Image: Traje de Luces | Suit of Lights (2018) by Francisca Duran
Staff
Genne Speers
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. Her PhD Viewing Violence from Above: Aerial Abstraction and the Archiving of Experience examines the abstraction of violence through aerial perspectives and how that abstraction mediates the image’s ability to function as a record of a violent event within the context of the archive. This will be completed in 2022. Genne has supervises 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
Distribution and Collections Manager
Jesse Brossoit is an arts administrator and media archivist. He is a fourth generation white 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.
Lodoe Laura
Operations and Public Programs Manager
Lodoe Laura manages CFMDC's cinema and event space, and CFMDC's online and in-person programming.
Contact Lodoe Laura to inquire about rentals, CFMDC.tv and public programs.
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
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.
Lina Wu
Membership Coordinator
Lina Wu is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Tkaronto/Toronto, on Dish With One Spoon territory covered by Treaty 13 of the Toronto Purchase. After graduating from OCAD with a major in Illustration and a minor in English she is excited to be working in culture and developing her practice. Lina loves to draw, write, and play in a way that combines softness and strength, twisting across highbrow and lowbrow aesthetic traditions.
Contact Lina with questions about membership and the film submission process.
Larissa Fan
Social Media and Newsletter Outreach
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.
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.
Dan Browne
Vice-Chair
Dan Browne (b. 1982) is a filmmaker and multimedia artist whose works explore patterns and nature through dense and kinetic forms. His films and videos have been presented at over 100 festivals and venues internationally, including TIFF Wavelengths, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Diagonal Film Archive, Centre Georges Pompidou, Festival du nouveau cinéma, Early Monthly Segments, and Anthology Film Archives. His film memento mori (2012) received the Jury Prize for Best Canadian Work at WNDX Festival of Moving Image, First Prize at Athens International Film + Video Festival, and the Deluxe Cinematic Award at Images Festival. More recently, Poem (2015) received the Trinity Square Video Award at Images Festival and was released by Graphical Recordings. Dan's media practices also encompass live performances in collaboration with musicians, which have been presented at events such as MUTEK and Vector Festival, and video installations that have received multiple public commissions in Toronto and Vancouver. He has also collaborated with many other artists, including Michael Snow, R. Bruce Elder, Carl Brown, Peter Mettler, and members of the Loop Collective. Dan recently completed his PhD on Canadian cinema, and has published writings on filmmaking in Incite Journal of Experimental Media, Found Footage Magazine, Hors Champ, Millennium Film Journal, and Process Cinema: Handmade Film in the Digital Age (2019). He lives in Toronto.
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.
Katia Houde
Secretary
Katia Houde is an artist from Montreal living in Toronto. Her work deals primarily with memory, identity, mental health, and trauma, using both found footage and original images. She enjoys shooting on Super8 and most recently has rediscovered her Pixelvision. Her work has been shown in the USA, Canada, Peru, Mexico, and Spain. She has a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies and is currently pursuing a PhD in Cinema and Media Studies at York University.
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.
Kelly Egan
Board Member
Kelly Egan holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Mass Communication from Carleton University (2001), a Master of Arts in Communication and Culture from York/Ryerson University (2003) and a Master of Fine Arts in Film/Video from Bard College (2005). Her films have been screened at major festivals across North America, including the Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival. Kelly is currently working towards a Doctoral degree in the York/Ryerson Joint Graduate Programme in Communication and Culture. In her spare time she enjoys standing at the intersection of visual and musical culture, and listening to the lights change colour.