Kris Anderson Connexions Youth Forum

In 2012, DOXA and the National Film Board of Canada (Pacific-Yukon) are exceptionally proud to offer the Kris Anderson Connexions Youth Forum. Named in honour of DOXA’s founder, Connexions fosters documentary filmmaking and storytelling skills in young women as a way to address gender inequality within the film industry. Participants will create short film projects, meet with industry mentors, and attend festival screenings. The workshop production mentors are Catrina Longmuir, Lisa G. Nielson, and Moira Simpson. Industry mentors include Tracey Friesen, Janice Brown, Aerlyn Weissman, Cari Green, Gael MacLean, Teri Snelgrove, and Lisa Miller. The short documentary films that the Connexions participants create will screen at DOXA’s special presentation of Brishkay Ahmed’s new film Story of Burqa, part of Making Waves: Spotlight on Canadian Women in Documentary.

Connexions Partners

Connexions Participants

Ashley Kascak began her journey as a non-fiction storyteller studying journalism at SAIT Polytechnic in Calgary. Her desire to speak deeper into injustices against women and children led her to Capilano’s documentary film program, where she is currently in post-production for her short film about exiting survival sex work, titled My Way Out.

Read and comment on her Sex Crimes Unit blog. 

Neelam Khare is a student at Simon Fraser University, a change maker, a womyn, free spirited, East Indian, the daughter of an incredible womyn, a fighter ready to address the current crisis our world is facing. She was introduced to documentary filmmaking when she set off with Peggy Lam (also Connexions 2012) to make a documentary about social justice and environmental issues. She hopes to use film as a medium to challenge systems of power and social norms to create meaningful change based on compassion, justice and equality.
 

Peggy Lam is a 2nd-generation Vietnamese Canadian, 3rd year university student, and an aspiring documentary film-maker, journalist, poet, and social justice activist. After high school, Peggy embarked on a journey across Canada to film a documentary on social justice and environmental issues, capture the voices of marginalized communities, and highlight the work of change-makers across the nation. This journey itself has changed her life and inspired her to pursue a life-long career in documentary film making. Peggy is currently pursuing her studies in human geography and public dialogue, with an environment specialty at Simon Fraser University.

Read and comment on her Tahrir-Liberation Square blog. 

Paula McGlynn is completing her 4th and final year at the SFU Film Production program. She was first inspired by big documentaries such as BBC's Planet Earth and The Corporation, but has since found her passion in telling stories on a more personal, human scale. She believes that a filmmaker has to know themselves before knowing their subject.

Read and comment on her Bear 71 blog.
Read and comment on her Big Boys Gone Bananas!* blog.

Gala Milne is a cycling enthusiast, and lover of fine penmanship. She joins the team of fantastic women at DOXA Connexions with a make-shift background in storytelling by way of freelance writing, audio documentary, and a random collection of home-made videos, mostly made with her point & shoot camera). Gala organizes intro-to-tools workshops for The Vancouver Tool Library, coordinates the Museum of Vancouver Youth Council, and holds a BA Communication from SFU. From comic strips to climate change, Gala believes in the power of storytelling in order to create strong and effective leadership. You can find her creative side online at galasarah.wordpress.com.

Alaïs Nevert is a Canadian and French filmmaker currently attending Capilano University’s documentary program. She has a “Baccalauréat” in literature and philosophy with a major in Cinema and a degree in Film Studies from University of Montreal. She has directed and edited over 30 shorts, has worked and volunteered at film festivals, as a cameraperson for events, and was hired for the summer of 2010 as a journalist videographer for Parks Canada, being one of the 32 selected out of over 900 students. She was rehired the following summer as a videographer manager of new media.
 

Industry Mentors

Janice Brown is one of Canada’s most eminent film editors. Her list of credits stretches from Ivan Reitman’s “Heavy Metal” to the NFB’s “Being Caribou” to Imax’s “Beavers”. As Post-Production Supervisor for International Documentary Television Corporation (DOCTV), she has managed over 100 hours of network television including the recent  biographical feature “Burning Candles: The Life of Edna St Vincent Millay.” She recently completed a documentary feature “40 days at Base Camp” on life at Base Camp Everest. An avid walker, she has completed the Camino de Santiago, crossed Nepal and Peru and trekked across  Newfoundland and Iceland.

Tracey Friesen became executive producer of the NFB at the Pacific & Yukon Centre in 2007. Her numerous NFB credits including the award winning titles ScaredSacred, Being Caribou, Carts of Darkness, Shameless: The ART of Disability, Mighty Jerome and Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie. Tracey has been a champion of filmmaker initiatives at her studio, such as: Cookin’ Creative, Melting Silos, Our World, AccessNFB, and DOXA’s Connexions Program. She has been an active member of the facilitation team for Media That Matters. As the interactive media landscape evolves, Tracey is diversifying her slate to include new creators and alternative forms of narrative expression.

Cari Green is a film and television producer with over twenty-five years experience in production and distribution.  She has produced over 20 award-winning productions, including, ScaredSacred, The Corporation and most recently, Sisters in Arms. She authored a report on the status of women in the independent film industry and served on many organizations, including: Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC), Hot Docs, DOXA, and Women in Film and Video (honorary life-time member). Cari is currently pursuing her MFA in film production at UBC, teaching at the Vancouver Film School, and sits on the board of the First Weekend Club.

Gael MacLean is one of Canada’s half-dozen, pre-eminent, sound & music designers. She has produced, directed, supervised and created sound & music design for feature films, television movies, series & mini-series, animated shorts and documentaries in Canada and the US. Gael has extensive knowledge of all aspects and phases of post-production, and as a former post-production studio executive where local and international film and television companies were served, she has, through experience, acquired strong expertise in business development, budgeting and project management.

Lisa Miller’s compositions have been premiered by de Bijloke ensemble, theTetzepi Bigtet,  mmm…, the Quatuor Bozzini  (for the NFB with director Marv Newland), Vancouver New Music, Standing Wave, Turning Point Ensemble, The Vancouver Chinese Instrumental Music Society, The Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, The Left Coast Ensemble and Earplay. Miller has directed workshops  and produced concerts and multi media installations. Lisa Miller has performed with international and local artists and her CDs have received rave international reviews. Q and The lisa miller trio has recently released their second album, waterwall, with Eyvind Kang and will tour Northern Europe in May 2012.

Teri Snelgrove worked in theatre before joining the NFB in 2006. She studied film at ECUAD, and  was the recipient of the Academy of Canadian Film and Television Apprenticeship. She produced the video installation “In Her Footsteps:  Celebrating BC Women in Sport” for the BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum and the Miscellaneous Productions video production of “e-race”, and worked extensively as a voice director for documentaries and animation. Recently, she worked with Marie Clements on “Jesus Indian”,  and produced Jan Derbyshire’s “Sanity for Beginners” for the WAM Festival. She is a former board member of DOXA.

Aerlyn Weissman is a writer/ director and new media strategist with extensive international production credits on projects from forensic archaeology and digital culture to sexuality and censorship. Aerlyn has taught representation in popular culture, and professional media practice at the University of British Columbia and Emily Carr University. The recipient of two Genie Awards, she has a Master’s degree in Digital Media, awarded jointly by the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University and was the first recipient of the Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award in Film and New Media in 2009.

Production Mentors

Catrina Longmuir has worked as a documentary and media arts producer and instructor since 2005. Her work ranges the revitalization of First Nations languages to documenting Japanese Canadian elders’ stories in New Denver BC.  She has conducted several digital storytelling initiatives for under-represented youth, including Our World, The Colouring Book, & DOXA Connexions with the NFB.  Recently, she line produced a documentary about sushi for OMNI TV and is currently co-producing an hour-long historical doc with the Gwa’sala and ‘Nakwaxda’xw First Nations. With a background in Fine Arts & Anthropology, her passion lies in working with diverse artists+ communities to create unique films + art.

Lisa g Nielsen is a multidisciplinary artist who has been focused for the last 12 years in the digital media realm. Her short videos (live action and animations) have traveled the globe and collected awards along the way. Obsessed by real stories by real people, Lisa g creates both individual and community based short documentaries, and teaches digital storytelling workshops all over BC and the Yukon.

Moira Simpson has been a freelance director, cinematographer and editor for over 30 years. The subjects of Mo’s docs range from strife in Kosovo, to youth and drug addiction, to the complexities of offering aid to Africa. Mo was DOP and location sound recordist on the National Film Board’s Finding Dawn, a journey into the heart of Native womens’ experience in Canada. Mo recently completed working on The Stories of the Nikkei, a multi-faceted community based web project telling the story of the Japanese Internment in New Denver during the Second World War. She has taught filmmaking at UBC, Emily Carr and SFU.