Clarke Mackey

Clarke Mackey is a filmmaker, writer, teacher, and programmer who lives in Kingston. In a career that spans decades, Mackey’s features, documentaries, and television shows have won awards and critical acclaim. He was a faculty member in the Department of Film and Media at Queen’s University for thirty years. His most recent project is a fiction podcast series called “The Makers and Shakers Society.”

Pat Mullen

Pat Mullen is the publisher of POV Magazine, Canada’s destination for documentary culture. He is a graduate of Queen’s University’s Film and Media program (ArtSci ’09) and got his Master’s in Film Studies at Carleton University (’12). He has also contributed to outlets including Xtra, Sharp, Complex, and That Shelf, and is the vice president of the Toronto Film Critics Association and an international voter for the Golden Globe Awards.

Rachel Ho

Rachel Ho is a freelance editor, writer, and film critic based in Toronto, Canada. She is currently the Film Editor at Exclaim! Magazine, a monthly CBC Arts columnist, and co-founder of The Asian Cut. Her work has also been published by POV Magazine, The Globe and Mail, Slash Film, Layered Butter, among others. Rachel is a member of the Toronto Film Critics Association and an international voter for the Golden Globe Awards.

Clarke Mackey

Clarke Mackey is a filmmaker, writer, teacher, and programmer who lives in Kingston. In a career that spans decades, Mackey’s features, documentaries, and television shows have won awards and critical acclaim. He was a faculty member in the Department of Film and Media at Queen’s University for thirty years. His most recent project is a fiction podcast series called “The Makers and Shakers Society.”

Pat Mullen

Pat Mullen is the publisher of POV Magazine, Canada’s destination for documentary culture. He is a graduate of Queen’s University’s Film and Media program (ArtSci ’09) and got his Master’s in Film Studies at Carleton University (’12). He has also contributed to outlets including Xtra, Sharp, Complex, and That Shelf, and is the vice president of the Toronto Film Critics Association and an international voter for the Golden Globe Awards.

Rachel Ho

Rachel Ho is a freelance editor, writer, and film critic based in Toronto, Canada. She is currently the Film Editor at Exclaim! Magazine, a monthly CBC Arts columnist, and co-founder of The Asian Cut. Her work has also been published by POV Magazine, The Globe and Mail, Slash Film, Layered Butter, among others. Rachel is a member of the Toronto Film Critics Association and an international voter for the Golden Globe Awards.

KAREN CHAPMAN

Born to a Guyanese family that nurtured her instinctive creative problem solving skills, award-winning artist Karen Chapman has always been acquainted with versatility. Her steep background in documentary storytelling developed a voice and style that is compassionate, compelling and brave, preparing her for an expansive repertoire of films that includes documentaries, narratives, animation, interactive-virtual reality and installation. At the service of every story, Chapman always strives to centre work that is grounded in impact.

EMILY GAGNÉ

Emily Gagne is a film critic and the co-curator of the Revue Cinema’s We Really Like Her! screening series, Toronto’s only monthly showcase for movies made by women. A lover of final girl fashion who has written for Dread Central, The Mary Sue and TV Guide Canada, she appears as a recurring expert on Hollywood Suite’s Cinema A to Z and A Year in Film series. Her taste in movies can be defined by what she deems the perfect triple bill: Halloween II,  My Girl 2 and Magic Mike XXL.

Steve Gravestock

Steve Gravestock was the Senior Programmer at the Toronto International Film Festival where he worked from 1995 to 2023. From 2000 on, he programmed films from a wide range of countries but he focused primarily on works from the Nordic region and Canada. He has written two books (a study of pioneering Canadian director Don Owen and a history of Icelandic cinema). He also contributed to and co-edited (with Kate Lawrie) Geoff Pevere’s Toronto on Film.

Andrew Gurney

Andrew is an accomplished television editor with extensive experience working on high-profile projects both domestically and internationally. His credits include multiple seasons of The Amazing Race Canada(CTV), Canada’s Ultimate Challenge (CBC), and Top Chef Canada (Food Network), as well as Blown Away (Netflix), Trixie Motel: Drag Me Home (Max), and LOL: Last One Laughing Canada (Amazon Prime). He served as supervising editor for five seasons of Big Brother Canada and earned a Canadian Screen Award for his work on Stronger Together, Tous Ensemble, a COVID-19 benefit special that became the most-watched non-sports broadcast in Canadian television history. Andrew is also a proud former KCFF staff member, having worked for the festival in various roles from 2004 to 2017.

Lauren Andrews

Lauren Andrews is a Canadian up and coming Director, Writer and Producer. Her award winning short film Bird Hostage has played at Film Festivals internationally, premiering at Fantasia and Just For Laughs in 2023. Her short film won the Local Shorts Program at the Kingston Canadian Film Festival in 2024. Since graduating from the Ryerson University Film Studies program, Lauren has worked on many films and television series’ in various production roles. Most recently she was an Associate Producer on the CraveTV documentary series We’re All Gonna Die [Even Jay Baruchel], and an Assistant Director on VICE’s Dark Side of the Ring.

Kara Haflidson

Kara Haflidson is the producer of Letterkenny, a 39-time Canadian Screen Award-nominated series with 14 wins, and the executive producer of its hit spinoff Shoresy, a #1 show on Crave and a top comedy on Hulu. She is currently Executive Producer at New Metric Media, after previously serving as Production Executive at Bell Media.

Andrea Guernsey

With over 15 years of experience working on the record label side of the business, starting at Warner Music Canada and now at one of Canada’s top indie labels Wax Records (Universal Music Group), Andrea has a wealth of knowledge of the inner workings of the Canadian music industry. From streaming and radio, to marketing and PR, all the way to music videos and live events, she has touched on almost every facet of the business.

Matthew Vlahovich

Matthew Vlahovich is a JUNO Nominated Artist and Canadian music industry professional will over 20 years of combined experience in A&R, artist mentorship, event planning, concert promotion, radio broadcasting, art direction, brand development, performance coaching, songwriting, singing, audio production and engineering, and recording studio operations. He was the primary songwriter and singer for the Juno-nominated group Young Empires and opened for major international acts including Chromeo, Dragonette, Foster The People, Bastille, Phoenix, and Jamiroquai. 

Matthew has held various A&R roles for Canadian labels and worked with acts including Bulow, Dear Rouge, The Trews, Tommy Lefroy, The Royal Foundry, Sophie Simmons, Jake Hope, and Kelland. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Relations from the Brussels School of International Studies/University of Kent, and Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Queen’s University.

Steve Jordan

Steve Jordan is a music and media consultant who has recently worked with Precision Vinyl Pressing, The Toronto Music Experience and the Downtown Kingston BIA. He was recently Head of CBC Music and is the Founder and was Executive Director of the Polaris Music Prize. He has been an A&R executive with Warner Music Canada and True North Records. Prior to his experience in the record industry Steve was a radio broadcaster with CKLC and programmer, journalist, promoter, and a TV personality in Kingston, Ontario.

Javiera Quintana

An industry veteran of over 15 years, Javiera Quintana now brings her experience to 90th Parallel Productions. Occupying a range production roles with a focus on producing, she’s delivered projects across the spectrum of scripted, factual, and documentary for a long list of broadcasters and platforms including Netflix, VICE, NatGeo, History, CBC, Crave, and Discovery, and on projects going to festivals such as Hot Docs, Venice International Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. Some of Javiera’s recent documentary credits include 2 seasons of We’re All Gonna Die (Even Jay Baruchel) (2022-2024), Butt Seriously (2024), The Case Against Cosby (2022), Jim and Andy: The Great Beyond (2017), and The VICE Guide to Film.

Melanie St. Pierre

Melanie St-Pierre is a musician, music industry professional, and illustrator from Northern Ontario who resides in Sudbury, Ontario. Melanie is the lead singer and songwriter of the critically acclaimed band Casper Skulls, which was previously nominated for a SOCAN songwriting award. Through her many years of work as a professional musician, Melanie has developed a plethora of music business knowhow, including successful grant writing, tour booking, promotion, public relations, musician’s rights, copyright, licencing, partnership building, and more. In her work with CION, Melanie has conducted consultations with hundreds of Northern Ontario musicians on topics ranging from funding to releasing to touring and beyond, helping Northern musicians with every facet of their music business development. Melanie has also facilitated successful songwriting, professional development, music business training and showcasing sessions through CION. She is a graduate of the Visual and Creative Arts program with honors from Sheridan College, where she received the Works of Paper Award of Excellence.

Simran Kohli

Simran is a Master’s candidate in Cultural Studies. Her research portfolio investigates the films of Zoya Akhtar, analyzing the impact of Western global capitalism and an upper-class gaze on the feminist action of women characters. This is her second year at the festival. She was the programmer for the Youth Short Film Program last season, and is the Community Outreach and Awards coordinator this season. She is also a Research Assistant with the Department of Cultural Studies, where she programs and organises a weekly educational lecture series for graduate students.

Lara Bulger

Lara Bulger has a deep-rooted commitment to the arts. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Music with minors in Film and English, plus a Master’s Degree in Arts Leadership, she is passionate about the capacity of art to bring about social change. Lara has a wealth of experience in communication and community outreach in film and film festivals, including at TIFF, Hot Docs, KCFF, the Toronto Jewish Film Festival, and the Documentary Organization of Canada. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Cultural Studies at Queen’s University, focusing on documentary film and its social, political and cultural impacts.

martha currie

Martha Currie has her Masters in Media Production with a concentration in screenwriting from Toronto Metropolitan University. Prior to starting her PhD in Culture Studies at Queen’s University, Martha worked in the independent film industry in Toronto including positions at the Canadian Film Centre, TIFF and Hot Docs. During her Bachelor of Journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University, Martha served as videographer for an award-winning documentary exploring domestic sex trafficking in Ontario entitled Trafficked. The film received the Student Award of Excellence for Outstanding Journalism from the Canadian Association of Journalists in May of 2020. The production team was also awarded the Post-Secondary Youth Award
in the 2020 Amnesty International Canadian Media Awards.

Elisa Paloschi

Kingstonian Director and Producer Elisa Paloschi has taken her camera into the Roma camps of Palermo, the depths of the Australian Coral Sea, music studios of Cuba, an Italian ghost town, and the passenger seat of South India’s first female taxi driver. Her latest feature-length documentary, Driving with Selvi screened at over 100 film festivals (including KCFF), was broadcast on 6 continents, won numerous festival awards and was nominated for 2 Canadian Screen Awards. Elisa is currently in post-production on her hybrid documentary Memory of Forgetting, a love story between the ruins of an Italian town destroyed by an earthquake, and the townsfolk who were forever displaced. Two of her short films were screened at KCFF.

Adam Bovoletis

Adam Bovoletis is an artist and curator from Toronto. He’s the co-founder of Insomniac Film Festival, the pre-screener for TIFF’s Midnight Madness Programme, and a co-curator of Hot Docs Cinema’s “Truth and Dare” screening series. He’s written for CBC’s Tallboyz and Family Feud Canada, and has made a bunch of short films.

Richard Goddard

Richard Goddard is an award-winning Senior Producer at CBC’s Cross Country Checkup with Ian Hanomansing. He has orchestrated 9 international co-productions — most recently, “America Votes: A Cross Border Conversation”. He has won awards for high-impact, multi-platform interviews with Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell. He has a business degree from Queen’s University, and a journalism degree from Toronto Metropolitan University. In 2024, he and his wife volunteered for five months in Ghana where they provided documentary training workshops. He is a father of twins and a failed stand-up comedian.

Nicola Luksic

Nicola Luksic is the senior producer of Ideas on CBC Radio. Her award-winning radio documentary work has taken her to the former Yugoslavia, Chiapas, Mexico and Zambia. She began her CBC career in 2003 at The Fifth Estate and The Current. She created and produced several short-run radio series including The Bottom Line with David Suzuki and And Sometimes Y — a show on language. As a media trainer she has done volunteer communications work with Doctors Without Borders in South Africa, Dignitas International in Malawi, as well as Farm Radio International in Ghana.

Dan Vena

Dan Vena is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Film and Media at Queen’s University. In his working life, he studies a range of topics including horror films and monster movies, women’s cinemas, fan-based reading practices, superhero comics, histories of crime and medicine in the West, and death on screen. His solo and collaborative research has been published in journals such as Feminist Media Histories, Flow, Monstrum, Crime Fiction Studies, and Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, as well as a variety of anthologies on horror and popular culture. In his personal life, he enjoys a good game of pickleball or a session of indoor rock climbing, as well as cuddles from his many fur friends at home.

Gabriel Menotti

Gabriel Menotti is Associate Professor and chair of the Screen Cultures and Curatorial Studies graduate program at Queen’s University, Ontario. He works as an independent curator and filmmaker, and has published extensively on various themes related to image and technology. Menotti is also one of the coordinators of the Besides the Screen festival and research network.