MENTORS
Aida Anderson
Aida Anderson has been working in and around film for around 10 years. She is an art school dropout and a graduate of the NSCC Heritage carpentry program (2020). She’s been around filmmakers and sets for most of her life but never totally thought she would make a career of it. When she graduated heritage carpentry, she envisioned working as a carpenter but was swiftly snapped back up into the world of being a scenic artist. She loves being a scenic because she gets to solve problems, be creative, and work as a team to create and be part of something so much bigger than ourselves. She is also passionate about the arts, the sociopolitical angle of craft, and labour rights.
Mentor to Maggee Leavey
Tricia Black
Tricia Black (she/they) is a queer actor, comedian, songwriter, and filmmaker. They are a three-time Canadian Screen Award winner and six-time nominee, a two-time Canadian Comedy Award winner, and a TO WebFest Best Ensemble Cast winner. Tricia serves as Creative Director of Tweed & Company Theatre, where they write, compose, and produce original Canadian musicals and directed the 2023 Joni Mitchell theatrical concert Both Sides Now. They co-wrote the musical feature film Fight The Moonlight with Caitlin English (Highball TV). Second City Mainstage Revues: 84th Revue (Ashley Botting), If I Could #Throwback Time (Rob Baker), Welcome Back To The Future (Paloma Nunez). Second City Theatrical: She The People (Carly Heffernan; also at Mirvish Theatre). Film & TV: Pretty Hard Cases (CBC), What We Do in the Shadows (FX), Wayward (Netflix), The Miniature Wife (Peacock/NBC), Starfleet Academy (Paramount+/CBS), Small Achievable Goals (CBC), Band Ladies (Highball TV).
Mentor to Chan Polchies
Jessica Brown
Jessica Brown has been working in the film and television industry since 2003. In 2012 she incorporated Peep Media Inc. with award winning writer/director Jackie Torrens and since then they have completed five documentary films: Bernie Langille Wants to Know What Happened to Bernie Langille; Small Town Show Biz: 2 Dreams from a Harbourtown; Edge of East; My Week on Welfare; and Bernie Langille Wants to Know… Who Killed Bernie Langille. Brown also produces in the scripted world, and works as Head Researcher/ Legal Clearances for CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes. In 2026, Jessica and Jackie completed their first scripted feature film Baby, which is currently making its way through the international film festival circuit.
Mentor to Chabinaa Ariette
Deanne Foley
Deanne Foley is a Canadian film and television director and writer. She’s been a recurring director on CBC’s hit comedy series Son of a Critch for the past five seasons, and on City TV’s Hudson & Rex for six. Her feature film An Audience of Chairs won Best Director and Best Picture at the Atlantic Film Festival. Her sophomore feature, Relative Happiness, was nominated for Best Picture at the Directors Guild of Canada Awards and the Borsos Best Canadian Feature at the Whistler Film Festival. She also received a Best Director nomination at the Canadian Comedy Awards for her debut feature Beat Down. Foley has directed on CBC’s one-hour procedural drama Republic of Doyle and the Lifetime TV movie Christmas Reservations starring Melissa Joan Hart. She’s a member of both the Directors Guild of Canada and the Writers Guild of Canada. In 2015, she was awarded the BMO Artist of the Year by Arts NL, and in 2020, she received the WAVE award for Vision and Leadership from WIFT-AT.
Mentor to Maddison Miles
Stephanie Joline
Stephanie Joline is an Indigenous writer, director, and producer based in Halifax, Nova Scotia.. Equally adept at film and television, Stephanie’s stories provoke conversation, break boundaries, and are deeply rooted in inclusivity and feminism. Her feature films include Night Blooms (2021, starring Jessica Clement and Nick Stahl), a coming-of-age story set in the 1990s; and Play Your Gender (2016), a documentary that pulls back the curtain on gender bias in the music industry, featuring interviews with Patty Schemel, Melissa Auf Der Maur, and Sara Quin. Stephanie has also directed for television and streaming platforms. In 2020 she was awarded the Irving Avrich Award from TIFF recognizing rising Canadian talent. The following year she was long-listed for the DGC Discovery Award, and in 2022 she received Best Nova Scotia Director from WIFT-AT and won her first Canadian Screen Award for best directing in the factual television category.
Mentor to Louise Lacson
Vanessa King
Vanessa King (she/her) is a New Brunswick-based producer, screenwriter, director, story editor, educator and industry leader with nearly two decades of experience spanning development, production, education, and entertainment operations across Canada, the United States and the UK. Originally from Saint Andrews and now based in Hampton, New Brunswick, Vanessa returned to the province after more than twenty years working in New York City’s entertainment industry. Her screenwriting work has been recognized by organizations including the Academy Nicholl Fellowship and Sony Worldwide Entertainment, and she has built a career at the intersection of storytelling, talent development and industry building. She currently teaches Writing for Television through Gotham Writers Workshop and continues to expand access to screen education through free and community-based programming in New Brunswick.
Mentor to Cindy Ngo
Katelyn McCulloch
Katelyn “Katie” McCulloch is a Canadian Screen Award-nominated writer and director, and a multi-award-winning producer, director, writer and actor. She is the showrunner, co-creator, and director of the hit comedy series Everybody’s Meg (Bell Fibe TV1) and has written, directed, and produced four award-winning short films. Through her production company, Hey Old Friend, she champions funny, feel-good, female-driven storytelling. A passionate mentor, Katie believes in helping emerging artists find their voice and shine their brightest.
Mentor to Reine Faiad
Gina Power
Gina is a creative industry veteran with an extensive and varied career in film, television, digital, gaming, and publishing. She previously held a senior management position with Walt Disney Studios in sales, programming, distribution, and operations strategies across multiple platforms. Currently under the HO11YROCK banner: coproduction, development, sales and distribution expertise, specializing in creative industry trade missions and international markets participation. She is a graduate of York University Osgood Hall Law School (Master of Laws) LLM in Intellectual Property.
Mentor to Monica Lacey
Nikki Saltz
Nikki Saltz is a screenwriter and story editor based in Toronto. She is the founder of House of Stories, and holds an MFA in screenwriting from York University. There, she trained in Story and Script Analysis under the tutelage of the late screenwriter and story expert Amnon Buchbinder, who remained a dear friend and mentor until his passing in 2019. After her formal studies, Nikki went on to deepen her understanding of screenwriting by interning in development, reading and analyzing scripts for Amaze Film + T.V, Goldcrest Films, and Whizbang Films, and then opening her own story editing practice, House of Stories. Nikki is an alumnus of the Writers’ Lab at the prestigious Canadian Film Centre, and has taught and developed courses in screenwriting and Story for Toronto Film School, as well as a number of workshops offered through House of Stories.
Mentor to Lauren Jean Lawlor
Jackie Torrens
Jackie Torrens (she/they) is an award-winning non-binary actor, writer & film director based in Halifax. Their documentary films include Edge of East, My Week on Welfare, Small Town Show Biz, Free Reins, the feature Radical Age and the feature Bernie Langille Wants to Know Who Killed Bernie Langille. Torrens has received WIFT-AT’s Wave award for their contribution to fil through art and advocacy. They have also twice been the recipient of WIFT-AT’s Best Director award. Their next project, Baby—a 1980s coming-of-age dark comedy about death, dysfunction, and roller skates—is their directorial debut in scripted feature. Baby was selected to be part of Telefilm’s First Look showcase in Berlin and will be on the festival circuit in 2027.
Mentor to Sharon McCormack
Karen Walton
Karen Walton is a celebrated screen and television Writer-Executive Producer best known for her debut feature screenplay for Canadian cult horror classic, Ginger Snaps. Her critically acclaimed writing has been featured on hit Canadian and US series such as Below (Netflix Canada), Queer As Folk (Showtime) and Orphan Black (Bell/BBC America). A graduate of the University of Alberta in Drama and the Canadian Film Centre, Karen’s work has been recognized by the Canadian Screen Academy (Best Dramatic Series, Best Writing in Television Movie or Miniseries), the Writers Guild of Canada’s Margaret Collier & Writers Block Awards, ACTRA’s Nell Shipman Award, WIFT+ Toronto’s Crystal Award for Mentorship, and the Canadian Comedy Award for Screenplay (Ginger Snaps). Karen is the founder and Admin of the nationally beloved inkcanada: canadian screenwriters and their sketchy friends online community. Born and raised in Nova Scotia, Karen spent her late teens and twenties in Alberta. She has lived and worked out of Toronto, and at times Montreal, since 1994.
Mentor to Fia Lillington
Mentor Match is made possible through the support of
MENTEES
Chabinaa Ariette
Canadian filmmaker Chabinaa Ariette was born and raised in Scarborough, Ontario. She moved to Halifax to pursue an education in film, earning a degree in Cinema and Media Studies from Dalhousie University. Having written, produced, and directed several short films, her work has developed into a distinctive blend of personal storytelling and striking visuals. She uses filmmaking to say what cannot always be said, giving voice to her experiences and feelings that would otherwise remain unspoken. Her most recent short, Willow (2026), explores longing through a quiet, visually driven narrative. The film is currently making its way through the festival circuit and screened at the Parrsboro Film Festival this fall.
Reine Faiad
Reine Faiad is a multidimensional artist. Growing up in a traditional environment, she’d find herself in spaces where she questioned why the line was drawn, instead of whether or not she should cross it. She is an abstract thinker, and likes to break frameworks of how things “should” work.
Monica Lacey
Monica Lacey is a Canadian/Italian multidisciplinary artist, writer, and curator with deep roots in the film industry, growing up on set with her producer/director father. She began her own film career as a 3rd assistant director, then moved into production design, and has more recently focused on production management. Monica’s diverse experience brings a creative and organized approach to every project she joins. She lives in Epekwitk/PEI with her family, where, in addition to her studio art practice, she cultivates community and creates opportunities for fellow artists. She enjoys teaching yoga, roller-skating, a good dance floor, and swimming in the ocean.
Louise Lacson
Louise Lacson is a Filipina-Canadian writer, director, and creative producer. After immigrating to Halifax and growing up there, she moved to Los Angeles, where she graduated cum laude from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. Her thesis, Provenance, received a Student Emmy from the National Television Academy. She has worked across production, creative development, and global film festivals, collaborating with creative teams across North America, Europe, and Asia. She is currently in post-production on Shelter, a World War II story set in the Philippines, while developing her first feature. Louise is passionate about character-driven stories rooted in culture and human connection.
Lauren Jean Lawlor
Lauren Jean Lawlor is a writer currently based in Epekwitk / Charlottetown, PE. She has a fiction and short story background, but has also written for stage and screen. Most recently her play, Thinking About A Dog, won the 2024 PARC PEI Award. She is interested in queer stories in rural spaces and stories that surprise.
Maggee Leavey
Maggee Leavey, originally from Dalhousie, New Brunswick, is a 2026 NSCC Screen Arts graduate based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Through her course, taking part of the FILM5 program, and being an IATSE 849 scenic and props permittee, her passion for scenic paint, prop-making, production design, and all things art department was solidified. She continues to explore her love for screenwriting, directing, videography, and location sound post-graduation while working towards establishing a career in scenic paint. She had the pleasure of being the NBCULAUNCH Trainee on We Were Liars S2. She looks forward to learning from such inspiring women.
Fia Lillington
Fia Lillington is a queer, trans, and disabled filmmaker from Halifax. She has written and directed multiple short films and music videos, focusing on narrative films that explore the smaller moments of everyday life. Her films High Road, You’re Right Here With Me, and I Think She Likes Me have played at festivals across Canada, including the Atlantic International Film Festival and Silver Wave Film Festival.
Sharon McCormack
Sharon McCormack is a Halifax-based comedian and emerging screenwriter with a passion for character-driven comedy. A regular performer on the local stand-up scene, Sharon is expanding her storytelling into film and television. She has completed two short screenplays, Aftercare and The (Ex)change, and is currently developing new comedy projects for the screen. Sharon is interested in creating distinctly Canadian stories that find humour in everyday situations and imperfect people. As a 2026-27 WIFT-AT Mentor Match participant, she is excited to continue developing her craft, building industry relationships, and moving her original projects toward the screen.
Maddison Miles
Maddison Miles is a filmmaker, creative producer, professional wrestler, and stunt and intimacy coordinator from Halifax. She has competed in more than 600 wrestling matches across 11 countries and brings extensive experience in physical performance, storytelling, and production to her work in film and television. As Head of Development for Sleepy Bear Productions and Blink49 Vertical Studios, Maddison has co-led the development of multiple vertical series for platforms including ReelShort, and clients including Uber Eats. She is currently directing Fight for Her Life: Wallace vs. Blanco, a vertical docu-sports series exploring elite female fighters and the world of professional Muay Thai.
Cindy Ngo
Cindy Ngo is a Halifax-based filmmaker, screenwriter, and editor who bridges technical post-production precision with evocative, character-driven storytelling. A graduate of both the Fanshawe MIA program and the NSCC Screen Arts program, she built a robust foundation in the editing room, contributing as an assistant editor on the feature project Dances With Cranes. Transitioning into writing and directing, Cindy was awarded provincial pre-development funding from Screen Nova Scotia to develop her debut feature. Dedicated to fostering cross-cultural connections, she is actively building a bridge between Canadian and Vietnamese film communities, aiming to champion Asian representation and international co-productions that explore complex, cross-cultural identities.
Chan Polchies
Chan Polchies is a Wolastoqiyik filmmaker. They recently directed their first short film Apathy is a Blueberry. Alongside that project they edited the short film Expresso, both of which are airing on Bell Media. They are also co-directing and writing a documentary. Their next endeavour is to write a script for their next project. Their intention is to bring stories to life aided/inspired by their background as an Indigenous Two-Spirit individual. One who has navigated life through the eyes of religion, mixed race, and inhabited multiple identities of the LGBTQA+ community.