The Winnipeg Film Group is excited to announce the recipients of the Spring 2026 MFM Marketing Fund:
Connor Yarish was awarded $750 for Sapling
Synopsis:
A young boy’s desire to live his life as a tree compels him to run away from home and plant himself in a nearby forest. There, his imagination takes root, unfolding a fantastical vision of a wooden existence.
Connor Yarish is an independent animator and filmmaker based in Winnipeg. Specializing primarily in stop motion, he uses puppets, clay, paper, and everyday objects to create short films, animated loops, and other short-form works that blend humour and the absurd.
A self-taught animator, Yarish began posting his work online under the name Slumbo Animation in 2020. In 2021 he released his debut film, Trigger Finger, a comedy-western short which was screened at festivals in Canada, Norway, and the UK. His latest film, Sapling (2026), reflects a growing focus on narrative-driven filmmaking while maintaining the handcrafted aesthetic and playful sensibility that characterize his work.
Ryan Steel was awarded $750 for Meat
Synopsis:
Five plane crash survivors on the brink of cannibalism discover the corpse of a bright blue alien. They then start a multimillion dollar company secretly selling the alien meat as a fast food vegetarian alternative.
Ryan Steel is an interdisciplinary filmmaker from Winnipeg, Manitoba. His films are informed by a DIY work ethic, obsession with hazy analog images, and longtime membership of the Winnipeg Film Group.
Meg Robinson and Taylor Brown were awarded $500 for Big Small Town Season 2
Synopsis:
Big Small Town is Manitoba’s premier sketch comedy show, featuring hilarious local comedians on surreal, out-of-this-world adventures. Season 2 breaks all the rules with alternate-dimension grocery stores, trash TV parodies, delusional local background actors, a celestial Ace Burpee restoring faith in Winnipeg, and many more!
Director Bio:
Taylor Brown is an award-winning director and co-owner of Folks Films, an internationally recognized production company creating film and television projects with broad festival and broadcast reach. His work has been honored with a Golden Sheaf Award at the Yorkton Film Festival and Best Director at the Great Canadian Comedy Film Festival and selected for Just For Laughs Montreal. He was a Top 3 finalist on CBC’s Short Film Face Off (Season 15) and has directed for Republic Records, the biggest music label in the world.
Producer Bio:
Meg Robinson is a Manitoba-based Producer who specializes in the development and production of documentary and comedy Web series and TV content. Meg produced award-winning comedy TV mini-series Big Small Town (BellFibeTV1) that was awarded Best Comedy by T.O. Webfest (2025), starring Kids in the Hall’s Kevin McDonald, JFL Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto’s Spencer Adamus, CBC Podcast’s Jane Testar, and Comedy Record’s Emmanuel Lomuro. Meg has produced comedy shorts that were selected for Just For Laughs Comedy Shorts 2025, Yorkton Film Festival, Charlottetown Film Festival, Silver Wave Film Festival, Gimli International Film Festival, Calgary Underground Film Festival, and more. Meg was selected as one of six producers from across Canada for the 2025 WFF International Producer’s Lab, as a business trade mission to Ireland at the Galway Film Fleadh. Meg was chosen to participate as one of 6 producers in the 2025 WFF Documentary Producer Lab and is also participating in the IPF Pre-Application Program for Prairie Producers. Other producing credits include short I Fall to Pieces (dir. Jessica Landry), and the What Does It Take podcast for SSHRC and Manitoba Film & Music. She has held key marketing roles on large-scale productions like Deaner ’89 (Mongrel Media) and True Story Pt. 1 & 2 (History Channel), 7TH GEN (APTN), and Ghost Kitchens (Bell FibeTV1). She is currently the Production Manager for TV series, Game Changers Season 2 (AMI), and developing her own projects, including the documentary Dottir of New Iceland, upcoming thriller UNCLEAN, and upcoming documentary Let Her Fly.
Thank you to all who applied for the Spring 2026 MFM Marketing Fund. All submissions were juried by a peer assessment committee.
The Winnipeg Film Group acknowledges Manitoba Film & Music for graciously supporting these awards.
