AWARDS JURY
Jason Buxton is a writer-director with twenty years’ experience in the film and television industry. His debut feature BLACKBIRD premiered to high acclaim in tiff12, winning Best First Canadian Feature. It also won Best Canadian Feature at VIFF12, The Claude Jutra Award at the 2013 Canadian Screen Awards, and most recently the Grand Prix in the Ecrans Juniors section of the Cannes Film Festival. Buxton is currently writing his sophomore feature and a four-part mini-series slated for production in 2017. Buxton studied film at Simon Fraser University and is a BFA graduate of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.
Christine McLean is a well-known broadcast journalist and independent documentary producer based in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Originally from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, she has written and directed more than 20 documentaries for CBC, Discovery Canada, the documentary channel and APTN. She has directed episodes for national series including Keeping Canada Safe, Keeping Canada Alive, Frontiers of Construction, Stones of Fate and Fortune and Opening Night.
John Rowe is a photographer and filmmaker who first trained at the US Navy School of Photography when he was 18 years old. John has founded and managed companies which develop software and digital media for the entertainment industry. He has also devoted a tremendous amount of time, energy and financial assistance to humanitarian work in Africa and to the work of OMO CHILD
ATLANTIC FILMMAKER & SHORT FILM AWARDS
Siloën Daley is a filmmaker and founder of Carbon Arc Cinema and the Animation with Love Festival, both in their sixth years. Her inspiration is to unite films with audiences. She worked for Hot Doc’s, and annually at the Toronto International Film Festival as Technical Representative, overseeing presentational aspects of one of the gala cinemas.
Donna Davies has written, directed and produced dozens of award winning films including the feature documentaries A Sigh and A Wish, Nightmare Factory, and Fanarchy. Her films have won numerous international awards and have aired on HBO Canada, The Movie Network, Starz, EPIX, Netflix and Hulu.
Megan Wennberg is a writer, director and story editor based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. She works in both documentary and narrative film, and her work has screened at festivals around the world and been broadcast on CBC, The Comedy Network and The Documentary Channel.
SHORT FILM CURATORS
GG (Gwedolyn) Geddes
Tara Ernst
