REVOLUTIONARY MEDICINE FINISHES 2ND IN THE SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL SCRIPT COMPETITION AND ADVANCES TO SEMIFINALS IN AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL
I'm thrilled to announce that my feature script REVOLUTIONARY MEDICINE was awarded 2nd place in the Slamdance screenplay competition, making it eligible for the WGA West Independent Writers Caucus. It was amazing to be part of an all female top three lineup for feature winners, including Arden Earnest and Crystal Muma.
​
.png){kind=logo}
The script is also currently a Semifinalist in the Austin Film Festival Script Competition, ranking in the top 2% out of over 11,500 entries.
_White.png)
THE INCREDIBLE L.I.P.S. GOES TO COMICCON AND PILOT SCRIPT ADVANCES IN THE WRITERS LAB FELLOWSHIP
The Incredible League of Incredibly Practical Superb-Heroes (aka THE INCREDIBLE L.I.P.S.) screened the trailer at Ottawa Comiccon Film Festival and launched the web series at Ottawa's DiverCity Film Festival.
​
The TV pilot script advanced to the quarterfinals of The Writers Lab, a prestigious fellowship supported by Hollywood screen legends Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman.
LENNY IS NOMINATED FOR BEST CANADIAN SHORT FILM AT THE CANADIAN SCREEN AWARD QUALIFYING OAKVILLE FILM FESTIVAL
I'm incredibly honoured that LENNY has been nominated for Best Canadian Short Film at the Oakville Film Festival, an event which qualifies for the Canadian Screen Awards.
​
The film had its world premiere at the Visioni Corte International Short Film Festival in beautiful Gaeta, Italy, and was a semi-finalist in the Oscar-qualifying Flickers Rhode Island International Film Festival!
We would not have been able to complete this film without the generous support of the City of Ottawa who awarded us a Cultural Funding grant in 2020.
Huge thanks to my incredible team that helped make this happen!
Check out the trailer!
ALPHABET CITY WINS BEST FEATURE SCRIPT AT THE FEMALE VOICES ROCK FILM FESTIVAL IN NYC
I'm wildly excited to announce ALPHABET CITY was awarded Best Feature Script at the Female Voices Rock Film Festival. This script is a tribute to my beloved New York, so it was great to be recognized in the Big Apple.
Sadly, I wasn't able to attend this year, but I was lucky enough to go in 2023 as a Finalist in the Short Script Competition for PULSE. It was truly one of the best curated festivals I've ever been to, and was great to have an opportunity to connect with so many talented female filmmakers.
ALPHABET CITY advanced to the semifinals in the Austin Film Festival quarterfinalist in the PAGE International Screenplay Competition in 2018, and was in the top 10% in the Academy Nicholl Fellowship run by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
NOSEBLEED COMES 3RD IN KILLER SHORTS AND MAKES ME A "KILLER CANADIAN SCREENWRITER"
I entered Killer Shorts because I was obsessed with the trophy and I desperately wanted a bloody skull typewriter to call my own. Never in a million years did I think I would actually win it. They awarded these beauties to third place, and there were over a thousand entries. I was ecstatic to find my name listed as the 3rd place winner. I GOT MY SKULL TROPHY! (designed by SyFy's FACEOFF All Star, Tyler Green)
​
I was also named one of the 10 Killer Canadians to Watch in 2025.
​
The film premiered at the East Bay Comedy Film Festival in Oakland.
FROM SARAJEVO WINS BEST DIRECTOR AT DIGI60 FILMMAKERS FESTIVAL AND AIRS ON CBC
I'm so grateful to have been awarded BEST DIRECTOR for "FROM SARAJEVO" at the Digi60 Filmmakers Festival. We also picked up the award for BEST ENSEMBLE ACTING, led by Jaclyn Stewart and featuring Angela Parent, Roy van Hooydonk, Rosalie Turmel, and Eloisa Montes de Oca.
​​
​We shot this wildly ambitious war film in 17 hours with a $600 budget. It takes a truly amazing crew to be able to pull this off and I'm eternally thankful to everyone who made it happen.
This film was an incredibly sentimental project that reunited me with a friend from Sarajevo, Lejla Bajramovic, who I hadn't seen in almost 25 years.
I also had the opportunity to work with Rosemary Breman, my dance teacher of 13 years, who passed away in 2020. I'm so grateful to have had a chance to do this with her and her students.
LIVE THROUGH THE NIGHT IS IN THE LAUNCH PAD TV PILOT TOP 100 & COVERFLY RED LIST
After an amazing Top 100 finish in the Launch Pad TV Pilot Competition, LIVE THROUGH THE NIGHT is now ranked in the top 1% out of over 136,000 projects on Coverfly. The script was also a 2nd Rounder in the Austin Film Festival.
I'm also very grateful to the Digi60 Filmmakers' Festival for giving me the opportunity to pitch Polly to a panel of producers, including Sarah Fodey of SandBay Entertainment, Christopher Giroux of Black Fawn Films, Adele Cardamone Martel of CBC, Hoda Elatawi of GAPC, and Michelle Aseltine of Blind Luck Pictures.
DIGI60 PITCH IT COMPETITION
It was such an honor and pleasure to present my work alongside four other super talented writers and filmmakers.
"POLLY" IS A FINALIST AT THE OAXACA FILM FESTIVAL
I'll be heading to Mexico in October with Polly for the Oaxaca Film Festival as a Finalist in the Global Script Challenge. I was accepted into the festival two years ago for The Liberation Front, but I didn't get to go, so I'll be celebrating both scripts this time. Looking forward to an exciting week of roundtables, pitch sessions, and a little sightseeing!
"LENNY" ADVANCES TO SCREENCRAFT SECOND ROUND
We're very excited to announce that our next short film, Lenny, is now in pre-production and the script has advanced to the second round of the Screencraft Film Fund competition.
Lenny is the story of a prisoner of war who befriends a spider to combat the loneliness of isolation.
​
We have an incredible team working on this project, including our Director of Photographer, Morgana McKenzie, who was recently nominated for two Canadian Society of Cinematographers Awards.
Check out this fun video of our star, Eze Leno, meeting his co-star, Casper the Golden Knee Tarantula!
FROM SARAJEVO IS AWARD WINNER AT MIRROR MOUNTAIN
I'm thrilled that FROM SARAJEVO was named Best Local Film at the 2019 Mirror Mountain Film Festival, one of my very favorite festivals.
​
For more information about the event, you can visit their website at https://mirrormountainfilmfest.com/2019-festival/
Thanks so much to Christopher Rohde & Renuka Bauri for putting on such a great festival. Big thanks to the award sponsors who supported the event: SAW Video, Railbender Tattoo Studio, and Sox City Ottawa. I've never won a tattoo before! Had to celebrate the fancy new socks with my co-producer in crime, Brendan Butt.
​
Also great to celebrate the screening with an awesome female filmmaker
Maissa Houri-Charron.
DIRTY LOVE WEB SERIES LAUNCHED
I'm so proud to be part of this ground-breaking web series "Dirty Love" that deals with a lot of really important subject matter involving sexual expression.
​
Thanks so much to the creators, Maissa Houri and Blakely David for having me on board as a guest director. A lot of amazingly talented women working on this, both on camera and behind it.
​
With over 30,000 views on just one episode, we're thrilled with the popularity it's gained.
Check out this red hot trailer:
FROM SARAJEVO GETS BEST WRITING NOMINATION AT DETROIT SHETOWN
Very happy to announce that Lejla Bajramovic and I have been nominated for "Best Writing" for "From Sarajevo" at the Detroit Shetown Film Festival
It screens at Cinema Detroit for the opening of the festival on Friday September 14th, 2018 7pm-10pm.
​
This picture marks the first time Leyla and I have seen each other in person in about 25 years. I'm so grateful to have a chance to see her again!
CBC AIRS FROM SARAJEVO
FROM SARAJEVO airs on CBC's Reel Shorts August 4th, 2018. The episode also features a short interview about the making of this film and why it's so personal to me. You can also hear me admit my greatest mistake with the film ;)
You can also check out my first ever radio interview with CBC's Alan Neal on his show "All in a Day" to promote the airing of FROM SARAJEVO on Reel Shorts.
​
FROM SARAJEVO was shown at Chain New York Film Festival on August 11th, 2018, along with an incredible lineup of films by and about women.
This was such an amazing festival to be a part of, and the organizers truly went above and beyond for the filmmakers.
​
For more info about the festival, check out:
FROM SARAJEVO HITS NYC'S CHAIN FILM FESTIVAL
SAINT CHARLES PLACE OFFICIAL SELECTION IN ATLANTIC CITY & MIRROR MOUNTAIN
I'm so happy this film was included in the Atlantic City Cinefest. I can't think of a more appropriate place for our little movie.
In other SAINT CHARLES PLACE news, it was so great to be able to join some of my filmmaker friends on stage for the Q & A at the 2017 Mirror Mountain Film Festival.
David Rajsic and I were so excited that Saint Charles Place was nominated for Best Local Film.
DIGI60 ARTICLE
Thanks to Digi60 for this article. Digi60 has played a huge role in my development as a filmmaker, and I'm so grateful to have such an awesome festival in town.
SAINT CHARLES PLACE SELECTED FOR TORONTO INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL
HOW MUCH DO I ADORE THIS CREW?!​
​
Jane Hamilton, Heather Head, David Rajsic, Julie Zhu and Caelan Benn and I at the screening of Saint Charles Place at the Toronto Independent Film Festival 2017.
MORAL CODING COMES 3RD AT THE LOS ANGELES INDEPENDENT FILM AWARDS AND ADVANCES TO SCREENCRAFT QUARTER-FINALS
I had an awesome time hitting the red carpet at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards in 2015, where my script for Moral Coding finished 3rd.
Also thrilled that Moral Coding was counted among the Quarter Finalists in the 2015 Screencraft Short Script competition
ELECTRIC CASTLES WINS BEST SCREENPLAY AT DIGI60
Very excited to receive the award for Best Screenplay at the Fall 2016 Digi60 Festival. David Rajsic and I could not have asked for a better cast to help us realize this film.
SIERRA LEONE & CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
In 2010 I went to Sierra Leone to produce a documentary about youth entrepreneurship in peace building. I worked with an amazing group of young people who formed the group Artists United for Children and Youth Development (AUCAYD), who used music and dance to help reform the lives of war affected youth.
​
I was fortunate to have the film play at the Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner.
​
Huge thanks to Algonquin College for granting me this incredible opportunity, which remains one of the highlights of my life.
​
WINGS OF COURAGE LEADS TO MUSEUM IN NEWFOUNDLAND
I was doing archival research for A Nation Soars, a documentary trilogy about aviation in World War 1 with Sound Venture Productions, and one of the greatest highlights how I inadvertently helped create a tribute to WWI Flying Ace, Carl Falkenberg, in Botwood, Newfoundland.
​
Learning about the pilots who fought for Canada was an incredibly humbling experience. I will never be able to imagine what they went through at such a young age.
​
Falkenberg features in the film Wings of Courage.
​
The series is available on CPAC at Drawn to Victory, Wings of Courage, and Flight Path of Heroes