Talent Lab Participants

RIFF 2021

TALENT LAB PARTICIPANTS 2021

ABOUT CAITLYN SPONHEIMER

Caitlyn Sponheimer is a Canadian awardwinning filmmaker and actor currently working on her directorial debut feature “Wild Goat Surf” supported by Telefilm Canada. Her dark comedy short “Kitty’s Naughty Knickers” (’19), was nominated by the Directors Guild of Canada for Outstanding Directorial Achievement and is a Fantasia winner. She co-wrote, co-produced, and starred in “April in Autumn” (’18/ Sulatycky) premiering at Telefilm’s Best of New Canadian Cinema at Cannes Marché 2018. In 2020, Caitlyn produced and costarred in the multi-award winning Telefilm Canada and Alberta Media Fund feature “Jasmine Road” (’20/Sulatycky) currently on its festival run with over 23 festivals to date. Caitlyn is a graduate of the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre (NYC), is in development on multiple projects including the psychological thriller feature alongside producer Maddy Falle, and her work has shown around the globe at esteemed festivals. Through her work, she seeks to bring light to stigmatized and challenging female struggles through a heightened lens of genre and comedic inspired storytelling. Alina Vita Kulesh is a Crimean-Canadian emerging filmmaker who creates empathetic work with aesthetic sensitivity. Her debut short film BABY BLUE played at festivals in Toronto, Portland and L.A, winning “Best Romance Short” and “Best Director” awards. Her sophomore short film, LITTLE SOUL, was acquired by Canada’s national broadcaster, premiering in January 2021 and is currently available to stream in Canada on CBC Gem. In July 2021, LITTLE SOUL was featured at the Festival de Cannes Short Film Market. In October 2021, LITTLE SOUL will have its European premiere at the Reykjavík International Film Festival as part of the “Golden Egg’’ competition. Alina is currently in pre-production on her third short film, HARD FALLS SOFT LANDS. Alina believes in the healing power of cinema.

ABOUT ALINA VITA KULESH

Tom Nicoll is a Scottish writer and director, whose films have screened at festivals including Palm Springs ShortFest, Tallinn Black Nights, and Edinburgh International Film Festival. He has had a short film funded through Creative Scotland’s SFTN Emerging Talent Scheme which screened on the BBC, and is in funded development for a feature film with Screen Scotland.

Hakan Ünal is s Turkish film director, writer, producer and script consultant. He finished his degree in screenwriting at University of Toronto in 2002 and started to write short stories. His debut short film ‘Orange’ was selected to many national and international film festivals. ‘His second film ‘Crack in the Wall’ made its world premiere at the 15th edition of Reykjavik International Film Festival. He was selected to the Reykjavik Talents in the same year. His short screenplay entitled ‘The Shell’ won the First International Screenplay Award at the 38th edition of Rhode Island International Film Festival. His feature screenplay was shortlisted at the 42nd edition of Toronto International Film Festival. He was selected as jury member to the 8th edition of Firenze Filmcorti Festival and 34th edition of International Film Festival for Children and Youth in Iran. He is currently in development for his debut feature film ‘ Hidden’.

ABOUT HAKAN ÜNAL Erna Mist is an Icelandic artist focusing on today’s dystopia. In her paintings, articles, and works of theatre she explores the complexities of contemporary life by framing modern anxieties into unsettling metaphors. Mist is a current student at The Slade School of Fine art, and Panic Poetry (2021) is her directorial debut.

Jasper produces scripted and unscripted film and TV through his award winning and BAFTA Cymru nominated production company Hello Deer in Wales. As a writer/director his films and screenplays have been nominated for and won awards at various international films festivals like BAFTA qualifying Carmarthen Bay FF, Lviv ISFF and the Festival Européen du Court Métrage de Bordeaux, and screened on TV networks across the world including the BBC and Russia K. He is a member of BAFTA, is an alumnus of the 2015 Edinburgh International Film Festival Talent Lab (as a writer/director), has tutored at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, and composed and performed all the music in his films. As a documentary maker he’s directed numerous films for charities and political campaigns, and recently exec produced and directed the BAFTA Cymru nominated documentary Richard Parks – Can I Be Welsh And Black? through Hello Deer for ITV. His current short film Tweaks is screening in competition for the Golden Egg Award at RIFF 2021, and he is developing two narrative feature projects - Man Time with Dan Films (with development finance from Ffilm Cymru), and The Point through Hello Deer. Eleanna Santorinaiou is a director who lives between London and Athens. She studied Philosophy & History of Science in the National & Kapodestrian University of Athens. In 2012 she continued her studies in London Film Academy. In her work she focuses on “microhistories’ ‘ looking behind people’s facades to find what makes them human, perhaps the traces of their childhood. Since 2014 Eleanna has worked as a freelance writer-director and editor. Her short films have participated in short film festivals. Her latest short film won a Greek Support Fund. She is now writing her first feature. It is worth noticing that Eleanna has also been collaborating for 13 years with Theatre Fournos in Athens where she has written and directed 5 children plays and two for the main stage. Being Greek and living in London, she is proud to say that she combines both English & Greek elements in her work, a hybrid of both cultures.

Andrée-Anne Roussel is both a filmmaker and new media artist. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in film production and a Masters in Communications (concentration in research-creation of experimental media) from l’Université du Québec à Montréal. Her interactive video installations and sensory short films are the result of her research on themes of ambiguity, fragility, empathy and spirituality. Her work has been shown at the Sapporo International Short Film Festival, the Musée d’art de Joliette and at LABoral Centre de Arte.

Max is a California State Arts Scholar for Film and received his B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College with a concentration in anthropology Zayn Alexander is a Lebanese film director, writer, and actor based in New York City. Alexander’s debut short film, “Abroad”, an intimate drama that explores the life of a Lebanese immigrant couple, made its world premiere at the 2018 Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Alexander’s second directorial effort, “Manara”, debuted during the 76th Venice Film Festival in the Giornate degli Autori section in a special screening, and has since collected over seven jury awards. In 2020, Alexander was awarded the prestigious Khayrallah Prize for Abroad’s “deep and honest exploration of diaspora and immigration.” Most recently, Alexander was invited to participate in the highly selective TIFF Filmmaker Lab ’21 taking place during the 46th Toronto International Film Festival. Alexander is currently in development for his debut feature film, “Plus One”. zaynalexander.com

ABOUT MAX TULIO and filmmaking. He is currently an MFA Candidate at Columbia University. His films have screened at festivals including the Palm Springs International ShortFest, Nashville Film Festival, Frameline International Film Festival, and Orlando Film Festival and have premiered on NoBudge and PBS. When he was seven he tried to cut off his hair with pink child-scissors.

ABOUT ZAYN ALEXANDER

Grétar Jónsson graduated from the Icelandic Film School in 2018 with a degree in film production and directing. Since then he has been working on multiple projects that include production of the shorts ‘The Rock of Ages’ and ‘We the Lightingings’ both being shown at RIFF this year. Grétar has also worked on various projects in Iceland for Netflix, Amazon and Viaplay. Grétar’s first directorial short since graduating, ‘The Hitchhiker’, is currently in post production. The short is based on a feature script he is developing. Barbara is an award winning cinematographer and director, and alumni of the Northern Film School in Leeds, UK. Growing up on the scenic Faroe Islands, surrounded by breaking waves, tall mountains and all manners of natural beauty, Barbara was compelled to start capturing it. What began as an interest in photography fast shifted into the field of cinematography, where she found her feet in filmmaking, naturally leading her to the scripted short directorial debut “Where Do We Go?”. Barbara’s work spans across many different genres including, music videos, dance videos, short scripted films and short documentaries.

ABOUT BOB KOTYK

Bob Kotyk has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English from the University of Manitoba and a Master of Arts in English from McGill University, where he studied the films of Alfred Hitchcock. He co-wrote Guy Maddin’s The Forbidden Room, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2015 and won the Rogers Prize for Best Canadian Film from the Toronto Film Critics Association and the Bildrausch Ring of Film Art. He has directed four short films, and his first feature film, The Old Country, is currently in development. His film criticism has appeared in Cinema Scope, the TIFF Review, and Stylus Magazine.

Born in Tehran, Gharavi is a BAFTA and Sundance-nominated writer/director and showrunner, focused on delivering authentic stories lensed with an impeccably wrought perspective. Having worked in war zones and in guerrilla filmmaking, Gharavi marries her indomitable spirit with a distinct talent to deliver performances and manage beautifully observed stories. Gharavi is also an academic, teaching filmmaking internationally, and was awarded an MIT Fellowship. She was elected into the BAFTA Academy in 2017, is represented by Independent Talent in the UK and Gersh in Los Angeles, her two home bases. Her debut feature, I Am Nasrine, was nominated for a BAFTA, she has recently completed principle photography on her second feature film, A Beirut Love Story. Her next film, a feature documentary, Tribalism is Killing Usresulted from visiting Angola State Prison, a film about difference and othering is due out in 2021 and she’s a showrunner, engaged on her first TV series, Refurinn/The Fox, an Icelandic/British detective noir with an intriguing twist. Born to a Danish mother and an Icelandic father, she grew up in Sweden and moved early on to Finland. For the dance film “Through the Supermarket in Five Easy Pieces” (2017), she was chosen as best short film director by Wift International in Los Angeles 2017. As a struggling female Director this award gave her some good energy. She enjoys the investigation of borders between disciplines. She combines Performance Art with Film and developed participatory theatre as well as working within strict commercial assignments. Currently in the process of developing her own episodic drama series by the work title “Cruel Town”.

ABOUT ANNA MARIA JOAKIMSDOTTIR-HUTRI

Sebastian Johansson Micci (Stockholm, Sweden, 01/01/1993) is a director, screenwriter and editor. He was born and raised in Stockholm to a Swedish mother and an Italian father. He started working at the Stockholm City Theatre in 2012 and then moved on to making films in 2014. Sebastian has made six short films since then that have been shown at festivals around the world. In 2020 he graduated with a Bachelor in Film from HDK-Valand Film School in Gothenburg. His films are often about human dilemmas within the social atmosphere - our tragic and comic inability to deal with different relationships and situations. He likes to mix kitchen sink realism with very surreal elements. He’s currently developing his debut feature film “The Earwig” Born and bred in Rome, Alessandro formed the collective Goodbye Venezuela! out of university where he started refining his filmmaking skills, producing shorts and commissioned ads, before moving to London in 2014. Here, Alessandro furthers his career directing three short films (one of which is currently being developed as a TV pitch) alongside working as an assistant for top industry creatives including but not limited to Oscar-nominated producers Graham Broadbent and Pete Czernin (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) and director Augustine Frizzell (Euphoria). He is currently developing his debut feature film ‘Waiting Rooms’ while working with veteran TV director SJ Clarkson on her latest series for Netflix.

Arnie Rodriguez is an actor, and music composer, classically trained in St. Petersburg, Russia. Recent works touch on themes of mystery and the unknown, bending perceptions of what one might have thought impossible.

ABOUT ARNIE RODRIGUEZ