Guest Speakers

Mina is an independent Canadian filmmaker. She wrote and directed three feature films, numerous shorts and created two site specific video installations. Her features, Double Happiness and Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity both premiered in the US at the Sundance Film Festival and Double Happiness won the Wolfgang Staudte Prize for Best First Feature at the Berlin Film Festival and the Audience Award at Torino. She was director resident at the Canadian Film Centre in Toronto. She was also a member of an alternative rock band called Playdoh Republic.

Katie is a professional broadcaster (including providing weather and traffic reports for The Early Edition on CBC Radio One) and voice actor. She specializes in teaching acting and improv to kids/teens. Katie also provides services in public and community relations, as well as public speaking.

Katie is a professional broadcaster (including providing weather and traffic reports for The Early Edition on CBC Radio One) and voice actor. She specializes in teaching acting and improv to kids/teens. Katie also provides services in public and community relations, as well as public speaking.
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William Lau has been involved in the CG animation industry since the historic CG animated television series Reboot that first aired in 1994 from Mainframe Entertainment. He began his career from a digital editing background to director on many animated TV series and feature length movies for Rainmaker Entertainment, DHX and Atomic Cartoons.

His directing credits include helming on a broad range of genres from boy's action comedies like Transformers, Action Man, Heavy Gear, Hot Wheels to musicals like Barbie, Monster High and live action shorts and promos.

David Hudgins was born in Waterloo, Ontario and is a Vancouver theatre maker. He is a founding member of the internationally acclaimed Electric Company Theatre, whose artists he met while attending Studio 58 at Langara College over 25 years ago.

Now an Associate Director for Studio 58, David has directed seven shows including two Ovation-Award winning productions: Guys & Dolls and Spring Awakening. He has worked with a variety of other companies, most recently being Solo Collective that produced his play Small Parts.

David’s five-year orchestral / physical-theatre hybrid experiment odyssey called Flee, with composer Peggy Lee, finally found its legs this season at the Fox Cabaret, a co-production of Electric Company and Studio 58.

Ed Chee is storyboard artist with over 15 years experience in the Canadian animation industry.

He has worked on a range of animated shows from pre-school to action; Anne of Green Gables, The Save-Um's, Franny's Feet and others. Most recently, he has contributed to boys-action TV shows, Max Steel, Slugterra, Endangered Species for DHX Media and was the Storyboard Supervisor for six of Mattel's, Monster High series of films.

Brad Goodman has more than twenty-five years of entertainment industry experience in post-production and visual effects management.

Goodman began his career at Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment and participated in the production or post-production of films like the Back to the Future trilogy. Goodman has worked on a wide variety of studio and independent films with credits including Twister, Borat, and In Time. Goodman was also the Post-Production Supervisor for the documentary The Last Days, winner of the 1998 Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary.

Goodman came to Vancouver in 2012 to oversee post-production on the film Elysium, from the Director, Neill Blomkamp. Since that time he has consulted on the film Tomorrowland and was the Post-Production Supervisor for Blomkamp’s latest release, Chappie. He also worked on the animated film Angry Birds which was released by Sony Pictures entertainment in 2016.

Wilson is one of the founding members of Kabam Vancouver where his duties range from creative art direction to UX and talent development. Prior to Kabam, Wilson was the Senior Art Director and Franchise Creative Director at Electronic Arts/Blackbox where he oversaw the art direction and marketing of one of EA's biggest franchises, as well as the creative development of several original IP's. His work also includes being the VFX Art Director for George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic where his work on The Hulk was nominated for Best Visual Effects in 2003. An interested fact about Wilson is that he pioneered the use of real-time game engines for use in pre-visualization of virtual environments in film. This technique was used by Steven Spielberg and Wilson was granted a USA patent for the process.

Allanah founded Lionheart in 2006 with a commitment to helping organizations and individuals capture their message on film. She is passionate about film’s power to tell a story, connect with an audience and inspire action. She has merged this passion with her 25 years experience in communications, marketing and fundraising to become a compelling film-maker. Allanah developed her broadcast skills at the Calgary Flames & Vancouver Canucks while producing live events, in-game segments, advertising campaigns & PSA’s aimed at community engagement and strategic philanthropy. She has since made films for a broad range of organizations including Peace Arch Hospital, BC Children’s Hospital, Teck Resources, and The Haida Heritage Centre, and has interviewed high-profile members of the community, including Jimmy Pattison and Frank McKenna.

Catherine is a digital media producer and executive. She is the producer of the Angry Birds Movie, an animated feature film based on one of the world's biggest game and entertainment franchises. Winder also runs her own media consulting business focused on business strategy, market integration of new technologies, project development and production. Her clients have included; Rovio Entertainment, Illumination Entertainment, Sprout, DisneyToons Studios, LucasFilm, Warner Bros. TV Animation, Laika Animation, Skybound Entertainment, and XD Productions.