Toe Pick

Teresa Alfeld is an award-winning Writer/Director from Vancouver, BC with over ten year’s experience in both documentary and narrative. Credits include the feature documentaries DOUG AND THE SLUGS AND ME (CBC Documentary Channel, 2022) and THE RANKIN FILE: LEGACY OF A RADICAL (Knowledge Network, 2018); the short comedies BOSSBABE (2023), DAVID FOSTER’S EGGGPAA starring David Foster and Katharine McPhee (2022), and CHARLIE GAUVIN (2012); and the short documentary JEAN SWANSON: WE NEED A NEW MAP (2021). With a passion for music, comedy, and social justice, Teresa is currently developing a number of projects including her comedy television series CHARLIE GAUVIN.

Kiefer Doerksen is an award-winning producer and filmmaker based in Vancouver, BC. Through his work with All Purpose creative agency, he has shepherded media productions for international clients such as IBM as well as local businesses like Modo and Aisle. Whether a production budget is a couple thousand dollars or six figures, what attracts Kiefer most to a given project is its potential for positive social impact. He has worked with a number of independent short-film directors whose work has been featured in festivals including Montreal, Austin and Victoria.

Thea Loo is producer and director from Vancouver BC. Her work has played at Sundance, Palm Springs ShortFest, CAAMFest and distributed on TIFF Digital Bell Lightbox.

She has produced multiple short films such as SMOKE EATER (Dir. Gloria Mercer), which premiered at the Whistler Film Festival 2022 and is available on CRAVE. Her latest short is the hybrid animated documentary BLUE GARDEN (Dir. Natalie Murao), selected for Telefilm Canada's Not Short on Talent program at Clermont-Ferrand 2022 and now streaming on CBC Gem. She has produced and directed her first feature documentary “Inay (Mama)” for the Knowledge Network, premiering in 2024.

Loo has two TV series projects and one narrative feature in development and recently participated in the 2023 TIFF Series Accelerator.

Natalie Murao is a yonsei (fourth generation) Japanese Canadian filmmaker and educator. Her work explores themes of generational disconnect, personal memory, and communication. She aims to expand the notion of Asian diasporic cinema by creating an in-betweenness of styles that embody the diaspora itself.

She received a BFA in Film Production from Simon Fraser University. Her graduating film, FLOATING LIGHT (2017), won the ShortWork Student Award at Whistler Film Festival. Her follow-up film, NO MORE PARTIES (2020), played at festivals such as Sundance, TIFF Next Wave, and Palm Springs Shortfest. It was exhibited online through the digital TIFF Bell Lightbox. Her latest film and first documentary, BLUE GARDEN (2022), was selected for Telefilm Canada's Not Short on Talent program at Clermont-Ferrand and is now available to watch on CBC Gem.

Natalie has received mentorship through Sundance Ignite, VIFF Catalyst, and Experimental Forest Films. In tandem with filmmaking, she has facilitated educational programs for local institutes such as The Cinematheque and VIFF.

Melissa James is an award-winning producer, director, and owner of Sigil Films. She recently produced the critically acclaimed documentary feature Satan Wants You (2023), which premiered at SXSW. The film is certified 95% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and was dubbed "the scariest documentary of the year" by Variety. She also directed Witch Hunt (2023), a short doc which premiered at the Salem Horror Fest and won Best Documentary at the Denver Underground Film Festival. Her previous work includes co-producing the Canadian Screen Award nominee for Best Documentary, Letter from Masanjia (2018), as well as Human Harvest (2014), which won the Peabody Award for Documentary. Prior to this, Melissa wrote, directed, and produced the critically acclaimed indie music documentary No Fun City (2010), which won Best Documentary at the Victoria Film Festival and was featured in Maclean's Magazine. Melissa is an established archive producer whose credits include I'm Just Here For The Riot (2023), an ESPN 30 for 30, and Searching for Satoshi (2023) for CBC.

Taylor is a BC born, Vancouver-residing producer / production manager, currently working full time at Pink Buffalo Films on commercial and documentary projects. She is a graduate from the TV and Video Production program at BCIT. Taylor has several projects filmed in 2023 that she PM and / or produced on which are currently in post production. Her first-produced short 'The Space Left Behind' is aimed for the 2024 festival circuit.