Talent

Alpha Nicky is an award-winning filmmaker with French and Congolese heritage, based in Toronto. She began her career by creating dynamic promotional content at agencies in Paris and London. Alpha then specialized in fiction and documentary while working as a content producer for media companies. Her work as a filmmaker has earned her selections and awards at several festivals such as Canada Shorts Film Festival, Women of African Descent Film Festival, Miami Independent Film Festival, and Reelworld Film Festival. She also directs for television and her work can be seen on Lifetime, Tubi, Apple TV, and TF1.

Alpha is a 2022 Netflix-BANFF Diversity of Voices Initiative alumna, and was part of the 2022 APFC Élan Feature Film Writing program supported by Telefilm, Netflix, and CMF. She describes herself as a filmmaker who is passionate about pushing the boundaries of traditional storytelling, with an appetite for original stories. Her multicultural background, influences, and experience continue to fuel her work to this day.

Toronto filmmaker Amar Wala's work traverses a range of style and form. Starting with several award-winning scripted shorts, Amar brings that same visual, story-driven approach to his documentary work. His debut feature, The Secret Trial 5 (2014), established him as a daring new voice in Canadian cinema, and was named one of the Top Ten Docs of the Decade by Realscreen in 2020. He is known for his arresting visual style and empowering brand of storytelling, often using his cinema to deconstruct notions of race, class, and identity.

Amar is a recipient of the prestigious Vanguard Award from the DOC Institute. He has written, directed, and produced award-winning television series, including the acclaimed CBC Arts program In the Making, and award-winning comedy series Next Stop, which was nominated for a CSA in 2021. His latest project is Shook, his scripted feature debut supported by Telefilm Canada.

Christopher Yip (he/him) is a Queer Chinese Canadian writer and director based in Toronto, whose works examine love, family, and sexuality through a distinct diasporic lens. His latest film FISH BOY had its world premiere at the BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival and was one of eight projects selected for the Frameline Completion Fund. His series Streams Flow From a River, produced by Fae Pictures, had its International Premiere at the Cannes International Series Festival and its digital world premiere at the Canadian Film Fest. It is now streaming on Super Channel, Amazon Prime Video, and Apple TV in Canada. In 2020, Christopher was named one of Playback's 10 to Watch and Reelworld Screen Institute's Emerging 20. He is represented by Jennifer Irons at META Talent Agency.

Duane Crichton is a graduate of the TMU (formerly Ryerson) Radio & Television program. He started his career directing music videos, which eventually led to winning two MMVA awards. Commercial directing work followed soon after: he won the Shots Best Young Director Award at the Cannes Commercial Festival in 2005, which kick started his commercial directing career. Over the years, he has directed campaigns for brands including Rogers, Sick Kids Hospital, Toyota, Home Depot, and many more.

Duane has directed three short films and one feature, Saving God, starring Ving Rhames. His most recent short film, Swimmer, is currently doing the festival circuit. It was included in the program for the New York Shorts Film Festival late last year, and was shown at the Toronto Short Film Festival in March 2023. Duane also mentors young BIPOC directing talent through the organization Hire Higher. https://www.hirehigher.ca/

Driven by her passion for storytelling and television, Marilyn Cooke is the director of Pa t'mentir (2022 Prix Gémeaux winner), an unscripted series covering subjects that affect the Black community. She also directed season 3 of scripted teen series Avec moi (2022), currently streaming on ICI TOU.TV. Since completing her degree in film studies at Université du Québec à Montréal, Marilyn has helmed three short fiction films as a writer and director. Her work has qualified for an Academy Award, screened in over 50 film festivals (TIFF, Palm Springs), and won prizes at both national and international festivals. Her approach draws on the strength of images and staging to convey emotions, both for comedy and for drama. She is currently writing her first fiction feature, Daughter of the Mango Tree, which received support from the TIFF Filmmaker Lab, in addition to directing scripted and unscripted projects for television.

Mary Galloway is an award-winning filmmaker, actor, and fierce trailblazer of Cowichan and mixed settler descent, who is paving the way for Indigi-queer content creation. She's currently based out of Treaty One Territory (Winnipeg).

Mary bravely tells stories that represent marginalized communities in a heartfelt, entertaining, and enlightening manner. Her achievements include being a TIFF Rising Star, a WFF Talent to Watch, a recipient of WIFTV's Newcomer Award, and being named to The Hollywood Reporter's list of Breakouts Making An Impact on Hollywood. In 2021, she released her web series Querencia on APTN LUMI in Canada and on Revry TV globally. Querencia was nominated for 2 Canadian Screen Awards for Best Web Series and the Cogeco Audience Choice Award 2022. Mary is a graduate of the world-class CFC’s Directors’ Lab.

In 2022, she was one of eight participants selected nationwide to take part in the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television's Executive Residency Program. She is currently in pre-development with APTN to take season 2 of Querencia to TV as a half-hour linear show, as well as in pre-development on two feature documentaries and her first scripted feature. In early 2023, she co-directed an APTN/Bell Fund digital series, D dot H, and is currently working on a blind development deal with Bell/Crave to create a brand new TV series. In June 2023, she is shooting an episode on the hit Crave/APTN original series Acting Good season two.

Born in Japan, raised on three continents, Mayumi Yoshida is a director, actor, writer, and producer based in Vancouver, BC. She’s an alumna of Women In the Director’s Chair, WBD Access x Canadian Academy Writers Program, TIFF Writer’s Studio, and TIFF Netflix Talent Accelerator Fellowship.

Since making her directorial debut on AKASHI (the 2017 short), she has created many short films centered around Asian characters, and has won many awards worldwide. The latest music video she directed, Different Than Before by Amanda Sum, starring Tzi Ma (Mulan), earned a Vimeo Staff Pick, a Jury Award at the SXSW Music Video Competition, and screened at Oscar and BAFTA qualifying film festivals. In 2023, it was also nominated for Music Video of the Year at the JUNO Awards. Her first feature, also called AKASHI, received development and production funding from Telefilm and is slated to go into production in 2023, shooting in Vancouver and Japan.

Mayumi is currently working on the A24/Apple TV+ series Sunny, starring Rashida Jones, as an Associate Producer.

Born in Iran, raised in Canada, Rouzbeh Heydari has been directing, producing, writing, and editing award winning content for over a decade. Rouzbeh recently directed Eli Roth’s A Ghost Ruined My Life (Discovery+). His latest feature film, Neon Lights, starring Sons of Anarchy's Kim Coates, was released by Entertainment One and is now on Netflix. Rouzbeh’s first full length feature film, Together Again, was filmed in Iran and had incredible box office success inside the country, but was banned by the Iranian regime. Rouzbeh is currently in post production on his third feature, A Hundred Lies, starring Rob Raco (Netflix’s Riverdale), Humberly González (Netflix’s Ginny & Georgia), and Brandon McKnight (The Flash).

Samantha Wan is known as one of the creators of OMNI/City TV’s comedy Second Jen, which was nominated for a 2019 Canadian Screen Award for Best Comedy Series. Samantha received her second CSA nomination this year for Best Direction, TV Movie, for her work on Love At Sky Gardens. Before that, she was commissioned to create OMNI TV’s first original digital series, Sudden Master, a kung fu series inspired by her martial arts background. Most recently, Samantha directed Lady Ada’s Secret Society, a digital series for marbleKids Media, empowering girls in technology through mischief and fun. A strong advocate for representation in the industry, Samantha also received the Trailblazer Award from the Reelworld Film Festival.

Samantha is a storyteller who reaches out to people with the message that “you are not alone.” She strives for imagination, play, and authentic connection in all her work in front of and behind the camera. 

After completing his MFA in film at UCLA and training with ‘directing actors’ maestro Judith Weston, Tarique Qayumi began his career at TOLO TV, Afghanistan's largest TV station.

He directed Truth Unveiled, Afghanistan's first docudrama series; The Defenders, a dramatic miniseries; as well as seasons two and three of the Afghan version of Sesame Street. His first feature film, Targeting, won Best Film at the Afghan Human Rights Festival in Kabul in 2015.

Tarique’s second feature Black Kite, a historical drama that he wrote, directed, edited, and cinematographed, premiered at TIFF in 2017. The film screened at 20 festivals worldwide and won three Leo Awards: Best Writer, Best Direction, and Best Picture. It was sold to Amazon Studios.

Tarique also directed a short using virtual production technology through a DGC initiative in 2021. Currently, he is in post on his third feature, MÂDAR, with production financing from Telefilm.