Board & Staff List

(he/him)

Email: board@winnipegfilmgroup.com

Ryan Simmons is a filmmaker with deep ties to The Winnipeg Film Group. After taking the Basic Filmmaking Workshop in 2007 he’s maintained a deep connection to the organisation as a projectionist, workshop instructor, board member and volunteer. Through first hand experience he has a true appreciation of how invaluable the Film Group is as a venue to bring people of all backgrounds together through the creation and appreciation of the art of film. He holds a BA (Adv.) in Film Studies from the University of Manitoba, is a member of the Winnipeg Underground Film Festival and serves on the boards of Send+Receive and WNDX.

(she/her)

Kier-La Janisse is a film writer, programmer, producer and founder of The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies. She is the author of House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films (2012), A Violent Professional: The Films of Luciano Rossi (2007), and has been an editor on numerous books including Warped & Faded: Weird Wednesday and the Birth of the American Genre Film Archive (2021) and Yuletide Terror: Christmas Horror on Film and Television (2017). She wrote, directed and produced the award-winning documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror (2021) for Severin Films, where she is a producer and editor of supplemental features. She is currently at work on several books including a monograph about Monte Hellman’s Cockfighter. For more see kierlajanisse.com

(she/her)

Based in Winnipeg and Los Angeles, Fritzi Adelman spent over a decade living in Montreal and Toronto where she studied art and cinema (BFA Art History / MA Film Studies) and worked professionally at leading fashion companies and film at festivals (Fantasia International Film Festival, Pop Montreal and TIFF). Making her way westward, she landed in the Bay Area, where she joined director Joe Talbot’s production company Longshot Features – the Sundance Award winning team that created A24 / Plan B’s The Last Black Man in San Francisco – and continues to work as one of Talbot’s closest collaborators.

(he/him)

Fernando Dalayoan is a Filipino-Canadian filmmaker, writer and performer and educator living in Winnipeg. Several of his short films touch on the theme on Asian diaspora, particularly the Filipino-Canadian experience. Dalayoan’s short films have been screened in Canada and internationally. Young Ligaw, which is Dalayoan`s second film to be awarded the National Film Board of Canada Financial Assistance Program, was officially selected at the 12th DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival, 8th Chicago Filipino American Film Festival and International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA) in Montreal. Dalayoan’s most current short film projects include: Ma-Buhay!Musical Broadway Dream (2022) documentary and Regalo (Gift), which received an ACTRA Manitoba MIP Diversity grant award. Both shorts are running in several selected film festivals nationally and internationally.

(he/him)

Marc Greene is an Indigenous filmmaker and freelance industry professional with over 10 years of experience. Currently residing on Treaty One Territory, Marc’, formal education includes a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and Film from the University of Winnipeg, and he is a recent graduate of the Adam Beach Film Institute. Some recent projects Marc has completed include; his personal short film Heart of the Melt. Which was screened at both the Gimli Film Festival and the Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival in 2021. His documentary style series Tilt Pinball has just completed its second season, all episodes of which are currently available to watch on YouTube. In addition to his most recent and ongoing work Marc was nominated for the Indigenous Film Award at the 2019 ManitoAhbee Festival for his short Don’t Waste a Precious Minute.

(she/her)

Brenda Austin-Smith is a professor at the University of Manitoba where she teaches and researches melodrama, cult film, performance, and documentary film, among other topics. Brenda brings to the WFG years of experience on a variety of boards, both institutional and community. Brenda has also been a long-time supporter of various arts groups during her time in Winnipeg.

(he/him)

Cameron Macgowan is a Canadian filmmaker whose eccentric films have explored subjects ranging from Murderous Suburbanites to Erotic Trolls. His work has won awards and garnered critical acclaim at international film festivals across the world including SXSW, Fantasia, and the Toronto International Film Festival. His debut feature film Red Letter Day was distributed by Epic Pictures after a highly successful film festival run and his short film Liebe (Love) screened at 25 film festivals and was selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick. Cameron is also a Lead Programmer with the Calgary Underground Film Festival and the Executive Director of the New University Television Society.

(he/him)

Caelum Vatnsdal was born and raised in Winnipeg, and has always loved watching, writing about, and making films. He has directed shorts, commercials, music videos, documentaries, and features; has worked on movies in various capacities and acted in them; and is the author of three books and innumerable articles on the subject of, you guessed it, film.

(he/him)

Dominique joined the Board of Directors as a film enthusiast, collector and long-time supporter of the Winnipeg Film Group. He has founded and organized various university film clubs, reviewed films for his university newspapers, and run a freelance film review blog. Dominique also serves as the Vice President of the Friends of the Winnipeg Public Library.

(he/him)

In 1992 I had my first start in the Manitoba film industry as an accounting assistant on the Gemini Award winning television production "The Diviners" by Manitoban novelist Margaret Laurence. Thirty years later, I now assist film and television producers maximize the provincial and federal film tax credits. I am semi - retired and I still have a great passion and pride for promoting the Manitoba Film Industry.

(he/him)

Kevin Tabachnick began pursing film in 2014, when he began shooting his first short film. Since then, Kevin has continued to create films in a variety of genres which have played both nationally and internationally. Kevin has been a consistent presence at the Winnipeg Film Group through the years as an active member and instructor. During this career, Kevin has worked for and with multiple non-profit art organizations through Winnipeg and is currently a practicing lawyer in the areas of labour and employment.

(she/her)

Phone: 204-925-3456 ext 103

Email: leslie@winnipegfilmgroup.com

As Executive Director, Leslie is responsible for managing the overall operations and staff of the Winnipeg Film Group. Leslie serves as the main spokesperson and represents the organization in all professional business capacities.

(he/him)

Phone: 204-925-3456 ext 110

Email: dylan@winnipegfilmgroup.com

Dylan is responsible for overseeing the programs in the Production Centre. He also provides senior-level support to other areas of the Production Department.

(he/him)

Phone: 204-925-3456 ext 101

Email: luke@winnipegfilmgroup.com

Luke is responsible for coordinating equipment and facilities bookings, maintenance and assisting in the administration of production training programs. He works closely with the Production Programs Manager with the rentals and maintenance of production equipment and facilities, workshop set-up and payment processing.

(he/him)

Phone: 204-925-3456

Email: john@winnipegfilmgroup.com

John Seymour is Ojibwe-Cree from Winnipeg, MB, and is a band member of Peguis First Nation. His career includes roles working in movie theatres, acting, writing, and professional engagements as a trademark paralegal and program manager for the Winnipeg Indigenous Filmmakers Collective. He has been involved in writing, directing, acting, producing and editing various short films. John’s filmography includes appearances in award-winning short films “Unless You Have Been There” (Farrah Murdock), and “Don’t Look @ Me” (Sean Kinsella), the feature film “Aberdeen” (Ryan Cooper & Eva Thomas), and an appearance on “Acting Good” (Eva Thomas, APTN/CTV Comedy). His current focus in storytelling is narrative structures told in a “slice of life” fashion. John is responsible for coordinating equipment and facilities bookings, maintenance and assisting in the administration of production training programs. He works closely with the Production Programs Manager and Technical Coordinator with the rentals and maintenance of production equipment and facilities, workshop set-up and payment processing.

(they/she)

Phone: 204-925-3456 ext 105

Email: jillian@winnipegfilmgroup.com

Jillian oversees the artistic, promotional, and business development of the Winnipeg Film Group (WFG)’s Distribution Department as well as looking after departmental finances, human resources, and collections. Additionally, they direct the expansion and development of the Distribution Department through special projects as developed with the Executive Director, including the Archive/Counter-Archive Case Study for the WFG. Jillian Groening is a dance artist, writer, and arts worker of Mennonite descent based on Treaty One Territory in Winnipeg, MB, and is from the community of Lowe Farm, MB. They have spent much of their professional arts career working to sustain artist-run models, particularly through their time at Young Lungs Dance Exchange. Jillian’s work has been presented at A Space gallery (Toronto) and at WNDX - Festival of Moving Image (Winnipeg). They have contributed exhibition texts for Winnipeg galleries including Platform Centre for Photographic & Digital Arts and Martha Street Studio as well as being published through Artspeak (Vancouver), The Dance Current (Toronto), Dance International, and the Journal of Curatorial Studies. Jillian has performed across Canada with Gearshifting Performance Works as well as dancing in choreographic works by Rachel Brown, Jolene Bailie, Marie-Josée Chartier, Jean-Pierre Perreault, and Pablo Bronstein (presented by Plug In ICA, Winnipeg).
Jillian holds a BA(Hons) in Dance from the University of Winnipeg and a Masters in Theatre and Performance Studies from York University, where their SSHRC-funded research is informed by the transmission of liveness through recorded movement and choreographic ephemera. Following their degree, they worked with Freya Björg Olafson transcribing Olafson’s AVATAR (2009) for Canadian Playwrights Press’ 2021 Anthology on Digital Theatre in Canada. Working intimately with the written and AV archives of performance artists has greatly informed their approaches to film distribution and collections management. They are grateful and excited to currently be in Phase One of a multi-year project entitled Records in Motion: Reforming the Winnipeg Film Group’s Accidental Archives.

(she/her)

Email: skye@winnipegfilmgroup.com

Skye Callow currently works as the Collections Coordinator with the Winnipeg Film Group. She works to ensure the distribution film collection is cared for and effectively managed, and assists in active-distribution. Skye's day to day tasks contribute to the artistic direction and goals of the distribution department and to the Winnipeg Film Group overall. Skye Callow is an artist based on Treaty 1 Territory in Winnipeg, Manitoba, originally from Sandy Hook, Manitoba. Through image making, sound, and installation practices, her work explores the magic of our ecological and metaphysical worlds and engages in the somatic experience of being in relation to the biosphere; a motif of ecology, self, and the land continuously presents itself. Skye is currently investigating the subjects of ecological empathy and hyperobjects, and the limits and possibilities of perception. Skye holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Honours Degree from the University of Manitoba's School of Art. Her work has been exhibited at notable venues in Winnipeg, including aceartinc., PLATFORM Centre for Photographic and Digital Arts, and the Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art. She was featured in the 2022 Flash Photography Festival as an emerging artist and is the recipient of the 2024 PLATFORM Photography Award, with an upcoming solo exhibition in March 2025. Skye has also been active in film programming initiatives, working with the Winnipeg Film Group, independently, and as a member of the Open City Cinema Collective for the Winnipeg Underground Film Festival.

Phone: 204-925-3456

Email: ryan@winnipegfilmgroup.com

Ryan Steel is an interdisciplinary filmmaker from Winnipeg, Manitoba. His mind was altered irreversibly by the weirdo world of the Winnipeg Film Group. His work is informed by a DIY ethic, obsession with hazy analog images. He now has a job as the digital catalogue assistant, working to make the Winnipeg Film Group’s archive accessible on the internet

(she/her)

Phone: 204-925-3456 ext 104

Email: olivia@winnipegfilmgroup.com

Olivia works collaboratively with the Executive Director and is responsible for providing Dave Barber Cinematheque annual programming, including programming for the Gimme Some Truth Documentary Film Festival. She is involved in a variety of special programming events and film series, including Trash Cult Tuesdays and the Bikini Drive-In screening series. Olivia was initially hired as a part-time Programming Coordinator in April 2021 and promoted to full time in April 2022.

(they/he)

Phone: 204-925-3456 ext 108

Email: nic@winnipegfilmgroup.com

Nic is a leo sun, leo moon, capricorn rising from Treaty 1 Territory. They’re an aspiring filmmaker and long-time film lover interested in DIY, low budget, and feminist filmmaking practices. Nic’s work has screened through WNDX festival’s One Take Super 8 and The University of Winnipeg Film Festival. Nic curates Astral Projection, a monthly screening at the Dave Barber Cinematheque that celebrates the beginning of each zodiac season by screening a film made by a director born under that sign that channels the energy of the season. As the box office manager Nic oversees daily operations, memberships, and venue rentals. Contact Nic to provide feedback on your Cinematheque experience.

(he/him)

Phone: 204-925-3456 ext 112

Email: projectionist@winnipegfilmgroup.com

Eric manages all technical aspects of the Cinematheque’s operations, including film format testing and conversion, and maintenance of projection equipment. He also produces original content for the Cinematheque, such as: in-house trailers and ad slides, and helps to create Cinematheque’s original commercials, as well as acting as Head Projectionist. Eric should be contacted with any questions regarding the technical specs and capabilities of the Cinematheque.

(she/her)

Email: bookkeeper@winnipegfilmgroup.com (email is recommended)

Contact our Bookkeeper for general Accounts Payable or Accounts Receivable inquiries.