CREW
Min Sook Lee
DIRECTOR/ WRITER/ PRODUCER
Min Sook Lee is an award winning filmmaker with a diverse and prolific portfolio of multimedia work. Min Sook has directed numerous critically acclaimed documentaries, including: MY TOXIC BABY – a study of toxins in baby products, TIGER SPIRIT – an examination of the division of the two Koreas shot on both sides of the border (Winner: Donald Brittain Gemini Award for Best Social/Political Documentary), HOGTOWN – an analysis of the intersection of policing and municipal politics (Winner: Best Feature-length Canadian Documentary award at Hot Docs Festival); BADGE OF PRIDE – a discovery of gay cops in Toronto - and EL CONTRATO – a look at the lives of migrant farm workers in Canada (nominated for the Donald Brittain Gemini). Min Sook recently released the THE REAL INGLORIOUS BASTARDS, (Winner: Best History Documentary, Canadian Screen Awards) a documentary about Jewish spies behind enemy lines during WWII.
Min Sook is an Assistant Professor at the Ontario College of Art and Design University where she teaches Art and Social Change. Her research and teaching focuses on the intersections of labour, border politics, migration, art,& social change.
Min Sook is a recipient of the Cesar E. Chavez Black Eagle Award for EL CONTRATO's impact on the rights of migrant workers. Canada’s oldest labour arts festival, Mayworks Festival has named the MIN SOOK LEE LABOUR ARTS AWARD in her honour. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to the arts and labour movement.
Watch Min Sook's docs online:
Tiger Spirit
El Contrato
Hogtown: The Politics of Policing
Teodoro in Toronto
LISA VALENCIA-SVENSSON
PRODUCER
Lisa Valencia-Svensson is an award-winning documentary film producer based in Toronto who has been involved in the industry for over a decade. Her first feature length documentary was HERMAN'S HOUSE, which won an Emmy for Outstanding Arts & Culture Programming and was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award: Donald Brittain Award for Best Social/ Political Documentary. Herman’s House was broadcast on the PBS documentary series POV and on documentary channel in Canada. Her second feature was MIGRANT DREAMS which will be broadcast on TVO and OMNI.
She associate produced several films, including THE WORLD BEFORE HER, which have garnered Emmy nominations and Canadian Screen Awards, have been broadcast internationally, and been screened and won awards at festivals including TIFF, Tribeca, Hot Docs and IDFA. Her passion is for film projects which explore issues of inequality and social justice, and which encourage audiences to view their world through a constructively critical and creatively unique lens.
Rose Gutierrez
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Rose Gutierrez returns to filmmaking as the Executive Producer of Migrant Dreams, after many years of working in the violence against women and community health equity sector. Rose started out and was schooled by Toronto's independent film/video activist community, working with Frameline productions and EGO Film Arts. Rose partnered with I-Sis Productions (Debbie Douglas and Gabriella Micallef) to produce award winning films including ANOTHER LOVE STORY: WOMEN AND AIDS and TAMA BA TAMA NA: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, which was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. She is currently the Program Director at SKETCH Working Arts, an award winning Community Arts Initiative for street-Involved and homeless youth in Toronto.
DAVID KAZALa
EDITOR
David Kazala is an award-winning editor based in Toronto, Canada. Kazala’s career in Canadian documentary spans over a decade. His outstanding work has contributed to the making of many acclaimed films including: THE REAL INGLORIOUS BASTARDS (Storyline Entertainment – 2014 Canadian Screen Award), THE WORLD BEFORE HER (2014 Storyline Entertainment 2012, Tribeca and Hot Docs best documentary winner, Top 10 TIFF film, 2014 Emmy Award Nomination), LONE TWIN (2011 Storyline Entertainment, Canadian Screen Award Nomination) THE REAL MASH (2010 Storyline Entertainment – Gemini nomination best editing), IT'S A TEENS' WORLD: WIRED FOR SEX, LIES AND POWER TRIPS (2009 Storyline Entertainment), DIAMOND ROAD (2008 Gemini for Best Documentary Series), THE BOMBER'S DREAM (2007 Gemini Nomination for Best History Documentary Program), WORLDS COLLIDE: THE SAGE OF HERSCHEL ISLAND (2007 Gemini Nomination for Best Picture Editing in a Documentary Program or Series), SEX SLAVES (2007 Emmy for Best Investigative Journalism, 2006 Bafta Award Nomination for Best Documentary Program, 2006 Edward R. Murrow Award, 2006 Gracie Award for Outstanding Documentary), THE SECRET OF THE SNAKE GODDESS (2007 Storyline Entertainment – Golden Sheaf Award Best History Documentary) and THE RITCHIE BOYS (2004 Opening film for Hot Docs Documentary Film Festival, 2005 short-list for Best Documentary Feature by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 2004 Audience Award at the Hong Kong Film Festival).
KEN MYHR
COMPOSER
Ken Myhr has scored for more than 75 award winning documentary and dramatic, series and feature films. His work can be heard weekly on the title credits for CBC’s flagship series THE NATURE OF THINGS. His orchestral score for CBC’s Geologic Journey garnered a Golden Sheaf award for best original score, a Gemini nomination and was honoured with a full orchestral reading sponsored by the Guild of Film Composers. He recently worked on Storyline’s THE WORLD BEFORE HER, HERMAN'S HOUSE, THE REAL INGLORIOUS BASTARDS, THE REAL SHERLOCK HOLMES and THE MARKET. THE MARKET, THE REAL SHERLOCK HOLMES and HERMAN'S HOUSE scores all received Canadian Screen Award nominations for best original music in a documentary program. Ken studied contemporary composition, jazz and world music at York University and concurrently studied improvisation with Duke Ellington alumni Fred Stone, South Indian music with master drummer Trichy Sankaran, and African drumming with Abraham Adzinya.
IRIS NG
CINEMATOGRAPHER
Iris Ng is a cinematographer with over a decade of experience collaborating with award-winning filmmakers and artists. Her credits encompass art, narrative films, documentary series, commercials, and music videos, with a focus on long-form documentaries including STORIES WE TELL directed by Sarah Polley (Best Canadian Film - Toronto Film Critics Association, Best Documentary - Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and Best Non-Fiction Film - New York Film Critics Circle), HERMAN’S HOUSE directed by Angad Bhalla (Emmy® Award for Outstanding Arts & Culture Program), THE GHOSTS IN OUR MACHINE directed by Liz Marshall (Best Canadian Feature - Planet In Focus International Film and Video Festival), and most recently, part of the the 10-part Netflix documentary series MAKING A MURDERER. She has also lensed films directed by Vikram Jayanti, Min Sook Lee, Fredrik Gertten, Rama Rau, Michael McNamara, Martha Burns, Fisher Stevens, and artists Chris Curreri, Richard Fung, and Oliver Husain.
Among numerous upcoming 2016 releases are The National Film Board of Canada’s THE APOLOGY, White Pine Pictures’ GIRLS’ NIGHT OUT for CBC’s First Hand, and Yap Films’ LORETTA LYNN: STILL A MOUNTAIN GIRL for PBS’s American Masters Series. http://iriscinematography.com
MARIAM ZAIDI
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
Mariam Zaidi is a South Asian documentary filmmaker based in Toronto. Her directorial debut SAFAR (2014) went on to show at festivals worldwide, garnering a grant from Breakthroughs Film Festival in Toronto and an award for Best Short Documentary at the We Care Film Festival in the UAE. After completing her MFA in Documentary Media at Ryerson University, Zaidi went on to work in various roles for high-profile Canadian documentary films such as MILK and THE WORLD BEFORE HER. Mariam is a Hot Docs Doc Accelerator and Shaw Media Hot Docs Diverse Voices fellow. Alongside her freelance and independent production work, Zaidi also holds the position of Distribution Coordinator at the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre.
SHASHA NAKHAI
POST PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
Shasha Nakhai joined Storyline in January of 2011. Having graduated from Ryerson University's Broadcast Journalism program, she has completed stints with Summerhill Entertainment, CBC Radio, CKLN FM and Africa Independent Television. Shasha came to Canada as an international student from Nigeria in 2003 and now resides in Toronto.
Her award-winning documentaries including THE SUGAR BOWL, JOE and UNSINKABLE have screened at festivals worldwide including Hot Docs, Atlanta, LA Shorts, Reel Asian and Al Jazeera Film Festivals. She was recently selected to participate in the inaugural WIFT Ubisoft Toronto Producer Mentorship and the Documentary Organization of Canada's Breakthrough Program.
JORDAN KAWAI
ASSISTANT EDITOR
Jordan Kawai received a BA Honours in Communication at the University of Ottawa before pursuing his MFA in Documentary Media at Ryerson University, where he is a recipient of the Ontario Graduate Scholarship. Jordan’s aspirations follow both artistic and academic pursuits, merging his background as a musician and artist with his passion for educating.
DANIEL PELLERIN
SOUND DESIGNER
Daniel Pellerin has worked in sound and music post production for film and television for the past 32 years, as recording and re-recording mixer/ engineer, sound design and music supervisor/ editor. For the past 16 years, he has specialized in mixing, editing and music supervising in digital 5.1 audio format for film, presently utilizing the most current digital technology, specializing in HD productions that heavily rely on CGI content.
He has been nominated for 11 Genie Awards for which he has won three (Atom Egoyan’s THE SWEET HEREAFTER, Istvan Szabo’s SUNSHINE and Clement Virgo’s LOVE COME DOWN) and 16 Gemini Awards, for which he has won two (MUSICIANS IN EXILE and UNDER THE PIANO). Hot Doc Awards for Sound include Nettie Wild’s A PLACE CALLED CHIAPAS and Ric Bienstock’s EBOLA: INSIDE AN OUTBREAK. Daniel won a 2014 Canadian Screen Award for his work on Tim Wolochatiuk’s WE WERE CHILDREN.