Gender Equity in Media Society (formerly Women in Film and Television Vancouver) is thrilled to announce the five winners of the Genre Film Lab (formerly known as From Our Dark Side) accelerator program. The five films include: Aisha, Our Blood Is Thicker Than Water, Alligator, Mt. Asha and Married to Murder.
The Genre Film Lab is an accelerator program designed to support the development of Canadian genre film creators whose projects are at an advanced stage of development. The teams include writers, directors and producers selected based on the submission of their original narrative feature film concepts. This year’s projects were evaluated and selected by a jury of filmmakers and genre industry experts including: Austin-based acquisitions manager, programmer, professor, and producer Logan Taylor, director, writer and actor Mary Galloway (Querencia) from the Cowichan Nation, and Shasha McArthur, a Nakota and Nehiyaw filmmaker and current Vice-President of the Board at GEMS. Leading the 2023 Genre Film Lab, for her second year, is filmmaker, programmer, educator and former Programming Director for Frontières International co-pro market Vanessa Meyer.
“After the great experience we had last year, I am honoured to be heading The Genre Film Lab once more and welcoming in such a dynamic and strong lineup of projects from emerging Canadian female and gender diverse filmmakers. While I have been in the genre space for a long time, it is amazing to see the amount and diversity of submissions, as well as the quality of work, continue to grow year by year. Along with the GEMS team, I am looking forward to introducing our 2023 finalists and their exciting new projects to the genre space. As always, our aim with the program is to support the development of underrepresented voices, and to foster a community through which these voices may continue to grow and be heard,” says Program Director Vanessa Meyer.
The Genre Film Lab program will begin in early June with a masterclass on pitching instructed by Helene Granqvist (Head of Women in Film and Television International) and will culminate with a dedicated pitch session at the Frontières International Co-Production Market (July, 26-29). The sessions will include an introductory group pitch masterclass, three strategy sessions with genre industry experts focusing on financing and packaging, one-on-one pitch development sessions, and individualized consultancies.
Full list of the project finalists, projects, and teams:
Project Title: Married to Murder
Director: Samantha Loney
Writer: Samantha Loney
Producers: Morgan Frey & Samantha Loney (Leave It To Beavers Productions)
Production Province: Ontario
Project Title: Our Blood’s Thicker Than Water
Director: Michelle Godoy Priske
Writer: Liz Wallace
Producers: Liz Wallace (lead), Michelle Godoy Priske, Maritama Carlson
Co-Producer: Ekaterina Kan
Production Province/Territory: British Columbia
Project Title: Aisha
Writer: Brishkay Ahmed
Producers: Bonnie Do & Brishkay Ahmed (Digital Warriors Productions Inc.)
Production Province/Territory: British Columbia
Project Title: Alligator
Director: Hayley Gray
Writer: Hayley Gray
Producer: Michael Khazen (High Deaf Productions)
Production Province/Territory: British Columbia
Project Title: Mt. Asha
Co-Director(s): Alex Vance & Stephanie Izsak
Writer: Alex Vance
Producer: Nic Altobelli (Naltobel Productions)
Production Province/Territory: British Columbia
The Genre Film Lab 2023, in partnership with Frontières, is proudly supported by Telefilm Canada, Creative BC, and Warner Bros Discovery Access Canada.