Marlene Hale
Chef | Activist | Filmmaker
Marlene Hale is from the Likhsilyu Clan of the Wet'suwet'en Nation, in the northwest of so-called Canada. She is a First Nations chef specializing in cooking culture and cuisine. On January 8, 2019, Marlene became a full-time activist to fight for her People’s rights and well-being. Now, she is leading the research and development for a full length documentary film on addressing systemic injustice in Canada.
Uzair Merchant
Director
Born in India and raised in Dubai, Uzair Merchant is a multiple award-winning filmmaker and founder of Bkreativ Productions, based out of Dubai and Vancouver, B.C. With over a decade in the film business, Merchant has worked on titles ranging from Deadpool 2, Star Trek: Beyond, Furious 7, Skyfall, and more. The NYFA Filmmaking alum’s short film Chasing Lines has won 11 international awards and he has secured four international screenplay awards for his TV series Black Rose.
Pezhman Hadavi
Pezhman grew up in Tehran, Iran where he studied civil engineering. Eventually he moved into the film industry as a production manager for an Iranian feature called The Fourth Child that was shot in Kenya. More offers on the production side followed for films shot in Iran, Kenya, France, and Canada’s West Coast. Shortly after moving to Vancouver in 2015, he founded the Vancouver Iranian Film Society. His last production Mastermind was shot in Cyprus, Iran, Spain, and Canada.
Rose Stiffarm
Coming soon.
Diana Hellson
Editor
Diana Hellson is an afro-indigenous interdisciplinary artist based in the Greater Vancouver Area of BC, originally from Calgary, AB (Siksika Nation). Notably, Diana was raised by Blackfoot Actor, Writer and Comedian Charlene Hellson, and is the younger sister of Blackfoot Interdisciplinary artist Chandra Melting Tallow AKA Mourning Coup, and the Older sister of Model Tanisha Mthombeni.
Growing up, Diana was heavily involved in the Indigenous arts community surrounded by the likes of Stacey Da Silva, Michelle Thrush, Dallas Arcand and even Tantoo Cardinal. Due to facing unrelenting adversity throughout the school system, Diana was given opportunities to take arts training in it’s place. Diving in headfirst to each of her interests helped Diana to develop meaningful experience in performance arts, music production, graphic design, animation, photography & film production including the editing of Video and Audio.
Since founding Rudegang Entertainment in 2015, Diana has been able to contribute to some amazing projects using her wide range of skills including Documentaries and Music Videos where she filmed, directed and edited the project while leading the cast and crew as producer. Through her work with Rudegang Entertainment, Diana has been trusted to Produce media for clients such as MusicBC, Kinnie Starr, Full Circle: First Nations Performance and the Weltkulturen Museum of Frankfurt Germany.
Nancy Roach
Editor
Nancy Roach is a freelance documentary filmmaker and photographer based on Vancouver Island, on the West Coast of Canada.
In her time at the UK , she studied Documentary Photography at the renowned Newport School of Art course with high profile documentary photographers such as David Hurn and Martin Parr.
Nancy also taught Digital Media Skills and Interactive Media at Lincoln School of Film and Media before moving to Canada, where she currently pursues her passion in visual storytelling through filmmaking and photography.
Nancy’s experiences of travelling, living and working in many countries around the world, along with her creative skills and knowledge, have enabled her to authentically capture a story’s essence through collaborating with different kinds of people.