Professional Development

Sessions
Tech Showcase
Workshops
Featured Guests

Professional Development offers a dynamic range of learning opportunities designed to strengthen artists’ skills, deepen creative inquiry, and support long-term career growth.

Through masterclasses, case studies, keynotes, workshops, panels, and curated conversations presented during Industry Days at the Vancouver International Film Festival, this program connects filmmakers and screen creatives with leading voices from the sector. These sessions introduce new tools, practices, and perspectives while encouraging critical dialogue, artistic experimentation, and peer-to-peer exchange.

By nurturing an environment of continuous learning and creative risk-taking, Professional Development empowers artists to expand their craft, evolve their storytelling, and build sustainable pathways within an ever changing industry landscape.

Look Back at 2025

In 2025, Industry Days embraced the theme “Create. Connect. Transform.” We focused on revolutionary filmmaking ways and universal connections, opening doors to lasting opportunities through curated conversations, masterclasses, case studies and networking sessions. More than ever, artists — and the stories they create — need space to grow. These sessions provided a unique opportunity for accredited filmmakers and industry professionals to connect behind the scenes and engage in mutual learning, recognizing cinema as a collective art form enriched by cultural diversity and shared vision.

2025 Sessions

people crouched around pizza boxes on the floor

Co-Producing Across the Pacific

Bridging Canadian and Korean Stories

As part of our Spotlight on Korea, we will explore treaty mechanisms, financing strategies, and creative collaboration, guiding participants through the opportunities and challenges of co-productions between Canada and Korea. This event brings together Seo Woosik, CEO of Barunson C&C — the company behind Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite and other celebrated works, Sung Moon, Programmer at the Jeonju International Film Festival, and Rebecca Steele, producer of Riceboy Sleeps (TIFF 2022).

Featured Speakers: Seo Woosik, Sung Moon, Rebecca Steele
Moderator: Jonathan Akkawi

Supported by

two people lying under a large tree in tall grass

New Documentary Frontiers

Tech, Poetics & Politics

Addressing urgent questions in documentary today, this panel explores how emerging technologies intersect with bold nonfiction storytelling. Timeea M. Ahmed (Khartoum) turns personal memory into collective acts of resistance and healing; Igor Bezinović (Fiume o Morte!) blends historical record with participatory re-enactments; and Nicole Bazuin (Modern Whore) challenges stereotypes and stigma around sex work through stylized, revelatory storytelling.

Featured Speakers: Timeea Mohamed Ahmed, Igor Bezinovic, Nicole Bazuin
Moderator: Ruun Nuur

Supported by

claymation jester standing behind someone playing a ukulele

The Future is Drawn

Independent Animation as Auteur Cinema

This panel explores how independent animators are redefining narrative, form, and authorship. India Barnardo (Cat and Moth) brings a 90+ international crew to life; Luciano A. Muñoz Sessarego draws on over a decade of experience at Sony, DNEG, and Bardel Entertainment; and Diana Thorneycroft (Father Alphonse and the Fight Between Carnival and Lent) blends photography, diorama, and sculpture to explore identity, sexuality, and Canadian cultural icons. Together, they discuss how bold visual storytelling and risk-taking are redefining what animated cinema can be.

Featured Speakers: India Barnardo, Luciano A. Muñoz, Diana Thorneycroft
Moderator: Morgana Duque

Blue Heron film image; young girl sitting despondently in the grass holding a camcorder

Embodied Futures

Acting, Identity and AI on Screen

This session explores how diverse acting traditions foster collaboration across borders and how artificial intelligence is reshaping performance, authorship, and embodiment on screen. The discussion features Matthew Rankin, director of Universal Language (Directors’ Fortnight, Cannes 2024); Sophy Romvari, director of Blue Heron (Locarno 2025, Best Canadian Discovery at TIFF); and Asia Mattu, a three-time award-nominated voice actor best known for her role as Rugo in Disney Jr. and Disney+’s Gigantosaurus.

Featured Speakers: Matthew Rankin, Sophy Romvari, Asia Mattu
Moderator: Aryo Khakpour

Supported by

Blood Lines film image; two women with their foreheads pressed together

Decolonizing the Frame

New Voices, New Structures

This conversation centers on BIPOC creators and industry allies who are dismantling dominant film languages and rebuilding storytelling systems grounded in equity, imagination, and collective power. The event brings together Paige Bethmann, Haudenosaunee director of Remaining Native (SXSW 2025); Gail Maurice, Métis director of Blood Lines (TIFF 2025); and Clement Virgo, director of Steal Away (TIFF 2025). Together, they offer a vital conversation on trauma, resilience, and the reimagining of storytelling from Indigenous and BIPOC perspectives.

Featured Speakers: Paige Bethmann, Gail Maurice, Clement Virgo
Moderator: William Brown

Supported by

Crafting the Cut

Post-Production as Creative Authorship

This panel explores the creative power of sound, color, and VFX, and how AI is transforming workflows with innovation and sustainability. Speakers include Hugh Wielenga, two-time Emmy-nominated Sound Designer; Patrick Gong, Vancouver-based colourist with work on CBC, Telus, and global festivals; Edward J Douglas, VFX supervisor on independent and feature films including with Neon and A24; and Noah Rogers, Production Sustainability Manager and Chair of the DGC BC Sustainability Committee, who has led clean-tech initiatives with studios such as Disney and ABC.

Featured Speaker: Noah Rogers, Hugh Wielenga, Patrick Gong, Edward Douglas
Moderator: Kelsy Wittmann

Presented by

The Shadow Scholars film image; person in sunglasses looking out from the backseat of a car

Building International Visibility

From Distribution to Audience Design

This panel explores strategies for building a film’s international visibility, from festival exposure and distribution to audience design and campaign development. It features Eloïse King, former Global Executive Producer at VICE, presenting her debut feature, The Shadow Scholars, (executive produced by Steve McQueen), Monika Łuczyk, PR and marketing specialist; and Hilary Hart, Co-President of Game Theory Films. Together, they will share insights on positioning films, building campaigns, and connecting with audiences worldwide.

Featured Speaker: Monika Łuczyk, Eloïse King, Hilary Hart
Moderator: Jonathan Akkawi

Virtual Production Futures

Big Worlds, Smaller Footprint

Bringing worlds to life once meant big sets, big travel, and big budgets. Today, virtual production makes it possible to create stunning, sustainable, and forward-thinking stories — no matter the size of the production.

Featured Speakers: Zach Lipovsky, Nessa Aref, Karen Lam
Moderator: Katharine Pavoni

Supported by

2025 Tech Showcase

FilmTrade

Tap to Watch

How can you better leverage in-person events like film festivals to build awareness for your film and a lasting connection with your core audience? What does merch have to do with streaming & distribution? See demos and take part in the discussion at this session — followed by a networking mixer.

Featured Speakers: FilmTrade team & Tony Zhou (Every Frame a Painting)

2025 Workshops

Film Business: From Treaties to Audiences

Session 1: Coproduction Essentials for Ambitious Producers

Navigate treaty frameworks, optimize funding stacks across multiple territories, and structure agreements that protect IP while accessing global markets and financing.

Featured Speaker: Mark Edwards, Edwards Creative Law

Session 2: Anatomy of Audience Design

With Anatomy of a Fall as a case study, this marketing class shows how to build stronger international positioning, sharpen communication, and design campaigns that resonate with target audiences.

Featured Speaker: Monika Łuczyk, PR & Marketing Manager

Session 3: Go Global: Unlocking Co-Production & Streaming Opportunities for Canadian Producers

How can racialized Canadian producers access capital, policy, and creative partnerships in South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong? This session unpacks IPACA’s new market intelligence report and charts real-world co-production pathways.

Featured Speaker: Barbara Lee, Writer & Filmmaker; Akeena Legall, RESO Comms Specialist

Community Partner

Indie Animation: Unlocking the Visual Language

Session 1: A Single-handed Animation Journey

From writing and storyboarding to animating, background painting, and compositing, the director of The Worlds Divide — which premiered at Annecy in 2024 — reveals what it takes to make a solo animated feature film.

Featured Speaker: Denver Jackson, Cloudrise Pictures

Session 2: From Sketch to Screen

Using When the Starving Return with Inkwo as a case study, Amanda Strong examines how storytelling, technique, and strategy shape an animation’s journey from creation to international circulation.

Featured Speaker: Amanda Strong, Director
Moderator: Rosie Johnnie-Mills

Story as Resistance: Creative Innovation in Nonfiction

Session 1: Rewriting Reality: Pushing Documentary Boundaries

With a focus on experimentation and hybrid forms, this session highlights how Khartoum weaves together the stories of five Sudanese citizens through animated dreams, street revolutions, and war, demonstrating how documentary storytelling can innovate, amplify underrepresented voices, and position creative resistance as a driving force in contemporary practice.

Featured Speaker: Timeea Mohamed Ahmed, Director
Moderator: Priyanka Desai

Supported by

Session 2: Nonfiction in the Marketplace

Focusing on the circulation of nonfiction, this session explores how festival and strategic theatrical releases can extend a film’s reach and impact, while examining audience engagement and positioning tactics that respond to the political and social urgency of the work.

Featured Speakers: Ruun Nuur, Programmer; Hilary Hart, Game Theory Films

Supported by

Please sign up for the workshops through Swapcard (Limited Capacity)

2025 Featured Guests

Amanda Strong

Amanda Strong is a Canadian Screen Award and Emmy nominated director, artist, stop motion storyteller and has served as a media based artist for nearly 20 years. She is Michif/Red River Métis and is a member of the MMF (Manitoba Métis Federation) . Strong is the owner, producer and director of the Vancouver based animation studio Spotted Fawn Productions Inc where they create stop motion animations, books, installations and explore digital technologies that compliment the hand made art of stop motion. She was also a director at Atomic Cartoons, director of the recent Emmy award winning 2D animated TV series, Molly of Denali on PBS.

Asia Mattu

Asia Mattu is a three-time award-nominated voice actor known for her versatility across television, film, and games. She voices Rugo in Disney Jr./Disney+’s Gigantosaurus, Aurora in My Little Pony: Best Gift Ever, and Rocky in Netflix’s Super Monsters. Her game credits include Starship Troopers: Extermination and Cadence of Hyrule. On screen, she has appeared in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Murder in a Small Town, and The Flash. Beyond performing, Asia is a drummer, martial artist, and pasta enthusiast.

Barbara Lee

With over 25 years of advocacy experience, Barbara has significantly increased opportunities for Canadian racialized artists in mainstream media. She is the founder of the the Racial Equity Screen Office (RESO), East by Northwest (EXNW), Vancouver Asian Film Festival (VAFF), Elimin8Hate.org, Mighty Asian Moviemaking Marathon (MAMM), and Asians in Movies, Music and Media (AIM3). Barbara is also a writer/filmmaker and previously a broadcast journalist. She received the 1998 National Radio and Television News Directors’ Association Award for Best Editorial. Her film Between the Laughter won the 2004 National Film Board’s Reel Diversity Competition.

Clement Virgo

Filmography: Rude (1995); The Planet of Junior Brown (1997); Love Come Down (2000); Lie with Me (2005); Poor Boy’s Game (2007); Brother (2022)

Denver Jackson

Originally from Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Denver Jackson is a self-taught animator and visual effects artist now based in Canada. He blends live-action and animation to create fantastical yet grounded stories, often writing, directing, filming, editing, and animating his projects independently. His films include The Wishing Jar (2016), winner of Best Animated Film at San Diego Comic-Con and Heartland, and the Esluna series, with The Crown of Babylon premiering at Shanghai and The Worlds Divide screening at Annecy, Sitges, and Ottawa Animation Festival.

Diana Thorneycroft

Diana Thorneycroft is an award-winning visual artist living in Winnipeg, Canada. She has exhibited various bodies of work across Canada, the United States, and Europe, as well as in Moscow, Tokyo, and Sydney. Thorneycroft’s first animation, Black Forest Sanatorium (2020), had its premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival and has been shown in over a dozen festivals.

Edward Douglas

Edward J Douglas is a Visual Effects Supervisor-Producer, most recently collaborating with Osgood Perkins on the 2024 smash hit Longlegs, The Monkey, and the upcoming Keeper. He’s currently working on undisclosed sci-fi and horror genre projects with A24 and Neon. Previous credits include direction and virtual cinematography on blockbuster videogame franchises including Mass Effect, Need for Speed, and Tom Clancy. Edward is from Vancouver, Canada and is a huge fan of Star Trek.

Eloïse King

Eloïse King is a queer, London-born Caribbean filmmaker whose interdisciplinary work centers marginalized voices within mainstream culture. A former Global Executive Producer at VICE, she led an award-winning international documentary team. Her credits include The Gatherings, Gurls Talk, and Amy Winehouse & Me. Her work has shown at Tate Britain and V&A. A Logan, Firelight, and Netflix Fellow, her debut narrative feature Youts was selected for the BFI LFF Network industry program.

Gail Maurice

Gail is an award-winning Métis filmmaker and owner of Assini Productions Inc., working as a director, writer, producer, and actor. Her debut feature Rosie was TIFF’s Top Ten 2022 and won multiple festival awards, including Audience Choice at imagineNATIVE. Her nine award-winning short films have screened at Sundance, imagineNATIVE, the Smithsonian, and CBC. Gail is a DGC member, two-time Canadian Screen Award-nominee for acting, a Women in the Director’s Chair alum, and was named one of Variety’s 10 Canadians to Watch.

Hilary Hart

Hilary’s career in film began in short film distribution at Ouat Media, before moving onto the Canadian Film Centre where she worked in administration and distribution. She then worked in talent management, before partnering with Will Woods to create Game Theory Films, an independent film distribution company where she serves as Co-President. Game Theory’s catalogue includes over 60 titles including TIFF Platform Prize winner Riceboy Sleeps, In Flames, and Boxcutter. Hilary is a Berlinale Talents alumnus and was named one of The Globe and Mail’s 22 Most Influential People in Canadian Film.

Hugh Wielenga

Hugh Wielenga is a 2x Emmy-Nominated Supervising Sound Editor & Sound Designer.

Igor Bezinovic

Igor Bezinović is a filmmaker born in Rijeka, now part of Croatia following a long history of shifting borders and foreign occupations. His films include The Blockade (2012) and Veruda (2015), both winners of the Oktavijan prize for Best Croatian Documentary, as well as A Brief Excursion (Big Golden Arena prize for Best Croatian Feature at the Pula Film Festival, 2017) and many shorts of all shapes and sizes. His work has been shown internationally at events including IFFR, DOK Leipzig, Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, Venice Biennale of Architecture, Museum of the Moving Image, Guanajuato IFF, and Viennale, among others.

India Barnardo

India Barnardo has worked in the film industry for 19 years at companies including Studio AKA, Framestore, Sony Pictures Imageworks, and Walt Disney Animation Studios, animating on TV commercials, shorts, and CG features. She makes her directorial debut with Cat and Moth, leading a talented 90+ international crew. A passionate storyteller, India combines her experience and vision to bring animated worlds to life. Outside work, she enjoys hiking in British Columbia, spending time with her cat Walter, and painting.

Karen Lam

Karen has worked full-time in film and television since 2000, beginning as a producer and entertainment lawyer. She has written and directed ten short films, three music videos, a web series, a true-crime documentary for Investigation Discovery, and five feature films, including Stained (2010), Evangeline (2013), and The Curse of Willow Song (2020). She recently completed Armageddon Road, a darkly funny 1970s Las Vegas feature, and Mrs. Chang’s Perfect Teeth, a short horror film that won the DGC-BC Established Director Greenlight Award 2023.

Luciano A. Muñoz

Luciano A. Muñoz Sessarego is a senior character animator and director with over a decade of international experience in feature film, TV, and games. Originally from Chile and now based in Vancouver, he has contributed to projects at major studios like Sony, DNEG, Animal Logic, and Framestore, currently he is a Lead Animator at Bardel Entertainment.

Mark Edwards

Mark Edwards is founder and managing partner of Edwards Creative Law, LLP, an entertainment law boutique with offices across Canada. He specializes in live-action and animated films, series, video games, and digital media, advising Canadian producers and international buyers. With nearly 30 years’ experience in structuring, financing, and producing media, Mark has delivered hundreds of children’s animation episodes, launched the interactive platform CrowdWave, and managed branded content for major US advertisers. He is a member of the Law Societies of Ontario and British Columbia.

Matthew Rankin

Matthew Rankin grew up in Winnipeg and studied history at McGill and Université Laval. He is the director of some 40 short films and two features, including The Twentieth Century (2019), which was awarded the FIPRESCI prize at the 2020 Berlin Film Festival, and Universal Language (2024), which was awarded the Chantal Akerman Prize at the 2024 Cannes Directors Fortnight. He is hard at work on his third feature in Montréal.

Monika Łuczyk

Freelance PR and marketing specialist with expertise in film promotion, festival strategy, and audience development. A graduate of the Management of Artistic Institutions at the University of Gdańsk, she has worked in the film industry since 2015, collaborating with festivals including the Polish Film Festival, Film Fest Gent, and the European Film Awards. She coordinates Script Atelier for emerging filmmakers and previously worked at Shipsboy as PR & Marketing Manager. She also shares her expertise through workshops and is an alumna of EAVE Marketing Workshop 2022 and Audience Design Lab 2024.

Nessa Aref

Nessa Aref is an award-winning Canadian-Iranian Producer and Director, and the Head of Production at Lumostage. With over a decade of experience across pre-production, production, and post, her work streams on Netflix, CBC, Al-Jazeera, and Spotify. A Leo-nominated filmmaker and 2022 MPPIA Short Film Award winner, Nessa has also produced acclaimed projects including Freaks (2018) and With Love and a Major Organ (2023). At Lumostage, she loves blending traditional techniques with emerging technologies to help make the impossible, producible. Passionate about bold, inclusive storytelling, Nessa is dedicated to championing greater access and representation in the film industry.

Nicole Bazuin

Nicole Bazuin is an award-winning filmmaker and artist from Toronto. She directed the short films Thriving: A Dissociated Reverie, which premiered at Sundance and was named in TIFF’s Canada’s Top Ten list for 2023; Modern Whore (2020), which premiered at SXSW; and the CBC Short Doc Last Night at the Strip Club (2020); as well as digital series for CBC Arts and The Image Centre. Bazuin co-created and photographed the book Modern Whore: A Memoir (2022), and has exhibited her art at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Luminato, and Nuit Blanche. Modern Whore (2025) is her first feature film.

Noah Rogers

Noah Rogers is a sustainability leader in film and television, serving as Production Sustainability Manager for The Walt Disney Company. He has led environmental strategy for studios including Disney, A24, ABC, and 20th Century Fox, with expertise in carbon accounting, compliance, and sustainable production logistics. Chair of the DGC (BC) Green Committee and Reel Green lead instructor, he has trained over 2,000 industry professionals. Noah holds a BA in Geography from the University of Victoria and credentials from ECO Canada and USGBC SPEC.

Paige Bethmann

Paige Bethmann is a Haudenosaunee woman (Mohawk/Oneida) and first-time feature filmmaker based in Reno, Nevada. Over the last 10 years, she has worked in non-fiction television for various digital and broadcast networks such as ESPN, PBS, Vox Media, Youtube Originals, USA, and NBC. She is a graduate of Ithaca College, with a bachelor’s degree in film, television, and radio from the Park School of Communications. Bethmann has been supported and recognized by a number of organizations, most recently including Big Sky Pitch (2023), DOC NYC 40 under 40 (2024), and the New America Fellowship (2024).

Patrick Gong

Patrick Gong is an independent colourist based in Vancouver, BC with a deep sensibility for the emotional truth behind every frame. He has collaborated with brands such as Amazon, Lululemon, Arc’teryx, and more. His work has also been screened at festivals around the world, including scoring prestigious wins at VIFF, Montreal Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, and the Cannes YDA.

Rebecca Steele

Rebecca Steele is a Vancouver-based producer and founder of Kind Stranger Productions. She produced Anthony Shim’s debut Daughter and Riceboy Sleeps, winner of over twenty festival awards including the TIFF 2022 Platform Prize, and earned a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Motion Picture. Recent credits include David Findlay’s Leaning Into Your Palms, Joseph Carney’s Life’s Red Light (or ‘Doomers’), and associate producer on Lloyd Lee Choi’s Lucky Lu (Cannes Directors’ Fortnight 2025). She is a Berlinale Talents alum and Rotterdam Lab fellow.

Ruun Nuur

Ruun Nuur is an independent cinematic practitioner with a diasporic gaze hyper-focused on the Black and Muslim peoples. She is the co-founder of NO EVIL EYE CINEMA, a radical nomadic microcinema, features programmer at Cleveland International Film Festival, and most recently, Documentary Programmer at Vancouver International Film Festival. Nuur is an organizational leader whose work resides at the intersection of cinema, research, and accessible programming with a mission to ignite the moving image and its audiences to deeply consider and connect.

SEO Woosik

SEO Woosik is one of the most prolific film and TV producers in Korea. He has produced some of the most iconic Korean movies and TV series, including Mother (2009) and OKJA (2017) by Bong Joon Ho, The Good, The Bad, The Weird (2008) by Kim Jee-woon, and the hit TV series Descendents of the Sun (2016). Strong Girl Nam-Soon is the first produced TV series that aired on JTBC and Netflix worldwide under the Barunson C&C banner, of which he serves as the CEO. He is currently producing BONG Joon Ho’s new animation feature film.

Sophy Romvari

Sophy Romvari is a Canadian-Hungarian filmmaker based in Toronto. Her acclaimed short films have screened at TIFF, Hot Docs, Sheffield, and True/False, earning her recognition as a rising talent. In 2020, she completed her Master’s at York University, where her thesis film Still Processing premiered at TIFF and was later featured on the Criterion Channel. She has directed for CBC and Kino Lorber. Her latest short is available on The New Yorker and MUBI. Blue Heron is her feature debut.

Sung Moon

Sung Moon has been active at international film festivals and film markets since 2004, including the Jeonju IFF, BIFF, Jeonju Project Market, and Docs Port Incheon. From 2012, she worked for the Korean Film Council as a representative in Latin America. Since 2019, she has worked as a programmer for the Jeonju IFF and has edited books such as What Will Be of Cinema? (2021), Tsai Ming-Liang: Walker Series (2024), and Possible Cinemas (2025).

Timeea Mohamed Ahmed

Timeea Mohamed Ahmed is a Canada based award-winning Sudanese director, editor and producer working across documentary, experimental films, and digital media. Best known for Khartoum (2025), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and received multiple Awards at the 75 Berlinale Film Festival. His other notable works include Is It War? (2025) and Saddari (2023) . In addition to film, Timeea is actively engaged in advocacy and commercial media production.

Zach Lipovsky

An Emmy-nominated director, Zach Lipovsky started his career on Spielberg’s filmmaking competition, ON THE LOT, where he placed 5th out of 12,000 directors. Zach has gone on to direct and produce films and TV shows for Lionsgate, Legendary, and Disney. His latest theatrical feature Freaks premiered at TIFF ’18 and stars Emile Hirsch and Bruce Dern. Zach currently has projects set up with Disney+, Universal, EOne, Spyglass Media, Kennedy/Marshall, and Monecito.

women playing a butterfly guitar and singing into a microphone

Amp

person pressing their thumb against a wall with the night sky projected on it

Signals

VIFF Business Hub

Coming Soon!

Look Back at 2025

2025 Sessions

Co-Producing Across the Pacific

New Documentary Frontiers

The Future is Drawn

Embodied Futures

Decolonizing the Frame

Crafting the Cut

Building International Visibility

Virtual Production Futures

2025 Tech Showcase

FilmTrade

Tap to Watch

2025 Workshops

Film Business: From Treaties to Audiences

Indie Animation: Unlocking the Visual Language

Story as Resistance: Creative Innovation in Nonfiction

2025 Featured Guests

Amanda Strong

Asia Mattu

Barbara Lee

Clement Virgo

Denver Jackson

Diana Thorneycroft

Edward Douglas

Eloïse King

Gail Maurice

Hilary Hart

Hugh Wielenga

Igor Bezinovic

India Barnardo

Karen Lam

Luciano A. Muñoz

Mark Edwards

Matthew Rankin

Monika Łuczyk

Nessa Aref

Nicole Bazuin

Noah Rogers

Paige Bethmann

Patrick Gong

Rebecca Steele

Ruun Nuur

SEO Woosik

Sophy Romvari

Sung Moon

Timeea Mohamed Ahmed

Zach Lipovsky

Other Industry Programs

Amp

Signals

VIFF Business Hub