Meet Our Judges
JASMINE BEDINGFIELD
https://www.instagram.com/chowder666/
Jasmine Bedingfield is a senior Film Production student at Simon Fraser University who showcases her distinctive talent for emotive storytelling and meticulous production design through an otherworldly filmic practice. Jasmine is dedicated to representing women’s introspection and unique experiences on screen. Her directorial work has been featured at DC International Shorts Festival, Chilliwack Independent Film Festival, Gender and Equity in Media Festival, and the upcoming Vancouver Short Film Festival.
DAG DAVIDGE
Dag Davidge (They/Them) is an emerging Mestizo filmmaker, sound artist, and cyanotype printer based in Vancouver, Canada. Their work ranges from short films and soundtrack composition to installations that engage with the affective power of audiovisual encounters to create experiences that build empathy between people and their bodies. Most recently, their film NightTender (co-directed with Bernice Chau) was recognized with the Golden Bear Award at the 2024 Small File Media Festival. They are in their final year of completing a BFA at Simon Fraser University.
CONNOR GASTON
Connor Gaston is an award-winning filmmaker from Victoria, BC. His work has screened at film festivals around the world, including the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2016, Gaston completed his first feature film, The Devout, which earned him 5 Leo Awards, including Best Picture, the BC Emerging Filmmaker Award at the Vancouver International Film Festival, and a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best First Feature.
He is a recent alum of Norman Jewison’s Canadian Film Centre, the 2017 TIFF Talent Lab, the 2018 TIFF Writers’ Lab, and the 2022 Kyoto Filmmakers’ Lab. He is currently in development on his 2nd feature film and serves as the Senior Directing Instructor at Vancouver Film School.
EVELINA GROLL
https://www.instagram.com/taste.of.dirt/
Evelina Groll (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist creating with video, photo, textiles, and poetry. Her work pays homage to connection with the land, community and within our own bodies. Born and raised in Calgary, AB, Evelina now lives in Vancouver completing her BFA in Film at Simon Fraser University.
RYAN JARMAN
Ryan Jarman is the Senior Admissions Advisor at the Vancouver Film School. Over the last 16 years he has worked with countless students to help them kick start their careers in Film, Television, Animation and Video Games. He has dabbled himself in some Writing, Music and Producing for Film. His main passion is working with creatives and students from across the globe to help them achieve their goals and dreams.
SOPHIA SANTOS ENGLISH
https://www.sophiasantosenglish.com/
Sophia Santos English (she/they) is a filmmaker, emerging writer, curator & digital alchemist based in ‘Vancouver, BC’ working on the traditional unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Sophia is currently in the process of graduating from Simon Fraser University in 2024 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in the Film Production Program.
Sophia’s film work begins as an investigation into her Filipino heritage, dissonant archives, and community memory. She questions how we can call upon the magic of the moving image to uncover the visible/invisible in the daily diasporic ecosystems. She draws connections to the land, body, sea, and family, as a foundational structure through which she frames her practice. Sophia is dedicated to cinema because of its emergent capacity for unraveling past narratives and generating new worlds.
LAUREN TOPOROWSKI
Bio Coming Soon!
NADINE WIDJAJA
Bio Coming Soon!