1-900-Hip-Stir Dir. Julie Zhu & Deborah Ring

We know what Millennials want. Call the operators at 1-900-Hip-Stir for a romping good time!

Deborah Ring is a comedian and writer and sometime filmmaker. As part of LadyBusiness, Die Mutter, Disco Taxi, The Improv Embassy and some solo work, she’s been an official selection to improv and sketch comedy festivals across North America.

Julie Zhu is an Ottawa based filmmaker and lover of cats (specifically her cat). Her projects have been awarded Best Female Filmmaker and Best Ensemble cast in the 2017 Spring and Fall Digi60s.

Dreaming in COVID Dir. Amen Jafri

I normally don't remember my dreams, but I awoke from this one in the early days of COVID with a very distinct memory of it, completely shaken and yet enthralled. I wanted to find a way to orally-visually recreate what my friend Angie (and a co-collaborator on this piece) described as a "soft apocalypse". This short was created during quarantine and includes a mix of cellphone footage, Creative Commons sourced visuals and sounds, as well as animation.

Amen Jafri is a doc filmmaker and producer, whose work has screened for TVO, CBC, the American Documentary Film Festival and more. More recently she has mentored other emerging artists through Self-Employment in the Arts, the DOC Institute and Arts Network Ottawa. This past year she was awarded funding through the City of Ottawa and the Ontario Arts Council for the production of her next upcoming film, She Said "I Do" to Herself.

From Sarajevo Dir. Kristen McNaule

A young refugee escapes war torn Bosnia in 1992 and struggles to pursue her dreams of becoming a dancer.

Kristen McNaule is the founding director of Element 109, a film production company with an edge that shines a light on mental illness, civil rights, and other social issues. Her interest in International Development has taken her to Sierra Leone, West Africa, to produce a documentary about the role of arts in post-conflict development which was included in the Cannes Film Festival Short Film Corner.

Curbside Pickup Dir. Hingman Leung.

Entering the dating scene in your early thirties under normal circumstances is hard enough, how will Elaine navigate the challenges of dating during a pandemic? Winner of Best Film, Best Director and the DARC Emerging Experimental Filmmaker Award at the 2020 Digi60 Filmmakers’ Festival.

Hingman is an Ottawa-based filmmaker with a passion for telling stories that bridge different ways of seeing the world, specializing in telling stories through the lens of culture and food. Her first short documentary on food waste in China (2015) received the Public Ethnography Award.

With a deep commitment to representation in media, Hingman founded and directs what is now 613TV on Apartment 613. Her vision is to foster a community of visual storytellers in Ottawa who can showcase the hidden gems of the city in an authentic way, through its diversity of culture, food, and experiences.

Pyrrhic Victory Dir. Jessie Doucet & Julie Zhu

Left alone on a rock in the middle of the ocean, a woman is sacrificed to the sea gods.

Jessie Doucet is an Ottawa filmmaker. The former of which is subject to change.

Julie Zhu is an Ottawa based filmmaker and lover of cats (specifically her cat). Her projects have been awarded Best Female Filmmaker and Best Ensemble cast in the 2017 Spring and Fall Digi60’s.

Inara Dir. Maissa Houri

Coping with a mutual loss, a father and daughter both come to terms with grief by connecting with one another.

Maissa Houri is an Arab-Canadian award-winning filmmaker and actress based out of Ottawa, Canada, who attended Montreal’s Vanier College Theatre and Film Program. Maissa co-founded the Eve Film Festival in which she is also the Director of Industry Events. Maissa recently released an award-winning web series that challenged the norms of society by telling the story of a sexually freed Muslim woman living with her gay roommate. Her second short film “Inara” has warranted her many directing awards. She is passionate about telling stories from the perspective of being a first-generation Arab-Canadian and shedding light on the misrepresentations of Arabs and Muslims on TV and film.

Aliya Dir. Meghan Baines & Laurianna Cordiano-Dumas

Aliya explores the greatest adventure of all… life.

Meghan Baines and Laurianna Cordiano-Dumas are 2 young women a part of Lowbrow Productions, an Ottawa based filmmaking collective telling stories of and for everyone.