Producer, Showrunner, Writer, Director, Actor
Moderator & Award-winning Content Creator
She is the face and force behind Out There with Melissa DiMarco, which is one of the country's longest-running comedy/variety series, also syndicated in international markets. For over 15 years, Melissa has produced ground-breaking television with a trademark for innovative shows. She has created hundreds of hours of content for networks including Rogers Media, Global, CHCH, FOX, and Out TV.
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As an experienced content creator from all sides: writing, directing, showrunning, editing and on-camera. Highlights include: An Evening with Oliver Stone, Out There with Melissa DiMarco, Dreamseekers, Confessions of a Go-To-Girl, and Star Wars: Jedi Challenges. As an actor/host, Melissa has also interviewed hundreds of A-list celebrities from Brad Pitt and George Clooney to Julia Roberts and Lady Gaga. Melissa has long acted in a number of North America’s most memorable productions. She starred in the Emmy-winning drama, Degrassi: The Next Generation, CBC's Riverdale, as well as films like Red Green’s Duct Tape Forever and Hustle: The Pete Rose Story.
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​Melissa and her production company Out There Productions Inc. has won the U.S. International Film and Video Festival’s Outstanding Achievement in Creative Excellence Award, and has been nominated for 2 Banff Rockie Awards for Best TV and Variety Show and 2 Canadian Comedy Awards for Best Writing and Best TV Series.
Our Speakers and Networking Guests
Kim Todd
Executive Producer
Kim Todd is working on the fifth year of Fargo and has completed as on the third, fourth and fifth seasons of The Handmaid’s Tale. She produced the first three seasons of the series Fargo, a series for which she received an Emmy, a Golden Globe, a Peabody Award, two PGA Awards, and two Critics Choice Awards. She was an Executive Producer on the series Brave New World and produced the series Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and Impulse.
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From 2000 to 2014, Kim developed and produced television and films through her production company Original Pictures. She was Executive Producer of the series Falcon Beach, The Atwood Stories, winner of two Gemini Awards, The Shields Stories, Guinevere Jones, and What’s Your News? She also executive produced two movies for television under the The Murdoch Mysteries banner, the movie A Bear Named Winnie, starring Michael Fassbender, which won the Crystal Heart Award at the Chicago Heartland Film Festival, and The Many Trials of One Jane Doe which won 4 Gemini Awards. She produced the feature films The Journey Home, Leaving Metropolis and The Quarrel.
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Prior to founding Original Pictures, Kim was Vice President at Credo Entertainment where she was Executive Producer of the Showtime series My Life as a Dog, the ABC Family/BBC/YTV series The Adventures of Shirley Holmes, winner of two Gemini Awards, and a variety of TV movies.
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Kim began her producing career with Atlantis Films where she produced The Diviners, which won 4 Gemini Awards including Best Movie, The Sound and the Silence, which won a Cable ACE Award for Best Miniseries and three Gemini Awards, the ABC series Men, David Chase’s movie/pilot for CBS Almost Grown, the Sarah Polley starring series Ramona for PBS, winner of a Gemini Award for Best Youth Series, and The Quarrel, which won the Best Movie Award at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.
Sergio Navarretta
Director
Sergio Navarretta is an internationally award-winning director who is fiercely passionate about bringing meaningful content to the screen.
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Navarretta's latest feature, The Cuban, stars Oscar winner Louis Gossett Jr. (Watchmen), Oscar nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo (The Expanse), Lauren Holly (Tiny Pretty Things), and Giacomo Gianniotti (Grey's Anatomy). The Cuban was shot in Canada and Havana, Cuba and won Best Narrative Feature and Audience Awards at the L.A. Pan African Film Festival, has been featured at several film festivals, and was nominated for three 2021 Canadian Screen Awards. The film tells the story of a naïve pre-med student named Mina (Golja) who develops an unlikely friendship with Luis, an elderly Cuban musician with dementia (Gossett Jr.) and features the music of Grammy-nominated piano virtuoso, Hilario Durán. The Cuban ran an Oscar nomination campaign in 2020 and has been featured in Time Magazine (Top 17 films to see this summer), Variety (Top 50 Oscar contenders), Hollywood Reporter, and NPR to name a few. The script is now featured in the Core Collection at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Margaret Herrick Library.
Navarretta also directed Looking For Angelina, The Colossal Failure of the Modern Relationship, as well as several shorts and documentaries. Navarretta is the executive producer of Lamborghini (the movie), is proud to have executive produced the animated theatrical feature Arctic Dogs, now on Netflix, featuring Jeremy Renner, James Franco, Anjelica Huston, Alec Baldwin, John Cleese, and Heidi Klum. He is the co-founder of S.N.A.P Films Inc, and sits on several charity boards including the Ethnic Mosaic Alliance, and served as a mentor for Being Black in Canada and Reel Works in New York. He splits his time between Toronto and Los Angeles.
Robert Scarborough
Cinematographer
ROBERT SCARBOROUGH CSC is a director of photography located in Toronto Canada.
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Robert’s portfolio contains a healthy blend of high-profile TV series, independent films and commercials. His most recent project THE LAKE – starring Julia Stiles – is Amazon Studio’s first Canadian scripted series. He shot all eight half-hour episodes and the series now is streaming on Amazon Prime Video in all Amazon territories.
In 2022, Robert shot second unit for both the CBS show IN THE DARK and the CTV show 'CHILDREN RUIN EVERYTHING'.
In 2020, he won a Canadian Screen Award for Best Photography in a Comedy for his work on the CBC / IFC BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW Season 4 and in 2021 was nominated for a CSC award for best web series cinematography for his work on the CBC Gem series FOR THE RECORD.
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His feature film work includes ROOM FOR RENT (starring Brett Gelman, Stephnie Weir, Carla Gallo and Mark McKinney), DANIEL’S GOTTA DIE (starring Bob Saget, Iggy Pop, Jason Jones, Carly Chaikin), ASHGROVE, THE DEFINITES, YOUR BEAUTIFUL CUL DE SAC HOME, and second unit cinematography on NO STRANGER THAN LOVE (starring Alison Brie, Justin Chatwin and Colin Hanks).
Arthur Cooper
Cinematographer
Arthur is an award-winning cinematographer whose unique vision has screened at international festivals including Sundance, Cannes, Berlin, Roma Television Festival and TIFF. A graduate of Ryerson University, his love of images and light began with his first camera at age seven, and his career spans over 25 years across the Canada and around the world. Arthur has lensed more than 150 short format films, music videos and webisodes.
His work in features includes the Sundance screened Heater and some of English Canada’s most recognized titles, One Week, Young People F*cking and the vibrant, stylish Home Again, in addition to second unit work on Room, Fugitive Pieces and The Whistleblower.
His television work includes multiple genres for CBC, Vision TV, Family Channel and BBC. Sitcoms G-Spot and She’s the Mayor, kids programming Life With Derek, and What’s Up Warthogs?, and hard hitting dramas like the mini series Guns. He’s also done 2nd unit on network shows like Bitten, The Divide and Rewind. One of his most recent works is the exciting, stylish dramatic series, Shoot the Messenger.
Shant Joshi
Producer
Shant Joshi is an award-winning producer and president of Fae Pictures, based in Los Angeles and Toronto, on a mission to decolonize Hollywood by creating cinematic content for, by, and about queer, trans, and BIPOC people. On his mission, his projects have won awards at Sundance, Berlin, Inside Out, and Bend, and premiered at festivals like Toronto, Aspen, Hot Docs, BlackStar, Bentonville, and BFI.
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Shant is currently Vice Chair of the BIPOC TV & Film Board, sits on the Canadian Media Producers Association’s EDI action committee, and sits on the Advisory Board at the Future of Film Showcase.
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He is an alum of the Canadian Film Centre, Rotterdam Lab, and Osgoode Hall Law School, and was named a Reelworld Trailblazer, nominated for an Indiescreen Award, and to York University’s Top 30 Changemakers under 30.
Sound Editor
Eli Haligua is an award-winning Supervising Sound Editor and Re-Recording Mixer located in Vancouver and working internationally.
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His sound career started at an independent radio station in Istanbul, working on numerous radio shows and radio documentaries in partnership with teams from France, Sweden, Germany, and Iran. After six years in broadcast, he switched his focus on the motion picture industry, with forays in ads, music, theatre, and video games. In the last decade, he has collaborated on over 100 films, 15 commercials, 5 music productions, 1 video game and 1 theatre play, Anywhere But Here, written by Carmen Aguirre and Raps created with Shad Kabango.
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The movies he worked as Sound Designer and Mixer featured at Cannes, Venice, Berlinale, Montreal, Toronto, Karlovy Vary, Sarajevo, SXSW, and Sitges International Film Festivals, as well as he contributed to several Netflix and HBO projects.
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His credits include The Grand Budapest Hotel, Washington, Blacklist, The Water Diviner, God Fall, Snowpiercer, Human Centipede III, Lovecraft Country, Octonauts, Anywhere But Here...
Kathy Weinkauf
Editor
Kathy Weinkauf is an multi-award nominated film and television editor working in Toronto for the past 25 years. She began her editing career cutting music videos and went on to cut short films, documentaries, TV series and feature films.
Films she has edited have won awards around the world. They include Monkey Warfare (Grand Jury Award, TIFF ‘06), Small Town Gay Bar (Best Documentary, LA Outfest ‘07), Surviving Crooked Lake (Kodak Vision Award for Best Cinematography, Slamdance ‘08), the multi-award winning film Interviews with my Next Girlfriend (Best Short Film, Inside/Out Festival ‘02), as well as the multi-award winning film Evelyn, the Cutest Evil Dead Girl (Grand Jury Award Best Short, No-dance Festival ‘02). She was nominated for a Golden Sheaf Award for Best Editing in 2006 for her work on Santa Baby and also nominated for a 2010 DGC Award for Best Editing for Leslie, My Name is Evil.
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Most recently she was nominated for a 2022 Canada Screen Award for Best Picture Editing, Drama for her work on Murdoch Mysteries. She is currently in Toronto editing Season 16 of Murdoch Mysteries.
1st Assistant Editor/Editor
James Chellingworth (DGC) is a Toronto-based 1st Assistant Editor/Editor who's worked on over a dozen TV and Film projects.
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His credits include CBC's Kim's Convenience, AMC's Moonhaven, Hallmark's Good Witch, CBC's Frankie Drake, Space/Syfy's Bitten, CTV's Cardinal, Lifetime's Last Chance for Christmas, and more.
Elizabeth Cabral
Editor
Elizabeth Cabral is a Gemini/CSA Award nominated picture editor.
Starting off her career in the newsroom honing her skills, Elizabeth quickly detoured to MuchMusic for 10 years on the highly acclaimed, The New Music.
From there she jumped into the freelance world as a Picture Editor on a vast range of different genres. From competition reality series, live action adventure, game shows, renos, comedy, after school kids series to true crime series, Elizabeth embraces every project she is on with respect, kindness and team spirit.
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Her list of credits includes: Chopped Canada, Canadian Idol, Fear Thy Neighbour, Mittens and Pants, Buying and Selling, An Unexpected Killer, and more.
Daryl
Ledwon
Actor, Mandy Representative
MANDY.COM
Daryl has been in the Film and Television industry for years both in front and behind the camera. As an actor, he has worked on various television programs such as Unexpected Killer, MurderBoard, Paranormal Survivor and Killer Affair as well as indie films like A Song for Us, Snowed Inn and others. A theatre performer, he has been in many plays and musicals across Canada. He also regularly consults with production companies and casting directors to source talent and crew as the Canadian representative for Mandy.com.
Cailey Milito
Sound Editor
Cailey has been a part of the film/TV industry since 1996, working on several MPSE nominated productions, being personally nominated for Gemini/Canadian Screen Awards and Director's Guild awards, and winning Director's Guild awards for Schitt's Creek and Northern Rescue.
Cailey has always had a passion for filmmaking and sound design. Graduating with honours from the Humber College Film and Television Program, Cailey has used her knowledge to to engage in all aspects of sound design over the years, including Foley, Dialogue Editing, ADR Supervising and Editing, and SFX Editing and Design. She was trained by the best in the industry starting with Foley with Andy Malcolm, then moving on to digital sound design with Mark Gingras, Tom Bjelic and many other award winning editors.
Cailey is currently working on a series for Apple TV. She is one of few Sound Editors that can do both Dialogue and SFX Editing with ease. Her versatility creates high demand.
Adam
Pal
Director, Writer, Producer
Twenty-five years ago, Adam Pal was coined, ‘a small-town boy with worldwide gusto’ doing live shows from Toronto to China, Las Vegas to Israel. Pal was willing to do anything in the business. “If all the world’s a stage, I am the best boy key grip” -Pal
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Pal is the owner/operator of Glass Ceiling Productions, producer, and creator of 4 short union films, producer of digital content, online radio shows, national tv, theatre content and social media.
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Pal has taken time to create short stories and is reviewing publishers for a partnership to promote his Novella, Novelette, and said short stories.
Note that speaker lineup is subject to cancellation or change due to professional commitments.
Cancellations
Sherry White
Showrunner
Writer/Director/Producer
Sherry White has been writing, directing and producing for film and TV for 20 years.
She is best known for writing the film Maudie (2016), which won 7 Canadian Screen Awards including Best Original Screenplay. She also wrote and directed the award-winning Crackie (2009), which played dozens of festivals worldwide after its TIFF premiere.
Sherry gained extensive experience as a writer, producer, and showrunner on series such as Ten Days in the Valley (Skydance/ABC, 2016/2017), Frontier (Take the Shot/Discovery/Netflix, 2016/2017), The Catch (Shondaland/ABC, 2015), Rookie Blue (eOne/Global/ABC, 2009-2015), and Little Dog (CBC, 2018-2019), the latter of which earned her two nominations for the Directors Guild of Canada.
She now serves as co-creator, co-showrunner, and director on the action-packed female buddy cop series Pretty Hard Cases (CBC/NBCU, 2021—).
Writer/Director/Showrunner
Fab is an award-winning creator, writer and director. Most recently he wrote, directed and was co-showrunner of SORT OF, a half-hour for CBC and HBOMax (Sphere Media Prodco) — which has gone on to win a Peabody Award, Canadian Screen Awards and is nominated for the prestigious Rose d’Or. Before that, he wrote and directed the critically acclaimed and award-winning short-form series Save Me (iThentic Prodco, CBCGem) which was nominated for a number of international festival awards and a Webby.
He has over 20 episodes of true crime under his belt as a director and has developed television for 20th Century Fox, Amazon, CBC, Showcase, and Global Television. As a playwright, he was nominated for a Dora Award (the Canadian ‘Tony’) for his play The Summoned. He also co-created and directed half-hour hit comedy Billable Hours (Temple Street Prodco) in which he starred.
As an actor you might also know him from projects like Lives Of The Saints opposite Sophia Loren, indie hit waydowntown, or the first Showtime Queer As Folk reboot. People are sometimes impressed when they find out he had an arc on the hit Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
Cinematographer
Jude Abadi is a Canadian cinematographer currently based in Toronto. She is an Affiliate Member of the Canadian Society of Cinematographers (CSC) and an IATSE Local 667 1st AC.
After getting her BFA in Interior Architecture, she became increasingly unfulfilled due to the limitations in the field. She was in search of a medium that would serve as an outlet for her creativity so she took up photography as a hobby. She dedicated her time photographing sporting events like the UFC. She also got involved in documenting the human cost of war by photographing and filming refugees in camps on the Syrian borders with Turkey and Lebanon while on humanitarian aid missions. She was shortlisted in the Fine Arts Photography Awards 2014-2015.
She started working on short films as a producer, electrician and grip and was the lead Production Designer on Abdullah, an Emirati feature film. These opportunities were rich and deepened her love of film but she needed more.
She moved to Los Angeles in 2016 and got her MFA in Cinematography. She continued to work regularly as both a first and second camera assistant on everything from TV shows and feature films to shorts, music videos and commercials. Her credits include LOL: Last One Laughing Canada, Big Brother Canada, Blood Pageant (featuring Snoop Dogg), and more. She has won several awards for her cinematography on the short film The End of the World.
