June 2nd–11th, 2023
VSFF: ON THE ROAD
in partnership with
the Vancouver International Film Festival
Wednesday May 26th at 5:00pm via Facebook Live
A live discussion featuring filmmakers and funding entities
as they discuss their unique perspectives
on filmmaking and community in BC
Program Sponsor
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Event Partner
On May 26th, VSFF is partnering with the Vancouver International Film Festival for our next event: Filmmaking and Community, a Creator and Funder Discussion.
Wednesday May 26th / 5:00pm via Facebook Live
Two-part panel conversation
featuring filmmakers and funding entities
on filmmaking and community in BC
About the event:
Craving some connection?
Join us to hear from BC filmmakers and funding entities as they discuss their perspectives on creating and community.
This two-part conversation will dive into both creative and business considerations, as we explore filmmaking for a community audience, working with communities and protocols, impact producing, and promoting content for targeted audiences.
Don’t miss this opportunity to gain unique insight from local creators and content producers on creating with connectivity at the forefront.
FILMMAKER PANELISTS:
Kat Jayme (Filmmaker, Finding Big Country)
Jackson Wai Chung Tse (Filmmaker, Breaking the Silence)
Dave Rodden-Shortt (Filmmaker, Happytime Social Club)
ORGANIZATION PANELISTS:
Patrice Ramsay (Producer, Independent Productions, Knowledge Network)
Shaun Cathcart (Project Manager, STORYHIVE)
Mark Vonesch (Director, Reel Youth)
Kat Jayme
Creator Panelist
Kathleen Jayme is an award-winning Filipina-Canadian filmmaker based in Vancouver, BC who is passionate about telling meaningful and personal stories. Her breakthrough documentary Finding Big Country has screened to sold out theatres and been met with critical acclaim. It was the winner of the 2018 Vancouver International Film Festival’s (VIFF) prestigious People’s Choice Award and the #MustSeeBC award as voted by the VIFF audience. In addition, Finding Big Country won Best Canadian Film at the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival, and won two Golden Sheaf Awards for Best Documentary POV and Best Multicultural film, among other festivals and awards. Since its initial worldwide release by TELUS, Finding Big Country has been programmed internationally by ESPN, ABC, and Amazon, and in Canada by Sportsnet, NBA TV, and Air Canada.
Kathleen is a graduate of the University of British Columbia’s Film Production Program and also worked at the National Film Board of Canada where she coordinated and oversaw over thirty documentaries, animations, and digital projects through all stages of production. She is the winner of the 2019 TIFF Pitch This! competition as well as the 2017 Storyhive 100K grant edition, and a fellow of the 2019 Netflix-Banff Diversity of Voices Initiative, the 2017 Hot Docs Documentary Channel Doc Accelerator program, and the 2017 Telus Storyhive Banff World Media Festival program. She is currently working on her first feature length film, The Grizzly Truth with Crave and Uninterrupted.
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Jackson Wai Chung Tse
Creator Panelist
Jackson Wai Chung Tse 謝瑋聰 (he/they) is an award-winning Hong Kong-Canadian interdisciplinary artist and facilitator based on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples, which include the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations, also known as Vancouver, BC. Jackson’s first film, Paul Wong: Breaking the Silence, premiered at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival, won the Silver Cup Prize at the REC-Filmfestival Berlin, and is now screening at festivals across the globe. As a former MEC Ambassador, Jackson founded the QTBIPOC Artists in Nature Collective, with whom he facilitates workshops to build community and capacity with some of the most underrepresented in the queer community (queer, trans, two-spirit folks who are also Black, Indigenous, or People of Colour). In 2020, he was selected as the recipient of the LOUD Business LGBTQ+ Scholarship Award, one of fifteen filmmakers in the Vancouver International Film Festival's Catalyst Mentorship Program, and one of ten production trainees in Ryan Reynold’s Group Effort Initiative. In 2021, Jackson is the winner of a $12,000 PIVOT grant from the BC Arts Council, and will be mentored by the indomitable film director and writer, Karen Lam. Jackson continues to be an active and joyful cultivator of relationships and mindfulness. He dedicates his life to building community while reclaiming spiritual connection, joy, and self-worth back from colonized ideas.
Patrice Ramsay
Organization Panelist
Patrice Ramsay is the Producer of Independent Productions at British Columbia’s Knowledge
Network. Recent commissions include Search and Rescue North Shore and Dogsville. She holds a
degree in Business Administration and has received The Osgoode Certificate in Entertainment Law
from York University.
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Mark Vonesch
Organization Panelist
Mark Vonesch is a filmmaker, arts based facilitator, and the founder and Director of Reel Youth. He has mentored the production of over 2,000 issue-based films with youth in Canada, the US, India, Nepal and Vietnam. Under Mark’s leadership, Reel Youth has grown to be a nationally recognized organization that produces 100+ films and reaches an audience of 250,000 people each year.
Mark has designed Reel Youth’s programs to create positive change in young people’s lives through technical skill building, creative collaboration with peers and adults, and increased connection to community resources. Whether it’s working with child soldiers in Nepal, incarcerated young people in BC, or Indigenous communities in the Arctic Circle, Mark leads programs that are as much about the process as the final product. His programs build community, support leadership development, and build valuable story telling and media production skills in participants.
Films produced in programs Mark has led have won awards in festivals around the world and Mark is regularly sought out as a speaker and consultant in the field of youth media production.
Shaun Cathcart
Organization Panelist
Shaun Cathcart has been working with the STORYHIVE team for the past several years. As a project manager, he is involved with the design and management of various STORYHIVE programs which provide funding, mentorship, training and distribution to new and emerging content creators in BC and Alberta. Shaun worked in the engineering and medical research fields prior to focusing on film and television production. He is an experienced writer, director, producer and editor. After a director residency at the Canadian Film Centre, Shaun directed episodic television, documentaries and corporate videos. Before joining the STORYHIVE team, he was specializing in producing, writing and directing motion graphics animation videos for various clients. Currently, in addition to his work with STORYHIVE, Shaun has two web-based businesses in development.
About VSFF On The Road:
The Vancouver Short Film Festival is excited to present VSFF ON THE ROAD: an online event series connecting filmmakers across the province while staying apart. Sponsored by Creative BC.
VSFF is proud to partner with film organizations province-wide and connect with communities outside of Vancouver as we create unique educational and professional development opportunities for filmmaking in British Columbia. All events are available online, and are FREE and open to the public.