Documentary Cohort

Anandi Brownstein is a documentary filmmaker based on Coast Salish territory in Vancouver, Canada. Her cinematography has premiered at TIFF, VIFF, Planet in Focus, Banff Mountain Film Festival, and Kendall Mountain Film Festival, and she has directed documentary series for CBC Gem and short films that have screened at DOXA, GemFest, among others. In 2022, she trained as an Impact Producer with Story Money Impact, expanding her practice to explore how film can contribute to meaningful social change. Across her work, Anandi is drawn to stories at the intersection of creativity, resilience, and the natural world, guided by values of transparency, reciprocity, and collaboration.

Jay Cardinal Villeneuve began his career by guerrilla-filming numerous no-budget short films before enrolling and graduating from the Indigenous Digital Film Program at Capilano University. Jay then worked as a videographer recording private statements from residential school survivors with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for several years before directing the NFB produced documentary Holy Angels that won him a Leo Award for Screenwriting. He was then chosen for the inaugural Warner Media Canadian Academy Writer’s Program, and his latest film, Gods & Devils, is currently playing festivals.

Jon Ornoy has been producing and directing films for more than twenty years, creating award-winning work that has screened internationally and sold to outlets such as Superchannel, Starz, Peacock, and even Air Force One. Of note among his award-winning titles is the feature documentary With Glowing Hearts, which found international distribution and a home on Canada’s Documentary Channel; and the short True Love Waits, which was produced in 2012 with a $100,000 prize awarded by the Whistler Film Festival. Most recently, Jon’s feature documentary directing debut, Lost in the Shuffle, premiered in competition at Hot Docs in 2024 and in 2020 he produced the narrative feature, All Joking Aside, which took home the New Visions Award at its festival premiere at Cinequest.

Leen Issa is a Palestinian-Syrian editor, director, and producer, working across documentary, fiction, and editorial video. Her work has been featured by VICE and NOWNESS and screened at international film festivals. She previously served as Supervising Video Editor at VICE Arabia, where she led post-production and produced work exploring contemporary Arab youth culture. In 2025, she was selected for the VIFF Catalyst program and Story Money Impact’s Mentorship Program. She is the recipient of the Emerging Changemaker Award at GEMFest 2026. Leen’s work centers on character-driven storytelling, foregrounding intimate lived experiences within broader socio-political realities. She is currently developing her debut feature documentary, supported by Creative BC and the BC Arts Council.

Martin Osowski is a Polish/Canadian filmmaker based between Rotterdam and Vancouver. With a background spanning Lens-Based Media (MFA, Piet Zwart Institute), Aerospace Engineering (BSc, TU Delft) and Sociology (Minor, Osaka University), Martin’s work opposes techno-solutionism and instead bridges anthropological and scientific inquiry with expanded cinema. He is currently in production on his debut feature documentary titled Moving Trees, an experimental portrait of scientists adapting ecosystems to the future climate by replanting them hundreds of kilometres northwards.

Darragh Amelia is a non-fiction filmmaker and curator, and has co-created spaces for cinema and other artistic practices internationally. Her documentary work can be found in the permanent collection of the EYE Filmmuseum, at various festivals, and on her mom’s Facebook page. It explores memory, informality, and intersections between art and life.

Deena Charara is a Lebanese editor, filmmaker, and visual artist based in Vancouver. With over three decades of experience across documentary, fiction, television, and moving-image art, her practice explores memory, identity, exile, and the poetics of everyday life through archival imagery and intimate observation. Her work has been presented at international film festivals and in museums and galleries across Europe.

Erin Morgan is a filmmaker and co-founder of Passing Moments Media. Her directorial debut, Subtext, has screened internationally and earned recognition at festivals including the Stockholm City Film Festival, Berlin Women Film Festival, and Toronto Women’s Film Festival. Her work is driven by a commitment to socially engaged storytelling and character-focused narratives inspired by real-world experiences. Erin is currently developing her first feature documentary with support from the Canada Council for the Arts.

Gabriel Colome is an award-winning filmmaker with a wide skillset ranging from directing, cinematography, editing, producing, and screenwriting. His short film Ma screened at several film festivals and was selected by the National Screen Institute of Canada. The short film received a Merit award at the Canada Short Film Festival and the Best Foreign Comedy award at the San Francisco Short Film Festival in 2024. Currently, Gabriel is producing two new projects: a feature-length documentary exploring themes of identity and community, and a film on bats living in his neighbourhood.

Gursimran Datla is a producer and filmmaker based in Canada. His films have screened at festivals such as the International Film Festival of South Asia (Toronto), the MOSAIC International South Asian Film Festival, and Nuit Blanche Toronto. A postgraduate in advanced filmmaking and arts administration, Gursimran is an alumnus of the Netflix-Banff Diversity of Voices program (2025), the EAVE producer program at the National Screen Institute (2023), the Whistler Film Festival Producers Lab (2024), the Reykjavik Talent Lab (2024), the ETAP Export Training program, and the Asia Film and TV Market (2025), where he participated as part of the official Canadian delegation.

Julie Kim is a Korean-Canadian Director and DP based in Vancouver with over 25 years in the film industry. She has directed campaigns for Netflix, Subaru, Scotiabank and the NHL, and her award-winning documentary In Love with a Problem (CBC, WaterBear, Telus) earned Best Direction and Best Documentary. Julie’s work is solution-oriented, amplifying underrepresented voices and inspiring the next generation of storytellers. Her art focuses on healing and revealing what’s possible as a catalyst for change, with a dedication to moving culture forward in a positive way.

Marlene Castaños is an actress, director, producer, speaker, and founder of Divine Spark Films, a Vancouver-based production company dedicated to creating consciousness driven content. With a background in psychology, transpersonal psychotherapy, and over twenty five years of spiritual practice and inquiry, her work explores the intersection of art, consciousness, personal transformation, and the human experience through female narratives and underrepresented characters.

Nancy Pettinicchio works as a writer, director, and producer in film and podcasting. Their work explores queer identity, intergenerational relationships, and HIV/AIDS. Nancy’s documentary short It Will Always End in the End (2025) received the jury’s special mention for Best LGBTQ+ Short at the Palm Springs ShortFest as well as the Cinematography Award at Montréal’s Cinéma sous les étoiles. Their first narrative short Falena (2022) screened at 20+ festivals around the world, represented Canada in Telefilm’s Not Short on Talent showcase, and received the IMAGE+NATION Best Québec Short Film award. Nancy is currently in post-production on a documentary podcast series exploring how sex education in Québec can be more inclusive of queer identities.

Natasha Nair is a documentary filmmaker and colourist currently based in Vancouver, Canada. After completing her MFA in Documentary Media at Northwestern University, she began working as a freelance colourist. Her short film In the Wake, which premiered at the 2019 Camden International Film Festival, has screened at festivals including the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival and Rooftop Films, and was nominated for the IDA David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award in 2019. That same year, she was nominated by Northwestern University for the UFVA/KodakExcellence in Filmmaking Award. She has been a jury member and Chair of the Best Cinematography Committee for the IDA Doc Awards, from 2022-2025. She is currently in the production stage of her first feature documentary.

Paisley Smith (she/they) is a queer, feminist filmmaker, worldbuilder, and artist known for creating imaginative, impactful films at the intersection of technology and handicraft. Paisley’s award-winning projects span narrative cinema, documentary, and room-scale virtual reality. Paisley’s commitment to creating thoughtful media for children has also been recognized by the Fred Rogers Institute. Paisley received an MFA in Film and Television Production from USC School of Cinematic Arts, where she studied as a Fulbright Scholar, and is a current Senior Civic Media Fellow at the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab. Paisley lives and works in Vancouver on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh, and Squamish Nations.