Image: Traje de Luces | Suit of Lights (2018) by Francisca Duran
Staff
Genne Speers
Executive Director
Genne Speers is Director of the CFMDC. She is a scholar of the archive, film and art history as well as a practicing archivist, counter archival activist, programmer and arts administrator. Speers holds an MA in Film Archiving from the University of East Anglia where her research and practice concentrated on the collaborative relationship between artists, archivists and approaches to research creation. She is also a PhD Candidate in Cinema and Media Studies at York University. Genne has supervised thesis students and teaches courses in the Image Arts F+PPCM program at Toronto Metropolitan University. She has served as an advisory member of the TMAC board and served on the boards of the Media Arts Network of Ontario and the Independent Media Arts Alliance.
Jesse Brossoit
Bookings & Collections Manager
Jesse Brossoit is an arts administrator and media archivist. He is a fourth generation settler from Treaty 18 and Haldimand Treaty territory, now based in Tkaronto/Toronto. Jesse holds a Master of Arts degree in Film Preservation and Collections Management from Toronto Metropolitan University. He has previously worked on cataloguing and archiving film collections for the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto.
​
Contact Jesse to inquire about renting or purchasing work in the collection, licensing for publications and exhibitions, accessing previews, accessing our analog film collection and artist files, and member royalties.
Edward Fawcett Sharpe
Senior Technical Manager
Edward Sharpe is the senior technical manager at CFMDC. He is a third generation settler from Treaty 13 territory, traditionally the territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples. Edward is a practicing filmmaker and holds a BA in film studies from Carleton University in Ottawa. He was previously the co-owner/operator of Highfield Media, a video production and web design company, as well as Eastern Studios, a co-working space and studio.
Rolla Tahir
Media Arts Technician
On Leave
Rolla Tahir is a filmmaker, director of photography, arts administrator, and media technician based in Toronto. She’s lensed short, narrative and experimental films, which screened across Canada and internationally. Obsessed with the durability, longevity and spontaneity of the analog film medium, Rolla has worked with Super 8, 16mm and 35mm to explore the analog process and its possibilities. Her passion in cinematography stems from the need to bring narratives to life, work with visionary creatives, and to understand and be understood. In 2017, Rolla co-founded the Toronto Arab Film, a non-for-profit that celebrates and platforms pan-Arab films through an annual festival and professional development initiatives.
Contact Rolla with questions related to technical specifications for new work deposits, technical services, or special projects.
Aaditya Aggarwal
Programs & Collections Coordinator
Aaditya Aggarwal is a film curator, writer, and editor based in Toronto and New Delhi. Aaditya has previously worked at the Toronto International Film Festival, Images Festival, Regent Park Film Festival, Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, and Mercer Union. Aaditya has also contributed writing on film to outlets like C Magazine, Rungh, POV Magazine, Canadian Art, The New Inquiry, Ethnic Aisle, as well as organizations including Trinity Square Video, South Asian Visual Arts Centre, and FADO Performance Art Centre. Aaditya is also a collective member of Sanghum Film. sanghumfilm.com.
Larissa Fan
Social Media & Newsletter
Larissa Fan is a Toronto-based artist who works in 16mm and Super 8 film. She studied at OCAD and has an MFA in Film Production from York University. Her work has screened at national and international venues including Anthology Film Archives, Images Festival, and Kassel Documentary Film & Video Festival. Larissa worked for many years at CFMDC, first as Membership Coordinator and then Distribution Manager, and now handles CFMDC's social media and newsletter on a part-time basis.
Ghislan Sutherland-Timm
Audiovisual Technical Assistant
Ghislan Sutherland-Timm (they/she) is a multidisciplinary moving image artist based in Tkaronto/Toronto. As a recent graduate of OCAD U Integrated Media program, they are excited to venture into the dynamic range of conversations and happenings occurring within the historical and contemporary arts and media communities.
Winsor Ytterock
Media Arts Technical Assistant
Winsor Ytterock (she/her) is an artist working with film, photography, music, poetry, and visual arts. A recent graduate of University of Toronto’s Cinema Studies program, Winsor is meshing her theoretical thinking about moving images and sound with practical experience in A/V and distribution, enthusiastic about connecting with others in the various art scenes of Tkaronto/Toronto.
Board
Sajdeep Soomal
Chair
Sajdeep Soomal is a PhD student in the Department of History at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on science and technology studies, the history of consciousness and madness, and contemporary art practices within and beyond South Asia. Recent publications include: An Architecture Against Dacoits, Mad Building Syndrome (MBS) and Migrancy in the Garage. He previously worked at the South Asian Visual Arts Centre, the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives and the Institute for the Public Life of Arts and Ideas.
Derek Jenkins
Treasurer
Derek Jenkins (Canada/USA) is a motion picture photographer born in Monroe, Louisiana in 1980. His practice is handmade, personal, and documentary, with an interest in labour, ecology, and technology—specifically the reciprocal relationships between tools, materials, and ways of knowing. He received a BA (2003) and an MA (2008) in English from the University of Arkansas, and an MFA in Documentary Media from Toronto Metropolitan University (2021). His films, including Contents (2018), The Shouting Flower (2019), Livestock (2019), and Grounders (2020), have been exhibited at festivals, museums, and galleries, including DocLisboa, Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival, McMaster Museum of Art, ARKIPEL – Jakarta International Documentary and Experimental Film Festival, Antimatter Film Festival, the8fest, FRACTO Experimental Film Encounter, Photophobia, Media City Film Festival, and Experiments in Cinema, among many others. He is Executive Director of Hamilton Artists Inc. and previously worked as a technician at Niagara Custom Lab. He lives in Hamilton, Ontario.
Robin Riad
Board Member
Robin Riad is an Egyptian-Canadian Toronto-based experimental filmmaker, animator and
artist. Robin works primarily with analog mediums, specifically 16mm,Super8, and Regular
8mm film. She experiments with different modes of processing and printing techniques,
along with direct animation, for her films. Robin is inspired by feminist and queer literature
and experiences, and aims to explore these themes in her work. As one of the Technical
Coordinators at the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT), she supports
many artists and independent filmmakers with their arts practice. Robin also works as a
technician at Niagara Custom Lab.
Karan Singh
Board Member
Karan is a Montréal, Canada based writer, filmmaker, and community artist. Born in Shimla,
India, after immigrating to Canada, Karan started his film work with a short film ‘Faceless’
(2012), which explored supremacy of the white majority in the LGBTQI+ communities in North
America. As a gay person of South Asian origin, Karan’s projects aim to bring South Asian stories
to an international audience. Karan is currently working on his first feature film ‘Zoya iman
Ayaz’, which receiving screenwriting mentorship at the Canadian Film Centre and his latest
short film ‘Mum Singh’, received funding from the Canadian and Québec Arts councils, is in the
festival and exhibition circuit. Having served on various film festival juries including the
Percéides International Film and Arts Festival, the Yorkton Film Festival and the South Asian
Film Festival of Montréal, Karan is currently part of the Montreal Arts Council’s cinema jury for
a three-year term.
Christine Vu
Board Member
One of Christine’s first jobs was presenting sneak-peek screenings of summer blockbusters for Citytv Edmonton. She also hosted the movie reviews segment for Breakfast Television and moved on to becoming a video journalist in Vancouver at Shaw TV. Specializing in conceptualizing and creating content, she now joins the Reel Asian team after honing her marketing skills at places like NXNE and Momofuku. Christine is also an actor and writer.
Barbara Sternberg
Board Member
Toronto filmmaker Barbara Sternberg has been making films since the mid-seventies. Her work has screened widely across North America and Europe including at MoMA, NY., Centre George Pompidou, Albright-Knox Gallery, and n.ow.here, in the UK. Her work is also featured in the permanent collections of the Art Gallery of Ontario and the National Gallery of Canada. Sternberg taught at York University, wrote the column "On (Experimental) Film" for Cinema Canada, was an organizer of the International Experimental Film Congress (May 1989), and is a founding member of Pleasure Dome Artists' Film Exhibition Group and AfFA (Artists for Film Art). She has been the visiting artist at a number of Canadian universities as well as the Université d'Avignon and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She works in other media, including video, performance and installation. Sternberg was a recipient of the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2011.
Yuma Dean Hester
Board Member
My name is Yuma Hester. I am half Anishinaabe (Neyaashiinigmiing), and half Ililowuk (Moose Factory). I have spent the better part of the last 20 years in community development, working and consulting with over 30 First Nations communities. I specializes in consultation and facilitation skills, relationship development, open and effective communication, and solution-oriented discussion. I am currently a founding member, and Creative Director with Bawaadan Collective. Along with a diverse group of Indigenous artists and accomplices, we work to continually develop our collaborative approaches to modern artistic storytelling and film production processes. It is one of our primary goals to constantly adjust our organizational structures and modes of storytelling to create inclusive, mindful spaces, and better represent Indigenous peoples in the mainstream.