Our 2024 Judge Panel

Colin Ryley is an award-winning Sound Designer and Composer for Film, Series and Video Games. His introduction to sound started at a young age after being born to 2 musicians as parents. Around the age of 6, Colin started playing the piano and eventually progressed on to playing the guitar, both of which he continues to play to this day. He studied Audio Engineering extensively in his teenage years and into his adult life. In 2018, Colin began to focus his pursuit on sound for film, series and video game production. He graduated with Honours from Vancouver Film School in 2021, and has since worked on productions for networks such as Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video, Crave TV, Lifetime Network, and many more.

Agnieszka Piotrowska, PhD, is an award-winning filmmaker and a theorist. She is Visiting Professor at the University of Gdansk, Poland, and at Oxford Brookes, UK. She is the former Head of School of Film, Media and Performing Arts at the University for the Creative Arts, UK. She is best known for her acclaimed documentary Married to the Eiffel Tower. More recently she has made film in Zimbabwe including an award winning feature film Escape made in a collaborative partnership with Zimbabwean filmmakers. Her short experimental film about rural Zimbabwe won a distinction at the WHO festival in June 2023. Piotrowska has written extensively on psychoanalysis and culture and is the author of the monographs Psychoanalysis and Ethics in Documentary Film (2014, 2023 Routledge), Black and White: cinema, politics and the arts in Zimbabwe (2017) and The Nasty Woman and neo femme fatale in contemporary cinema (2019). She is the single editor of a collection on documentary ethics to be published by the EUP in 2025 and is finishing a monograph about the Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland. https://agnieszkapiotrowska.co.uk/

Kimberley is an Executive Producer and Sales Executive. She helps sell and deliver to buyers a library of 200+ titles and executive produces 5-7 movies each year. She recently executive produced over 40 feature films including FESTIVAL OF THE LIVING DEAD, CALAMITY JANE, MOUNT PLEASANT and STAGECOACH: THE TEXAS JACK STORY, winner of the Indie Film award and Canadian Film Diversity award. Kimberley has also produced documentary series and is Executive Producer of two scripted web series, RUBY’S PLAN B and THIS SIDE OF THE GRAVE. She is a graduate of the Canadian Film Centre’s Alliance Atlantis Film Resident Programme.

Jacques de Villiers is a film editor based in Cape Town, South Africa. He has edited both fiction and documentary features and shorts, as well as music videos and work for television. He is the co-director (with Laura Gamse) of The Creators: South Africa Through the Eyes of its Artists, which won Best Documentary at the National Geographic All Roads Film Festival 2011. His feature editing work includes Love the One You Love, which won Best South African Feature Film at the Durban International Film Festival 2014; Flatland, which premiered as the opening film for the Panorama Section of the Berlin Film Festival 2019; and Good Madam, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival 2021, receiving a Special Mention in the Platform Prize section.

Kasandra Newman is an emerging Canadian actor based in Vancouver, BC. Kasandra comes from a film family, so she spent a lot of her teen years around film sets. She is very established in the indie film world and can be seen local and international commercials for “WhatsApp” and “Invisalign”. While initially focusing on acting, Kasandra soon found her passion extended beyond the camera lens. She is now embracing roles as a screenwriter and producer, all while continuing her acting career.

Christopher Clark is a sound designer and re-recording mixer who has worked in Vancouver for over 15 years. After working for several studios in town, he opened Rootchord Sound, a boutique studio that offers full audio post-production. From local films to international TV series, Christopher has worked on a bit of everything and has earned many awards and nominations along the way. When he's not in the studio, you'll find him exploring BC's great outdoors, either camping, cycling, snowboarding, or hiking.

My grandmother always inspired me to create, seek adventure, and be unique. I fought that in my youth somewhat, always wanting to fit in…but it didn’t get me far. Travel taught me a new language, and how incredibly diverse we all are. I learned how to paint, ride a motorcycle and sail a boat! I revisited my acting career, and I never looked back. I began writing about what I knew. That led to my first book, followed by the film where I played every role behind the scenes. With that new knowledge behind the lens, it brought a bigger awareness to my performances in front of the camera. I love a good story, and I’m a huge fan of Indie films/shorts/documentaries/comedy and skits. *A film a was part of is screening at VIFF at the end of September (Mongrels).

Major Is an Award winning Director, Actor, Designer and LEO Award winning Production Designer, along with many nominations for Best Design, Directing, Writing, and Acting for film and TV. A member of the LGBTQ2A+Community, And recently discovering his Metis heritage. PRODUCTION DESIGNERAs Production Designer for Feature films and Hallmark TV shows, Major designs film sets, mood boards, and leads a team to make films look amazing. Major’s many years of experience coming up from Set Dresser to Set Decorator on IATSE/ACFC shows and Hallmark, as well as Art director for Both Film and TV, Have taught him all aspects of the art department. Being able to be flexible, inventive, and budget aware has allowed Major to work in many genres as well. From horror to Christmas, drama to comedy, sci-fi and all in between delivering sets beyond client’s expectations and dreams. Being the Instructor for Production design at Infocus Film school helps keep Majors skills up and furthers his knowledge, while sharing the love of ART to students. PRODUCER Major’s knowledge of so many fields in film has made him a fantastic Producer. Having produced on features (“Outrunners”,“Daughter”,“Time helmet”, This Island”, “Box of Freedom”), music videos (Washboard union, Jesse Moskaluke, JoJo Mason), and shorts ( Breakthrough, ADA, The Purgamentum, Stay strong, Stay True, Skinner, The Fondlers), Fan Series (Bucketheads) rounds out Major’s all around film/TV skills, and have given Him many repeat clients and referrals to new clients. Major is always up to do challenging new projects, whether it’s challenging from a budget standpoint, or crazy production design, or a super intense acting role, Major is here and ready. You wanna Make a movie? Call Major!

Elan Gamaker is a screenwriter and director whose work has been selected for several international programmes and markets, including Berlinale Co-Production Market, IFFR Cinemart and Produire au Sud (Nantes). He is an attendee of both the Writers’ and Directors’ Labs of the Amsterdam-based Binger Filmlab, and has directed two features. His current project in financing is a political thriller selected for Independent Film Week, whose short proof-of-concept has been selected for International Competition at Interfilm Berlin 2024. Elan is Founding Director of screenwriting lab Dissolve Into, as well as Course Leader of BA Filmmaking at Kingston School of Art, London.

Cady Abarca has written, directed, and produced several award-winning fiction and documentary including ONE-DAY TRIP (El Viaje) which won the 2006 Oscar in the Student Drama category. He was selected to participate in NBC-Universal's Director-in-Training Program, where he directed two Law & Order SVU episodes “Signature" and “Confession”. His films have been shown in international film festivals such as Berlin, Montreal, Tampere, Munich, Seoul, São Paulo, Paris, and have been broadcast on Canal Plus, Planete TV-France, and several other TV stations in Europe, Africa, and Latin America. Cady has been a regular judge for the New York Festivals, and the Emmy Awards. He is also a voting member of the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures (NBR).

Ross Weber received a Genie nomination for “Live Bait”, a film by Bruce Sweeney. He has edited over 8 feature films for various directors including his own movies. He has more than a half a dozen feature film credits as either Writer, Director or Editor. “Mount Pleasant” won 5 craft awards including Best Directing award at the Leo Awards and “No More Monkey Jumpin’ on the Bed” won Best First Feature Film award at the Vancouver International Film Festival.

Matthew Clarke, is a Vancouver based filmmaker, writer, and actor. Most recently he produced the Lionsgate released feature film "Corner Office" starring Jon Hamm, and is currently in post production on the sci-fi family drama feature film “Any Other World,” starring Graham Verchere, Erin Karpluk, and Bruce Greenwood. He is most well know as creator, director and star of the hit web-series, “Convos With My 2-Year-Old,” which garnered over 120million views and 750,000+ subscribers, and numerous awards around the world. His work has spanned from comedy to animation to drama/thriller to commercials. As an actor he’s been seen on such hit shows as The Good Doctor (ABC), When Calls the Heart (Hallmark) and the live action version of Disney’s hit Kim Possible. Over the past 20 years Matthew has worked in film, TV, theatre, toured North America with his band, created branded content for companies like Disney, Geico and Toyota, grown as a person, had numerous hair styles, owned two cars, joined a book club, and developed a habit of sharing things in bios that are completely irrelevant.

Felipe Ramirez Vinatea is a Peruvian Production Designer, Filmmaker and Graphic Designer. He has a background in architecture which has helped him in creating intriguing compositions, sets and worlds for the movies he’s been a part of. He came to Vancouver in 2022 to explore his horizons and create art for film, which show in his contributions to the art department of films such as "DTF?” which screened at the Crazy 8s, “Ah Boy Ya” and “So-Ri” that were ultra-shorts for MAMM18 and MAMM19 respectively.

Josh Santos is a rising film composer based in Vancouver BC. Josh is most known for his score for the feature comedy “Hoorah 99” starring NYC rapper Ja Rule. Josh is most recognized for his unique compositional style that blends his skills as both a proficient record producer and classically trained artist. As a music producer, Josh trained under Grammy award winning producer Ian Prince and has built a collaborative portfolio of over 40 artists and producers worldwide. As a classically-trained pianist Josh received his ARCT diploma in Piano Performance and is awarded the BC DAS Scholarship in Music Composition for his orchestral work. Josh then earned a placement in the Screen Composers Guild of Canada (SCGC) mentorship program, completing work on 5 other projects alongside veteran composer Lodewijk Vos (HBO, CBC, VICE). To date, Josh is credited on over 20 film credits, and continues to push the boundaries of genre bending film scores that captivate and inspire.

Luis Lam is a freelance film editor with over 20 years experience. A graduate of the Simon Fraser University film program, Luis participated in the Vancouver indie filmmaking scene in the 1990’s and, during that time, worked as an animation camera operator at Al Sens Animation. Born in Costa Rica, Luis lived across from a movie theatre and has always loved cinema. His editing credits range from award-winning short films to indie features to episodic series such as The L Word, The Dead Zone and When Calls the Heart. His favourite genre to edit is comedy…no joke.