Meet Our 2024 AIFF Filmmaker Lab Cohort!

The AIFF Filmmaker Lab, presented by RBC Emerging Artists, is a unique opportunity for emerging filmmakers to come together in a supportive environment where they can learn from each other and from veterans in the industry. It’s a place for directors, producers, writers and lovers of the short film to share ideas, expose themselves to new works, receive coaching around film festival strategy, make connections and meet potential collaborators. It touches on the art of film and the business of movies, combines professional skill-development with community building, all amid the buzzing galas, parties and screenings of the Atlantic International Film Festival.

This year’s Filmmaker Lab cohort hails from across Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. Their films span styles and genres: they are experimental, comedic, narrative-driven, abstract, imagistic, atmospheric and informative– taking us from the interior of the brain through vast natural landscapes and into the lives of people leading their communities into the twenty-first century.

Anna MacLean

Anna is a Halifax based Digital Media Technician whose work centres women and humour with poignancy and fire. She is best known for creating original and engaging marketing and promotional content for the National Film Board of Canada, Applehead Studios and the Toronto based children's rock band Sonshine and Broccoli. Also an established commercial and narrative editor, Anna cut the feature length Compulsus (dir Tara Thorne) and the comedy web series Good Grief Season 1 & 2 (dir Amy Trefry). Ever a fan of the art of storytelling, she has written and directed the feature doc Boom, Baby, Boom and the absurdist narrative short Gaslit. She holds a Masters Degree in Fine Arts and serves as vice-chair on the Board of Directors for the Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative.

Andre Anderson

Andre is a gifted storyteller and an African Nova Scotian visionary director, alumni of Neptune Theatre, Saint Mary’s University, and Nova Scotia Community College. With over 13 years of experience in the film and television industry, coupled with business studies since 2017, he brings a wealth of knowledge and creativity to his work. Anderson launched his career with the CBC hit series MR.D, filmed in Halifax in 2011. In 2015, he moved to Toronto to further develop his career, appearing in various television and film projects. Now back in Halifax, Anderson stands out as a leader, hard worker, and natural storyteller. As a multifaceted director and entrepreneur, he has a passion for sharing the stories he loves.

Alexa Jane Jerrett

Alexa is an emerging Canadian filmmaker and owner of Bedlamer Pictures Inc. She is a recent participant of NIFCO’s Picture Start 16 and a 2018 graduate of FAMU’s (Czechia) Writing & Directing Fiction Program. In 2023, Alexa won the NL Arts & Letters Awards Senior Dramatic Script Division with an original folk horror script. She went on to direct and co-produce the short film, “Bedlamer”, set to release in the Fall of 2024."

Christine DiGiosia

Christine is a queer Mi’kmaq woman based in Halifax. She started her journey working in the film industry as a body double in 2018, which then inspired her to try out an assortment of different jobs in the industry. She is currently in the process of making her producing debut with her first short film, The Kitchen Sink (2024). Aside from producing, Christine has ample interest in writing and directing her own projects. Her hope is to bring more representation to the film industry, in both the making of projects and the actual stories themselves. She aspires to spread more light on stories centering Women, Indigenous people, and LGBTQIA2S+ folks.

Jake Dicks

Working as an adventure tourism guide in his youth and participating in a variety of outdoor sports in beautiful Western Newfoundland sparked an interest in sharing the landscape and the people that spend their time here. With a focus on sustainability within these sports and activities, capturing the culture of these individuals in their element and the environment they play in has been Jake’s main goal with videography. The Newfoundland weather and landscape can be an unforgiving place to capture video, and his biggest skill within filmmaking is his resilience in getting the shot despite the elements. Jake has worked on projects spending weeks in the outdoors in locations such as northern Alberta and the Yukon.

Zyanya Barbara Juarez Arellano

Zyanya is an award-winning film director, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, oil painter, and poet. Her film work has been selected for multiple film festivals in Canada and Mexico, and her paintings are exhibited in a variety of art galleries in North America. She has a BFA in Fine Arts with a Film major from NSCAD University.

Corey Katz

Corey is a visual artist based out of Sydney, Nova Scotia. Since 2010, Corey has worked as a freelance photographer, with his work published in regional, national and international newspapers and magazines and used in various promotional campaigns for clients such as The Globe & Mail, Tourism Nova Scotia, Forbes, & CBC. In recent years, Corey has started to transition into writing and filmmaking with his first experimental short, Conclusion: Disease Stable, which was spotlighted at the Lumière Art Festival in 2023. He has also written and directed a new horror short film, Here Lies Daniel, which will be released this summer.

shalan joudry

shalan is a multidisciplinary artist from southwest NS. She is an award-winning Mi'kmaw writer, oral storyteller, podcast producer, theatre director, drummer/singer, and ecologist. Using her theatrical background, shalan brings Mi’kmaw stories to a new generation of listeners, as well as recounting personally crafted narratives. shalan's second poetry collection, Waking Ground (Gaspereau Press 2020) was shortlisted for numerous poetry awards and contains the poem which inspired her first professional short film. Her second play, Koqm, a one-woman theatrical work won the 2023 Merritt Award for Outstanding New Play. shalan lives with her family in their community of L’sitkuk (Bear River First Nation) where she is reclaiming her Indigenous language. Welima'q is her debut film.

David Downton

Born and trained in filmmaking in NL, self-taught in 3D animation, motion graphics, and assorted visual arts. David learns by experimenting and trying as much different stuff as they can. They entered film school because they wanted to write movies but fell in love with cameras, lighting and VFX, the story-focused part of their brain going into hibernation as they gobbled up as many visual art techniques as possible. Being a high-energy individual, David produces a lot every day, every project practice for the next thing. They have professional experience in the film and TV industry but prefer very small independent projects. David is aesthetically drawn to mess and grossness, litter, and broken things. Glitch and VHS art, stark lighting, ponds, and small towns.

Hélène Lebon

Having obtained a bachelor's degree in journalism from Montreal, followed by a master's degree in political communication in Madrid and French teaching in Paris, Hélène ventured into documentary research and communication. Five years ago, she took the entrepreneurial leap and established her own content company. She now produces art through various formats, from podcasts to videos, with a particular emphasis on documentary filmmaking, which is her deepest calling. In this phase of her career, Hélène is especially drawn to social and environmental issues, feminist concerns, and challenges related to territory, identity, and multiculturalism.

The AIFF Filmmaker Lab is presented in partnership with RBC Emerging Artists, the Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative and Warner Brothers Discovery Access Canada. Thank you for your generous support.