Short Film Face Off

Brett Bell is a Regina born-and based filmmaker.  He graduated from the University of Regina's Department of Film and Video (now Media Production & Studies) in 1990.  Brett has made several short films since 1984, including the internationally award-winning films Blueberry, Home Town and Slatland.  He has also written and directed television documentaries broadcast nationally on CTV, Bravo! and History Television. When not making his own films, Brett works as a writer, director, composer, editor and sound designer on Saskatchewan-based film and television projects.  He is also a sessional instructor in film production and studies at the University of Regina. Brett was one of a dozen filmmakers commissioned by the organizing committee of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games to create an original film celebrating the event.

Alan Miller grew up in Coquitlam, British Columbia, to an elementary school teacher mother and a transit supervisor father.  He was disruptive enough in grade 9 yearbook class that his teacher put a video camera in his hand and booted him out of the class to make an end of the year video, giving him his first experience in moviemaking.  He majored in English Literature at the University of Victoria, while excessively satisfying the requirements of his Film Studies minor many times over.  After graduation he moved back to Vancouver to pursue work in the film industry, where he successfully brought coffee to many well-paid people.  Eventually he was able to assemble a team of very accommodating friends, family and strangers to make his first short film, "Conrad the Wise."  Alan is currently in Los Angeles pursuing a Master's degree in film and television production at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts.  His mother retains the hope that he will give up on the movies and teach third grade.

Reiner Bello-Sanchez was born and raised in Havana Cuba, and moved to Canada in 1999. His post secondary education began in Florida, studying Graphic Design and Computer Animation at the Miami Dade College. Upon graduating, Mr. Bello-Sanchez returned to Winnipeg to pursue an education in Film Production. After getting a BA in Film Production from the University of Winnipeg he made a three minute short film titled 'Chocolate' which was a Special Selection at the Gimli Film Festival, the NSI Online Film Festival, and won for Best Editing at the 8th Annual University of Winnipeg Film Festival.

Jith is a filmmaker based in Ottawa, Canada.  He is a graduate of the television broadcasting program at Algonquin College and holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Waterloo. Jith founded Treepot Media Inc. in 2010.  Its talent incubator called Treepot.tv is a nominee for the Best Canadian Music Website in CBC Radio 3's Searchlight 2011 competition.  Jith freelances as a photographer, camera operator, DIT/DMT and editor.  

A skilled storyteller and multiple award-winning Director, Dominique Keller is known for both her distinct visual style and biting narratives.  Her recent filmmaking honors include representing Canada at both the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics and at the Shanghai 2010 World Expo.  Dominique's independent films have screened and won awards at over 50 film festivals worldwide.

Kelly Davis is the Executive Director of the St. John's International Women's Film Festival in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. She has a Graduate Diploma in Communications Studies with a concentration in documentary film from Concordia University, Montreal, and a Bachelor of Journalism (Honours) from the University of King's College in Halifax. DOWN TO THE WOOD is Kelly's first short dramatic film as writer/director, produced through the Newfoundland Independent Filmmakers Cooperative and in April 2010 she produced her second short film entitled CARDBOARD JUNCTION (writer/director Jacqueline Hynes) through NIFCO's Picture Start program. Kelly lives in St. John's with her husband Jan, son Magnus, dog Molly and VW campervan Daisy.

Born in Montreal and now based in Toronto, Nadine Valcin fell in love with cinema after earning a degree in architecture. For the past fifteen years she has written, directed and produced television programs and magazines. She directed the award-winning documentary Black, Bold and Beautiful (1999) as well as Une école sans frontières (A School without Borders - 2008). She is now turning her interest to fiction. In 2008, she was awarded a National Screen Institute Drama Prize for her short bilingual script In Between/Entre Deux and she is currently developing two feature film scripts through the Telefilm Canada program Écrire au long.

Ashley is a Halifax-based emerging filmmaker who lives and breathes cinema. She studied film history and criticism in university and shortly thereafter embarked on a mission to create her own films. Her first project in the director's chair, Sweet Little Bird, was a music video for Carmen Townsend that explored the prison escape genre from a female perspective. Ashley then directed the 35mm short film, Rhonda's Party, starring Marguerite McNeil (Marion Bridge) and Genie-award winner Karine Vanasse (Polytechnique). She is a recent recipient of the Linda Joy Script Development Award for a short screenplay she co-wrote, entitled Stray, set in and inspired by her hometown of New Waterford.  Ashley is currently working on a short film as writer/director, When You Sleep, which was awarded the 2011 National Screen Institute (NSI) Drama Prize.

Hélène Florent is a well-known Quebec actress and filmmaker. She has appeared in numerous film and television productions including Lance et compte, Familia and the upcoming Cafè de flore. She is a graduate of the Conservatoire d`art dramatique de Quebec. As a writer/director, her short films include Jazz Square, Madame Bonheur à la rescousse, and Little Inconvenience.

Helen Haig-Brown (Tsilhqot'in) is an award-winning director, director of photography and teacher, and a leading   talent in producing experimental documentary shorts. Her work is broad-ranging, from experiences from within her own family to   explorations of land and language that are of significance to many First Nations people. Her first fictional work, The Cave, is an official selection of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and of Berlinale 2010, and in 2009 was named one of Canada's Top Ten (Short Film) by the Toronto International Film Festival.