramount's All I Didn't Want, as well as appearances in her own work.

Gwenlyn Cumyn is an award-winning creator and actor based in Toronto. After appearing in All for One (Corus/ABCSpark) and Chasing Valentine (Best Actress, MIFF), Gwenlyn developed two seasons of the digital series, Barbelle (KindaTV, Revry), produced by her company, Boss & Co. Beyond the digital space, Gwenlyn has written and produced the short films, The Fates (TIFFxInstagram) and Cons and Pros (Telefilm/Cannes Not Short on Talent). Gwenlyn appears in, co-created, and showruns the softball mockumentary, Slo Pitch (IFC/OUTtv). Most recently, Gwenlyn co-created, wrote, and directed the CBCGem series, Homeschooled, based on her own experiences with home education.

Gwenlyn Cumyn is an award-winning creator and actor based in Toronto. After appearing in All for One (Corus/ABCSpark) and Chasing Valentine (Best Actress, MIFF), Gwenlyn developed two seasons of the digital series, Barbelle (KindaTV, Revry), produced by her company, Boss & Co. Beyond the digital space, Gwenlyn has written and produced the short films, The Fates (TIFFxInstagram) and Cons and Pros (Telefilm/Cannes Not Short on Talent). Gwenlyn appears in, co-created, and showruns the softball mockumentary, Slo Pitch (IFC/OUTtv). Most recently, Gwenlyn co-created, wrote, and directed the CBCGem series, Homeschooled, based on her own experiences with home education.

Sequoyah Oakes is a registered member of the Sagamok Anishnawbek First Nation in northern Ontario. He recently completed the NABET UNIFOR 700M and Miziwe Biik training program for the film industry technical skills. He did his Grip Apprenticeship with NABET Unifor 700M on Season 3 of the Hardy Boys. He has now been accepted as a Permittee and is looking forward to having a career within the grip department in the film & television industry.

Ayesha Mansur Gonsalves is a Canadian actor, born and raised in Toronto. She currently recurs as Sarita Stark in CTV’s The Spencer Sisters and has played recurring roles in HBO Max/CBC Gem’s award-winning comedy, Sort Of, FX’s Y: The Last Man, and National Geographic's The Hot Zone. Guest star roles include Star Trek Discovery, Kim’s Convenience, Private Eyes, and Designated Survivor, among others. Select film credits include Tammy’s Always Dying starring Felicity Huffman, Brandon Cronenberg’s Possessor, and Don’t Hang Up starring Wendell Pierce and Lauren Holly. She is currently writing her first comedic series titled, Disagreeable.

Dani Kind is an award-winning actress and director recognized for her roles on two-time Emmy nominated Workin’ Moms and people’s choice award winning Wynonna Earp. Kind has been nominated for three Canadian Screen Awards for best lead actress in a comedy. In the past year Kind had her directorial debut with her short film Capsule and went on to direct an episode of Workin' Moms. As a career storyteller with a gift for finding light in the dark and exploring the full spectrum of the human experience, Kind continues to make her mark in the industry.

Yael Staav has directed multiple episodes of the much-loved comedy Workin’ Moms (CBC) and was recently nominated for a 2023 Canadian Screen Award for the show's last season. She was nominated for the 2022 Directors Guild of Canada Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy for the same show. Yael was honored by the Directors Guild of Canada for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Comedy Series for her work on Baroness Von Sketch (CBC/IFC). She also garnered a Canadian Screen Award for Direction for that same show. ​

Yael’s commercial work for Amazon, Coke, Campbell’s, Volkswagen, and Delta – with agencies including World Famous, DDB, Leo Burnett, Wieden + Kennedy, and Saatchi & Saatchi – taps into small, incidental moments that reveal who we are at our core. Much of her work is about self-discovery, examining incidental details that often go unnoticed in a world that’s all too much, too fast. ​Always up for an adventure, a laugh, an early call-time, a shared cry, or a craft burrito – the process and the journey of telling stories keeps Yael at it with fiery dedication.

Catherine Reitman is a renowned writer, showrunner, actress, comedian, producer and director best known as the creator and star of Workin’ Moms which has received two International Emmy® Award nominations for Best Comedy Series, among other nominations. Between 2020 and 2021, Reitman was recognized by the Alliance for Women in Media with Gracie Awards for Best Lead Actress, Best Direction in a Comedy, as well as Showrunner, Comedy, for her work on Workin' Moms. Additionally, Catherine is widely known for her roles on ABC’s hit series Blackish, FX’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Kenya Barris’ Netflix series, Black AF.

Shehrezade Mian is a Pakistani producer based in Toronto. Mian is an alumnus of the TIFF-Netflix Talent Accelerator, the European Audio-Visual Entrepreneurs (EAVE) On Demand Access Program for producers presented by the NSI and CMF, and the WIFT Connect mentorship program with the SVP of VICE Media. Mian is also a 2 x recipient of the competitive Telefilm Talent To Watch program. Her feature film Concrete Valley by Antoine Bourges made its world premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival and its international premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival 2023. Shehrezade also works at Hawkeye Pictures.

Damon D'Oliveira is a veteran producer responsible for bringing to screen some of Canada’s most critically and commercially successful films and television (Rude, The Grizzlies, The Book of Negroes, Wildhood). An early champion of diversity, equity and inclusion both in front and behind the camera, Damon’s career has focused producing content that centered underrepresented, racialized and LGBTQIA2S+ voices. His latest film, Brother by Clement Virgo, world premiered at TIFF 2022 to strong critical acclaim and has played festivals worldwide including Busan, Sao Paulo and BFI London Film Festivals. A recent member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Damon is also the vice-chair of the CMPA and won the Established Producer Indie Screen Award in 2022.

Award-winning filmmaker/producer Kiarash Anvari's feature debut as a writer/director/producer, The Pot and The Oak, premiered in the Bright Future Competition section of the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2017, where it's been nominated for the Bright Future Award, FIPRESCI award, and Netpac award. The film was also nominated for the FIPRESCI Award in the Debuts section of the 2017 Jerusalem Film Festival and won the Outstanding Feature Award at the 2019 ReelWorld Toronto Film Festival. As part of its long collaboration with filmmaker Sadaf Foroughi, Anvari also produced and edited AVA, Foroughi's feature debut, which premiered at TIFF 2017 and won the FIPRESCI award in the Discovery section and received an honorable mention as Best Canadian First Feature. AVA was named one of TIFF's Top Ten Canadian Films of 2017 and nominated for eight major awards at the 2018 Canadian Screen Awards, including two nominations for Best Achievement in Editing and Best Picture.

Anvari recently produced and edited Sadaf Foroughi's second feature film, Summer With Hope, which won the Crystal Globe Grand Prix at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2022. Summer With Hope also earned Anvari a Best Motion Picture nomination at this year's Canadian Screen Awards. He obtained his master's degree in film studies at the University of Provence Aix- Marseille. In 2004, he was selected to participate in the Berlinale Talent Campus and the residency program for young artists at the Berlin Academy of Arts (Akademie der Künste).

After working in distribution for 5 years, Luc Déry founded production company micro_scope in 2002. The company has produced over 25 feature films including Gabrielle (Louise Archambault), Congorama, C’est pas moi, je le jure, and My Salinger Year (Philippe Falardeau), Continental, un film sans fusil, and Tu Dors Nicole (Stéphane Lafleur), Inch’Allah (Anaïs Barbeau Lavalette), Drunken Birds (Ivan Grbovic) and this year’s Viking. All of these films have premiered in major film festivals (Cannes, Berlin, Venice, TIFF and Locarno) and two, Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies and Philippe Falardeau’s Monsieur Lazhar were nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Academy Awards.

Sylvain Corbel founded Metafilms Inc in 2003. As of this day, he produced more than 25 short and 25 feature films. Among others, Maxime Giroux’s Félix et Meira (2014) won the Best Canadian Film Award at TIFF, Juste la fin du monde, (Xavier Dolan, 2016), won the Grand Jury Prize at Festival de Cannes. In 2022, he presented Un été comme ça (Denis Côté) in Competition at the 72nd Berlinale, Rojek (Zaynê Akyol) in Competition at the 53rd Vision du Réel, Falcon Lake (Charlotte Le Bon) at the 54th Director’s Fortnight in Cannes.

Liz Shorten has been working to build capacity in the film, television and digital media sectors for the past 25 years. In her role as chief operating officer at the CMPA, Liz leads staff and oversees organizational operations across the association’s offices in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver, and works to implement the CMPA’s corporate strategic plan. Liz previously held senior positions at the Ontario Film Development Corporation (Ontario Creates), British Columbia Film (Creative BC), and CBC Television.

Liz was recently named one of BC’s top 500 Business Leaders by Business in Vancouver and “Woman of the Year” by Women in Film and Television Vancouver in recognition of her leadership role in the film and television industry.