Director

Alanis Obomsawin (Abenaki)

Legendary Abenaki filmmaker Obomsawin has made over 50 documentaries on issues affecting Indigenous peoples in Canada, including Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, Trick or Treaty?, Is the Crown at War with Us?, Our People Will Be Healed, and Jordan River Anderson, The Messenger. Her most recent film is the short documentary Honour to Senator Murray Sinclair. Next, she is set to appear in an episode of Marie Clements' Bones of Crows: The Series.

Director

Atom Egoyan

Egoyan is a Companion of the Order of Canada, and received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award in 2015 for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. He has produced a significant body of work in film, television, and theatre. He has won over 60 awards, and was nominated for 80 others, including two Academy Award nominations for The Sweet Hereafter. His films have screened at festivals and in major retrospectives around the world, and a number of books have been written about his work. His films include Exotica, Ararat, The Captive, and Seven Veils, among many others.

Director

Charles Officer

Actor, writer and filmmaker Officer’s first feature, Nurse.Fighter.Boy, was nominated for 10 Genies, winning one. Officer also directed the docs Mighty Jerome, The Skin We're In, Unarmed Verses, and Invisible Essence: The Little Prince, as well as the feature Akilla's Escape, which won five CSAs. He directed episodes of Coroner, and executive produced and co-directed The Porter, which was nominated for an Emmy. Officer passed away in 2023. He changed the Canadian film and television landscape with his fierce dedication to portraying Black perspectives and experiences, and is greatly missed.  

Director

Ashley McKenzie

Director

Deepa Mehta

A member of the Order of Canada, Mehta is an award-winning filmmaker who gained acclaim for her trilogy, Fire, Earth and the Oscar-nominated Water. Her adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children was nominated for eight CSAs. She has also directed Bollywood/Hollywood, Beeba Boys, Anatomy of Violence, and many other films. Her film Funny Boy won multiple awards, including the CSAs for best direction and best screenplay. Her television credits include episodes of Leila, Yellowjackets, and Little America.

Director

Atom Egoyan

Egoyan is a Companion of the Order of Canada, and received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award in 2015 for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. He has produced a significant body of work in film, television, and theatre. He has won over 60 awards, and was nominated for 80 others, including two Academy Award nominations for The Sweet Hereafter. His films have screened at festivals and in major retrospectives around the world, and a number of books have been written about his work. His films include Exotica, Ararat, The Captive, and Seven Veils, among many others.

Director

Philippe Falardeau

Québécois director and screenwriter Falardeau has won more than 32 international awards for his films, which include Monsieur Lazhar, La moitié gauche du frigo, C’est pas moi, je le jure!, The Good Lie, Guibord s’en va-t-en guerre, and My Salinger Year. He also directed the TV shows Le temps des framboises, and Lac-Mégantic - ceci n’est pas un accident. 

Director

Patricia Rozema

Rozema is a director, writer, and producer whose work has garnered 13 awards, including the Le prix de la jeunesse at the Cannes Film Festival and two Emmys. Her credits include short films, television, and feature films such as I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing, Mansfield Park, Grey Gardens, and Into the Forest. Her film Mouthpiece was named one of TIFF’s Top Ten Canadian Films of 2018. 

Director

Lenny Abrahamson

Abrahamson is a filmmaker, writer and producer whose directing credits include Adam & Paul, Frank (which won 13 awards internationally), and Room, which won over 100 awards, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and won nine Canadian Screen Awards. He produced and directed episodes of the series Chance, as well as the hit adaptations of Sally Rooney’s novels, Normal People and Conversations with Friends.

Director

Sarah Polley

Polley won a screenwriting Oscar nomination for Away From Her, and directed Take This Waltz and Stories We Tell. She wrote and produced Alias Grace, a miniseries based on Margaret Atwood’s novel, which premiered at TIFF 2017. In 2022 she published the essay collection Run Toward the Danger. Her most recent feature, an adaptation of Miriam Toews’ Women Talking, premiered at TIFF 2022.