Our Guests

Director, Al Purdy Was Here

Brian D. Johnson is one Canada’s leading film critics and cultural commentators. He is also an author, filmmaker, musician and broadcaster. He is president of the Toronto Film Critics Association, where he created the annual TFCA Awards gala in 2008, now home to the $100,000 Rogers Best Canadian Film Award.

Johnson is Contributing Editor at Maclean’s, where he was a Senior Writer from 1985 to 2014. He is the author of three non-fiction books, including the TIFF history Brave Films, Wild Nights: 25 Years of Festival Fever (2000)—as well as a book of poetry, Marzipan Lies (1974), and a novel, Volcano Days (1994). He has directed two Bravo!FACT short films, Tell Me Everything (2006) and Yesno (2010).

Brian will be taking questions from the audience after the screening of his film, Al Purdy Was Here.

Jane, Will You...

Lunchtime Screenwriting Panel

Steve Belford, a native of Milton, has been a working Actor for over 12 years. He's had leading, recurring and guest starring roles on hit TV shows such as Degrassi: The Next Generation, Vampire Diaries, The Listener and Supernatural. He's also written and produced 5 short films, one of which has screened in festivals across North America and was nominated for a motion picture award. Currently he is writing his first feature film and working for Greenpeace on their Save the Arctic campaign.

More on Steve's work on IMDB.

(photo by Cheryl Parsons Photography)

Director, Barn Wedding

A native of Guelph, Ontario, Shaun Benson began his career working as a lead actor on the television series The Associates, Just Cause, and General Hospital. His film work began in the Katherine Bigelow directed K:19 alongside Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson. He has since appeared in dozens of television shows and films including work with Oscar Nominee Berenice Bejo, Romain Duris, and Canadian luminaries such as Gordon Pinsent, Nicholas Campbell and Andrea Martin. Currently he has a recurring role on S. Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience.

Stop/Kiss, Shaun's directoral debut for the stage, won several 'Best Of' awards. Barn Wedding is his first feature film as director. He will be taking questions from the audience after the screening of the film.

Producer, Keystone

Michael is a Production & Post Production professional for TV, Film & Digital Media. Currently, he holds the position of Film & Tourism Specialist for the City of Brampton. His catalogue of short films as a Producer includes the award-winning Infanticide! (2013), The Rink (2011) and Last Music Man (2011). His films have screened around the world and have aired nationally on CBC’s Canadian Reflections. In 2015, Michael wrote and directed his first short film Pitter Patter Goes Her Heart.

Keystone is Michael's first time working with Writer/Director Ian Foster through the guise of circa16 films, with more to come! Michael’s entire portfolio can be found at ciuffini.ca.

Director, Keystone

Ian Foster comes from Newfoundland, a place of stories. As a musician, he’s a road-worn troubadour with a keen poetic sense and infinite wisdom in his writing, but he’ll make you laugh between songs. In 2012, Ian wrote and directed his first short film, "One More Song". The film screened at the 2013 Nickel Film Festival in St. John’s, Newfoundland and the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Not the End of the World

Unlike most actors who aim for a career early, Jordan did not find an aptitude for this until later in life. Cajoled by his daughter into joining an amateur theatre troupe in 2002, he didn't set foot into the professional spotlight until 2013. Jordan lives in Dunnville, near the Niagara region of southern Ontario, Canada, with his partner of 10+ years, and all of their horses and assorted animals. When he's not otherwise working, Jordan spends his time working on the farm, occasionally taking time out for competitive jousting, mounted archery, sword combat and Cowboy Action Shooting.

Not the End of the World is Jordan's first production as a filmmaker.

Speaker, How to Change the World

Dan McDermott is Chapter Director of Sierra Club Ontario and has worked with the Club since 1998. In 1976/77 Dan and other Toronto based environmentalists organized what initially was to be a local Greenpeace support group. The involvement of Dan and his colleagues quickly expanded to active participation in Greenpeace campaigns and the start of the first Greenpeace campaign opposing nuclear power.

His campaign participation in the late 70s and early 80s included parachuting into the Darlington nuclear site in 1979, climbing a smokestack in Michigan to protest acid rain in 1981, and was a veteran of Greenpeace Seal Campaigns from 1977-1982. Dan was a member of the Greenpeace Canada Board of Directors 1980-1988, and worked with Greenpeace in several capacities into the 90s including as Canadian Campaign Coordinator and International Acid Rain Coordinator.

I'm Trying to Melt Your Heart

Daniel Pearce is a 20 year old Writer-Director from Milton, currently developing a number of short films with his production team Real Real Realism in Toronto. His directorial and writing debut was the Humber produced experimental film I'm Trying to Melt Your Heart, followed by writing the screenplay for the Humber produced comedy The Waiting Room. He spent the summer of 2015 directing a horror short film called Dead Leaves on Dirty Ground, which he wrote along with Luke Gellatly. The film is currently in post production, to be released on the festival circuit in the Halloween season of 2016. Daniel is also in pre-production on another independent short which he wrote and directed, a punk rock musical called Punk Rock Girl, and he will be graduating from the Humber Film and Television program at the end of April 2016.

When not working in film, Daniel performs live at small bars in Toronto under the stage name White Dan, in a one-man show which is a mix of acoustic folk-punk music and stand up comedy routines.

Lunchtime Screenwriting Panel

Kalman is a Toronto-based filmmaker who also is the director of the Film & TV Production Program at the Trebas Institute. He holds a BFA honours degree in Film/TV Production from York University and is currently finishing his thesis script to complete his MFA in Screenwriting & Film Studies, at Hollins University, Virginia. He is best known as director/producer of the cult hit, Cannibal Rollerbabes, a low-budget horror movie that had a worldwide release and currently available on iTunes. ‘Cannibal’ generated buzz and attention of notorious radio host, Howard Stern.

Over the years, Kalman has been involved in directing/producing numerous feature films, TV shows and commercials in both Europe and North America, and recently has been guest lecturing on the topic of proper feature film screenwriting structure. Additionally, Kalman runs his own production company, Wildfire Motion Picture Co. More on IMDB.

Composer, Sleeping Giant

Chris Thornborrow is an award-winning composer of film-score, opera, and concert music. He is the cofounder of the Toy Piano Composers, a collective that since 2008 has premiered over 120 new works including chamber music, art song, short opera, and orchestral music by an emerging generation of Canadian and International composers.

Chris has scored over a dozen films which have screened at festivals including Toronto International Film Festival, Cannes Semaine de la Critique, Vancouver International Film Festival, and Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. He is currently the musical director of the Canadian Opera Company's after school opera program, writing and directing original operas with children in communities across Toronto.

Chris will be taking questions from the audience after the screening of Sleeping Giant.

Olena

Jorge came to Canada in 2008 from Colombia and graduated from Film Production at Confederation College in April 2015. During his first months here, he had the chance to meet refugees from different countries and heard their deeply emotive stories. Since then he has felt obliged to bring those stories to life, and to share them to raise awareness, compassion, understanding, and solidarity. He wants to make films to inspire, to open minds, as well as to create a positive impact on minorities.

We are pleased to once again welcome author and journalist Ron Base as our official Festival host and M.C.

Most Miltonians know Ron Base as the author of the popular 'Sanibel Sunset Detective' novels, but fewer know of his previous life as an acclaimed journalist. From 1981 to 1987, Base wrote movie reviews for the Toronto Star and profiled the major stars of the day, including Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman, Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, Michael Caine, Eddie Murphy, Richard Burton, Dustin Hoffman, Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Woody Allen, Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Kevin Costner.

During this time, he hosted a syndicated radio show, Marquee Magazine at the Movies and also co-hosted The Movie Show with Alex Barris for TV Ontario. He also appeared frequently on the CTV network's Canada AM to talk about movies.