Production Grant

Festival

Past Years

Film Library

Cliques and Echo Chambers & Serious Mental Illness

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Films

Meditations Between Us

Crane

Brotherly

Clubbing

Plant People

Screenless

Where Is My Thought Now?

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All Meat Diet

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The Four Noble Truths

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Bonfire

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Filmmakers

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Kincaid Walker

A graduate of Northwestern University, Kincaid is an award-winning writer, producer and actress, based in LA. Favourite film: The Royal Tenenbaums

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Ashleigh Vaillancourt

Ashleigh Vaillancourt is an award-winning filmmaker and multimedia artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is known for her work exploring themes of personal resilience, and has shown her pieces in festivals and galleries around the globe.

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Brandon Hicks

Brandon Hicks is a writer and cartoonist based in New Brunswick, Canada. He is the author/illustrator of several books and frequent contributor to a number of publications. His award-winning short films have played in international festivals.

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David McShane

Director and animator based in London, love stories centered around queerness & fantasy. Primarily work in stop-motion! Favourite film: Pan's Labyrinth

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Eric Forbes

Eric (he/him) is a director and cinematographer from Fort Collins, Colorado, who is passionate about films focused on mental health. He has directed/co-created multiple films on topics including ADHD, family system structures, and climate anxiety.

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Jason Eskuzian

Jason is an award-winning director, writer, producer, cinematographer and soccer fanatic based in Los Angeles. Favourite film: High Fidelity

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Aiden Keltner

San Diego & LA based filmmaker, 2 time Emmy Award recipient, VWI Alum and William Male Foundation Grant awardee. Favourite film: Capernaum

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Gavin Seal

South Asian Québécois Canadian Writers Guild of Canada prize-winning filmmaker and President of Intersectionnel Films. Favourite film: Gattaca

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Leanne Dimant

Writer/Director, BFI funded to make a film about a psychiatric patient who builds spaceships. Favourite film: Lady Macbeth

Mentors

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Randy Kelly

Randy Kelly is an award-winning director, editor, and cameraman based in the Ottawa/Gatineau area. With 25 years of experience in film, TV, and documentaries, he focuses on projects highlighting Indigenous cultures, traveling across Canada and internationally.

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Kyungwon Song

Kyungwon Song is a Korean-born independent animator based in Bay Area. Her animations often depict non-fiction subjects, and her main media are early film technique and stop-motion.

Ego Plum

Ego Plum is a Mexican-American film composer, musician, and performer. He is best known for his work on The Cuphead Show!, The Patrick Star Show, Kamp Koral, SpongeBob SquarePants, Jellystone!, Making Fiends and Harvey Beaks.

Austin Wang

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Stefanie Horowitz

Stefanie Abel Horowitz directed theater for a decade before pivoting to film. As writer / director she most recently participated in the Disney Launchpad: Shorts Incubator program. Her short LET'S BE TIGERS premiered on Disney + in May 2021.

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Breech Harani

Breech Asher Harani, a filmmaker and time-based media artist from the Philippines, creates poignant, experimental films on society and the environment. He is the first Filipino Young Creatives Awardee by the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and a 2020 Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 honoree.

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Fu Yang

Fu is a stop-motion filmmaker and partner at the boutique animation studio, Cafe LaBobo. She specializes in mixed media storytelling and crafts each project from concept to final. In one of her past productions, she directed a segment for "Yo Gabba GabbaLand!", streaming on Apple TV+.

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Rachel Rose

Rachel Rose is a filmmaker with a history of telling powerful stories and bringing together awesome queer and femme creatives.

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Johnny Knittle

Johnny is a music composer primarily for animation but loves all things sound. At 6, his first dream career was to be a syndicated comic strip artist, ended up on guitar instead. He also enjoys DnD, mainly for the cool dice.

Jurors

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Juan Sosa

Juan Sosa, M.D. is a psychiatrist with sub-specialty training in forensic and addiction psychiatry. Dr. Sosa appreciates the use of various art forms, including film, to highlight and reflect on the impact mental illness has on those diagnosed.

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Jane Carter

I am a socially conscious psychologist who is full of mischief, and a lover of motorcycle trips! Favourite film: The Lobster

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Michelle Jobes

Dr. Michelle Jobes is a dedicated public servant working in substance use disorder research with an eye and heart always on reducing the stigma of substance use disorders and mental health.

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Mikaela Ivanco

Dedicated and creative health promoter with over a decade of experience in evidence-based health promotion.

Rebecca Miller

Becca Miller, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and Associate Professor in the Yale Department of Psychiatry. She directs Peer Support at Connecticut Mental Health Center.

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Tam Nguyen

Dr. Tam T. Nguyen is a clinical psychologist and serves as the Director of Ambulatory Mental Health & Addiction Care for Sutter Health. An expert in developing, implementing, and running large-scale mental healthcare projects.

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Katie Bendel

I like learning about mental health, helping other people feel less alone, and spending time outside (with my dogs)! Favourite film: Billy & Molly

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Olivia DePaul

An Occupational Therapist who loves helping others reach their full potential. Favourite film: Airplane!

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Perry Voulgaris

Creating, managing, launching and distributing programming in screen-based, immersive and experiential media. Favourite film: Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Richard Espinoza

Dr. E is a psychologist passionate about expressive arts therapy, applying cinematherapy to help healing. Favourite film: The Silence of the Lambs

Elizabeth Ayiku

Elizabeth Hancq

Elizabeth Sinclair Hancq was the director of research at Treatment Advocacy Center, where she led the creation of and publishes mental services and policy research related to serious mental illness.

Jon Kieran

Jonathan Kieran is a film programmer hailing from Essex County, Massachusetts. He currently serves as the Atlanta Film Society’s Programming Director.

Dylan Dunn

Assistant Director at SAFE Project (Stop the Addiction Fatality Epidemic). Serving over 450 colleges and universities seeking to implement harm reduction, addiction recovery, and anti-stigma initiatives.

Daksha Arora

Natalie Cook

Natalie Cook is a filmmaker-poet. Her poetry film, BACKWARDS GOD, was the 2020 Grand Prize Winner of the AT&T Film Awards. She is the founder of Atlanta Word Works.

Hao Zhou

Zhou is a filmmaker from Southwest China, making films in narrative and documentary genres. Favourite film: Days of Being Wild

Randy Kelly

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Athena Russell

Athena Russell is an award-winning actress, writer, director and producer based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Having amassed a resume of over 45 professional film and TV credits both in front, and behind, the camera.

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Meagan Brown

Meagan Brown (she/her) is a Montreal-based film and television editor. Her work has been featured on channels such as CBC and Noovo. When she's not editing, Meagan can usually be found puzzling.

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Nicole Kennedy

Nicole Kennedy (she/her): a filmmaker, published writer, researcher, and recreation therapist who specializes in mental health. Her work is based upon her own experience with schizophrenia and the associated stigma.

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Alex Nystrom

Alex Nystrom, an Ojibwe writer, director, and producer from Minneapolis, explores identity in contemporary Native stories. A 2021 Native American Media Alliance fellow, his pilot Between made the 2022 Indigenous List. He works in Los Angeles as a director’s assistant.

Nic Altobelli

Nic Altobelli is an independent Producer based in Vancouver, working locally and in Toronto and LA. They are passionate about telling stories that reflect diverse experiences and prioritize improving access to underrepresented artists.

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Nich Perez

Nich Perez is a Filipino-American filmmaker and educator, blending human connection with storytelling. Through his nonprofit, the Nonprofit Film Collective, he crafts powerful narratives that inspire change. His latest film, letters to eleanore, explores disability, hope, and community.

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Cassidy Civiero

Cassidy Civiero (he/him) is a transgender filmmaker with a focus on content related to climate change, mental health & mindfulness, and gender & sexuality. His latest film, Return to Nature (2024), won Critic's Choice at the Experimental Film Fest after a three-month premiere at the Penticton Art Gallery as part of their exhibit, "Gifts of Madness". He is a writer and co-executive producer for the series You're My Hero (2024) on CBC Gem. Cassidy believes anything is possible, both in life and on screen.

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Charlie Staunton

Charlie Staunton is a poet and performer and filmmaker from Hereford. He loves words and uses them often both in his professional and personal life with varying effects, all of them interesting. He has performed on stages national and international and has been commissioned to write for organisations like the BBC, Channel 4, MIND, and The National Trust. You can find him and his work online and on the radio in all the magical places one tends to look.

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Katelyn Bessette

Katelyn Bessette is the Development Director at Bridges to Change, an Oregon nonprofit providing housing, peer support and behavioral health treatment. BTC hosts the PDX Recovery Film Festival in Portland.

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Ligia Houben

Ligia Houben is a professional Grief Coach, Life Transition Specialist, founder of My Meaningful Life, LLC and The Center for Transforming Lives in Miami.

Breech Harani

Fu Yang

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Shenuka Corea

Shenuka Corea is a visual storyteller from Sri Lanka and is the creator of the animated shorts ‘Sweet Oranges’ and ‘The Plastic Horror’. She is currently working on a graphic novel. In her free time, Shenuka enjoys fiber arts and Dungeons and Dragons.

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Belen Garcia

Belen Garcia is a Mexican Cinematographer who lives and creates in Vancouver, Canada. Belen is a proud member of Apertura, a Mexican community of female cinematographers. She was recently selected for the 2022-2023 ASC Vision Mentorship program.

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Julie Colman

Head of Production at Rural Media, I create and support films that amplify underrepresented voices. Coming from a working-class background, I came to filmmaking later in life after a career in admin and raising my family. I value bold, meaningful storytelling. My creative journey has been shaped by lived experience, curiosity and a determination to create space for voices and stories that deserve to be heard.

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Margaret Kroen

Margaret Ann Kroen believes that art has unlimited capacity to bring relief, support and joy to all. She is a social worker with 50 years of clinical and administrative experience in mental health, substance use, and research. Her favorite film is La Belle et la Bête by Jean Cocteau.