Join us for a moderated panel discussion with broadcasters, funders and filmmakers, who have successfully pitched their projects in the virtual space.
Find out what broadcasters and funders are looking for and how to present your pitches to stand out virtually. Learn about the do’s and don’ts of pitching virtually from our industry professionals, who will explain what works and which protocols are here to stay for the foreseeable future. Hear from successful filmmakers about the changes they have made in their pitch presentations.
This is the perfect webinar for everyone who needs to brush up on their virtual pitching skills.
WHEN?
March 18, 2021
5pm – 6.30pm PST
WHERE?
Via Zoom.
WHAT?
Moderated panel discussion + Q&A/Mixer
**Closed Captioning will be available for accessibility**
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***Stay tuned for the panelist announcement this week***
This event is funded by the Canada Council.
About DOC Goes Digital:
DOC BC | YT | NWT is a chapter of DOC National. This year we are launching a Canada Council funded program “DOC GOES DIGITAL” and are responsible for all English language programming associated with the program throughout Canada. The goal of “DOC Goes Digital” is to connect our broader filmmaking community at this challenging time, and to center diverse filmmakers within all the programming. We are partnering with several festivals to offer opportunities for people to connect with each other, to augment the visibility of DOC, and to build relationships with partners within the industry.
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MEET OUR MODERATOR
Baljit Sangra
Baljit Sangra is a Vancouver-based filmmaker whose films shine a light on underrepresented and marginalized voices and stories A six-time Leo Award nominee, Sangra’s films have routinely premiered at festivals around the world. She directed the NFB-produced feature documentary Because We Are Girls, exploring the impact of sexual abuse on a Punjabi family living in BC. Because We Are Girls had its world premiere in 2019 at Hot Docs and was the Opening Gala film at Doxa Film Festival. It is still screening at festivals and winning awards and is now on Amazon. Other documentaries include the award-winning Many Rivers Home, a personal story about seniors living in assisted care at the end of life; Have You Forgotten Me , that shines a light on North America’s oldest Sikh Temple in North America ‘ anchored by the letters of a wife left behind ; Warrior Boyz, examining the long-running gang scene unique to the Indo-Canadian enclave of BC’s Lower Mainland and Hockey United following dreams of two South Asian hockey hopefuls. Baljit I president of Viva Mantra films Inc which launched by producing several seasons of an A&E series VIVA! for City TV/ Omni.
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MEET OUR PANELISTS
Broadcasters/Funders
Adriana Chartrand – imagineNATIVE
Adriana Chartrand is Michif from St. Laurent, MB. as well as Irish/Scottish/French. She is the Institute Manager at imagineNATIVE where she oversees year-round professional development programs for Indigenous screen creatives and the annual Industry Days during the Festival. She has two degrees in Film Studies, including an MA from the University of Toronto, and a degree in Women’s and Gender Studies. She speaks English and French and is passionate about cultivating leadership in future Indigenous generations. She was born and raised in Winnipeg, MB.
Janine Steele – Creative BC
Janine Steele is an experienced producer, production manager and arts administrator working at the confluence of linear filmmaking and digital media. Currently she is a Project Manager at Creative BC, overseeing the design and implementation of the Domestic Motion Picture Fund, a new $2 million commitment from the government of BC to support the work of BC based content creators.
Previously, Janine held multiple roles at the National Film Board of Canada. This included Director of Digital where she managed the team behind their online platforms, NFB.ca and the NFB FIlms App, spearheading a number of products to modernize their platforms. She was also Production and Operations Manager for the Vancouver based NFB English Digital Studio, where she produced or project managed pioneering award winning interactive work, like Far Away From Far Away, Yesterday Today Tomorrow, Seven Digital Deadly Sins, Bear 71 and Welcome to Pine Point. Janine’s projects have received dozens of awards including a Cannes Cyber Lion, FWA Site of the Year and several Webby Awards.
Prior to the NFB, and under the former BC Film shingle, she was responsible for the design and release of the first interactive media funds at the provincial funding level, as well as the industry renowned Slate Development Fund and Passport to Markets programs. Photo Cred: (Wendy D Photography.)
Lesley Birchard – CBC Short Docs
Lesley Birchard fuses success in television and digital production with a passion for mentoring and inspiring the next generation of documentary filmmakers. As Executive in Charge of Production for CBC Docs at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Lesley oversees the award-winning CBC Short Docs – point of view documentaries available on streaming service CBC Gem in Canada and internationally on CBC Docs Youtube Channel. Her commissions include Academy Awards-shortlisted Frame 394, Canadian Screen Award-winner Take Me to Prom, TIFF award-winner Sing Me a Lullaby, Sundance award-winner Fast Horse and viral Youtube success Finding Fukue.
Lesley also oversees high-impact television documentaries and specials including Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind and Gord Downie’s The Secret Path in Concert, the annual The Indspire Awards for Indigenous achievement, and she was at the helm of the first four seasons of CBC‘s award-winning comedy tv series Still Standing.
Filmmakers
Asia Youngman
Asia Youngman (Cree/Métis/Haudenosaunee) is an award-winning director and screenwriter from Vancouver, Canada. Her latest documentary THIS INK RUNS DEEP premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and is currently streaming on CBC Gem. In 2020 she wrote and directed the short dramedy HATHA, which received support from the Harold Greenberg Fund/Creative BC. That same year, Asia directed an episode of ODD SQUAD: MOBILE UNIT for PBS/TVO and was named one of Playback’s “10 to Watch” in Canada. Most recently, she was awarded the 2021 DGC BC Emerging Greenlight for her upcoming short drama/thriller N’XAXAITK and is currently in pre-production on her feature-length documentary GAME 7. Asia is an alumna from the TIFF Filmmaker Lab, the TIFF Talent Accelerator, and the Canadian Academy Directors Program for Women.
Kat Jayme
Kathleen Jayme is an award-winning Filipina-Canadian filmmaker based in Vancouver, BC who is passionate about telling meaningful and personal stories. Her breakthrough documentary “Finding Big Country” has screened to sold out theatres and been met with critical acclaim. It was the winner of the 2018 Vancouver International Film Festival’s (VIFF) prestigious People’s Choice Award and the #MustSeeBC award as voted by the VIFF audience. In addition, “Finding Big Country” won Best Canadian Film at the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival, and won two Golden Sheaf Awards for Best Documentary POV and Best Multicultural film, among other festivals and awards. Since its initial worldwide release by TELUS, “Finding Big Country” has been programmed internationally by ESPN, ABC, and Amazon, and in Canada by Sportsnet, NBA TV, and Air Canada.
Kathleen is a graduate of the University of British Columbia’s Film Production Program and also worked at the National Film Board of Canada where she coordinated and oversaw over thirty documentaries, animations, and digital projects through all stages of production. She is the winner of the 2019 TIFF Pitch This! competition as well as the 2017 Storyhive 100K grant edition, and a fellow of the 2019 Netflix-Banff Diversity of Voices Initiative, the 2017 Hot Docs Documentary Channel Doc Accelerator program, and the 2017 Telus Storyhive Banff World Media Festival program. She is currently working on her first feature length film, “The Grizzly Truth,” with Crave and Uninterrupted. She is also in pre-production on a documentary she is co-directing with Asia Youngman about the Game 7 Vancouver hockey riots.
Leena Minifie
Leena Minifie is a Gitxaala (Tsimshian) and British digital strategist, impact and media producer based in the unceded Coast Salish Territories of Vancouver. The owner and founder of Stories First Productions, Minifie also studied Indigenous Studies and Interactive New Media at The Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico. Minifie’s experience includes media projects such as television series, feature-length documentaries, webinars, radio broadcast, culture retention projects, and news site content. She has worked as a journalist for agencies such as CBC Radio One, CTV, Native American Calling (US), and APTN National News, and was also a co-founder of Ricochet Media. She has lengthy experience in film and television, but her primary focus is online digital campaigns and strategy for social good.
In 2019, Minifie returned to Vancouver to work with Screen Siren Pictures for the film campaign of ‘Indian Horse’, implementing strategies for theatrical release in Canada and the USA. Through her work and on a limited budget, she brought the film to rural North American audiences, where it successfully broke the $2 million mark in box office sales.
Minifie is currently a fellow with the BANFF spark Accelerator for Women in the business of media program, and the inaugural Bell Reelworld Producer’s Program. Notably, she was the only First Nations woman to participate in the Aspen Institute and the U.S. Embassy’s Edward R. Murrow Journalism Program in Washington, DC.