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Meet The 2021

RGFF Judges 

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Hannah Cheesman

Hannah is a CSA nominated writer and actor, and a filmmaker. Recognized as a Playback 5 to Watch and a TIFF Irving Avrich Emerging Filmmaker. Her directing and writing credits include the short films Brunch Bitch, Cheese, Emmy, and The AfterLifetime of Colm Feore, and the feature film The Definites. She also works as a writer in television (Workin’ Moms, Find Me in Paris), web (Whatever, Linda), and as a commercial director with Nimble Content. Most recently, Hannah wrote and directed Succor, a short starring Deragh Campbell (Anne at 13,000 Feet) and Michaela Kurimsky (Firecrackers), premiering at TIFF. Hannah is developing two shows with Bell Media, alongside EP’s Graeme Manson (Snowpiercer, Orphan Black) and Cameron Pictures (Lady Dicks, Mary Kills People, Little Dog) respectively. Currently, Hannah is directing the feature thriller Cesura (Circle Blue). Recent acting credits include Star Trek: Discovery and Schitt’s Creek.

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Peyton Kennedy

Peyton can be seen as ‘Betty Nelson’ on seasons 14 and 15 of the hit series Grey’s Anatomy. Peyton is also recognized for her lead role as Kate Messner on the Netflix original series Everything Sucks.

Before her roles in Everything Sucks and Grey’s Anatomy, Peyton played the reoccurring role of Dr.O on the hit children’s series Odd Squad. She also played the role of Young Cass in The Captive, an Atom Egoyan film starring Ryan Reynolds. Playing Young Cass in The Captive, Peyton won a Joey Award for Young Actress in a Feature Film Principal or Supporting Role.

Other roles to Peyton’s credits include Lavender, American Fable, Pond Life, Taken, What the Night Can Do, Dorsal, An Officer and a Murderer, Cut Bank, Hannibal, The Ron James Show, Murdoch Mysteries, Odd Squad: The Movie, and Killjoys.

Most recently, Peyton can be heard playing the character of Whitney Walker in Borrasca. Borrasca is a narrative podcast written and created by Rebecca Klingel, and produced by and starring Cole Sprouse.

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Naomi McDougall

Jones

Naomi is an award-winning filmmaker, actress, author, speaker, and women in film activist. Her TED Talk, "What It's Like to Be a Woman in Hollywood," ignited a global outpouring of support for the women in film movement. Her new book "The Wrong Kind of Woman" looks at the systemic exclusion of women in film.  She has teamed up with former CFO of the City of Chicago, Lois Scott, to found The 51 Fund, an investment fund to finance films written, directed, and produced by women. Through The 51 Fund, Naomi became an Executive Producer of the documentary feature film, Cusp, which premiered in the US Documentary Competition at Sundance 2021. Naomi is currently at work on her third feature screenplay, Hammond Castle, a magical realism film that explores themes of identity, legacy, and gender through a modern-day seven-month pregnant woman's unexpected interaction with the brilliant, eccentric, and deceased inventor John Hays Hammond, Jr., for which Naomi received the honor of being the first artist-in-residence at Ernest Hemingway's final home in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Naomi McDougall Jones Guests on The Film Scene w/ Illeana Douglas
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Naomi McDougall Jones Guests on The Film Scene w/ Illeana Douglas

#IlleanaDouglas #TheFilmScene #NaomiMcDougallJones Naomi McDougall Jones is an award-winning actress, writer, producer, and women in film activist. Naomi wrote, produced, and starred in the 2014 indie feature film, Imagine I'm Beautiful, which took home 12 awards on the film festival circuit including 4 Best Pictures and, for Naomi, 3 Best Actress Awards and The Don Award for Best Independently Produced Screenplay of 2014. The film was named as #8 of OscarWorld's Top 10 Films of 2014 and was distributed theatrically and digitally by Candy Factory Films. The film is now available on Vimeo On Demand. Naomi’s second feature film, Bite Me, is a subversive romantic comedy about a real-life vampire and the IRS agent who audits her. The film premiered at Cinequest, won Best Feature Film at VTXIFF, and then went on to the innovative, paradigm-shifting Joyful Vampire Tour of America in summer 2019, a 51-screening, 40-city, three-month, RV-fueled eventized tour that involved Joyful Vampire Balls, capes, a docu-series and a whole lot of joy. The film is now available to watch on Amazon, GooglePlay, and iTunes. She is currently at work on her third feature screenplay, Hammond Castle, a magical realism film that explores themes of identity, legacy and gender through a modern-day seven-month pregnant woman's unexpected interaction with the brilliant, eccentric and deceased inventor John Hays Hammond, Jr., for which Naomi received the honor of being the first artist-in-residence at Ernest Hemingway's final home in Sun Valley, Idaho. Naomi's first book, The Wrong Kind of Women: Inside Our Revolution to Dismantle the Gods of Hollywood, was published by Beacon Press on February 4, 2020 and is now available wherever books are sold in hardcover, audiobook, and e-book. Naomi has been a vocal advocate for bringing gender parity to film, both on and off screen. She has spoken at film festivals and conferences around the world and written extensively on this subject. Naomi TEDTalk on these issues and what to do about them, "What it's Like to be a Woman in Hollywood, has been viewed over a million times. She has teamed up with former CFO of the City of Chicago, Lois Scott, to found The 51 Fund, a VC investment fund that will finance films written, directed, and produced by women. A pilot Naomi wrote, The Dark Pieces, was named on the 2016 WriteHer List as one of the top 16 unproduced pilots by a female screenwriter and is now in development for TV in Canada. She was a writer for season 1 of Amazon's original series, The New Yorker Presents, based on the world's most award-winning magazine, which premiered at Sundance 2016, for which she wrote the teleplay adaptation of Miranda July's short story Roy Spivey. For two years, she hosted the podcast Fear(ful)less: Filmmaking From the Edge, a monthly window into the successes, failures, and conversations of an independent filmmaker, which is available on iTunes and GooglePlay. Make sure to subscribe to Popcorn Talk! - http://youtube.com/popcorntalknetwork HELPFUL LINKS: Website - http://popcorntalk.com Follow us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/thepopcorntalk Merch - http://shop.spreadshirt.com/PopcornTalk/ ABOUT POPCORN TALK: Popcorn Talk Network is the online broadcast network with programming dedicated exclusively to movie discussion, news, interviews and commentary. Popcorn Talk Network is comprised of the leading members and personalities of the film press and community including E!’s Maria Menounos. Current Roster of Shows: -Anatomy of a Movie -Box Office Breakdown -Meet the Movie Press -Guilty Movie Pleasures -Marvel Movie News -DC Movie News -Action Movie Anatomy -Watchalong Series!
EVERYTHING SUCKS! & GREY'S ANATOMY Actor Peyton Kennedy | CMTC Online Educational Session
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EVERYTHING SUCKS! & GREY'S ANATOMY Actor Peyton Kennedy | CMTC Online Educational Session

CMTC alumni Actor Peyton Kennedy discusses her experience on set filming Grey's Anatomy, starring in Netflix's Everything Sucks!, living in LA, balancing school and her acting career, her CMTC experience, & more! ABOUT PEYTON KENNEDY: Peyton Kennedy from Toronto, Ontario can be seen as ‘Betty’ on season 14 and 15 of the hit series Grey’s Anatomy. Peyton is also recognized for her lead role as Kate Messner on the Netflix original series Everything Sucks. Before her roles in Everything Sucks and Grey’s Anatomy, Peyton played the reoccurring role of Dr.O on the hit children’s series Odd Squad. She also played the role of Young Cass in The Captive, an Atom Egoyan film starring Ryan Reynolds. Playing Young Cass in The Captive, Peyton won a Joey Award for Young Actress in a Feature Film Principal or Supporting Role. Other roles to Peyton’s credits include Lavender, American Fable, Pond Life, Taken, What the Night Can Do, Dorsal, An Officer and a Murderer, Cut Bank, Hannibal, The Ron James Show, Murdoch Mysteries, Odd Squad: The Movie, and Killjoys. Most recently, Peyton can be heard playing the character of Whitney Walker in Borrasca. Borrasca is a narrative podcast written and created by Rebecca Klingel, and produced by and starring Cole Sprouse. ABOUT CMTC: The Canadian Model and Talent Convention (CMTC) provides a unique opportunity for individuals who are interested in pursuing a career in modelling, acting, singing, and/or dance. Those who successfully audition for CMTC are invited to attend the annual four-day event. During the four day event, new faces and their visitors have access to over 10 seminars and workshops led by industry experts including prestigious agents, managers, casting directors, producers, record labels, and scouts from all over the world. Those who successfully audition can also participate in competitions designed to emulate real castings and auditions. These competitions provide first-hand industry experience and allow participants to showcase their potential in front of the industry reps who are in attendance at CMTC. The industry reps judge the competitions while scouting for their roster. At the end of the event, attendees participate in callbacks where they have the opportunity to meet with and discuss potential next steps with any of the agents, managers, scouts, producers, record labels, and casting directors who have indicated an interest in them. https://cmtc.ca/ SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDjH6L1xICDNe2X6_VPd3Xg?sub_confirmation=1 Follow CMTC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cmtcinc/ Follow CMTC on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CMTCInc/
How to Become a True Agent of Change | Naomi McDougall Jones & Sarah Springer | TEDxBeaconStreet
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How to Become a True Agent of Change | Naomi McDougall Jones & Sarah Springer | TEDxBeaconStreet

What will it take to finally dismantle white supremacy and patriarchy? Sarah Springer and Naomi McDougall Jones have each spent over a decade trying to dismantle those forces in Hollywood. But, after a failed attempt to bring movement leaders together to create foundational change, the two were forced to confront a more uncomfortable question: “Is it possible that even when what we think what we want is change, that our conditioning is leading us to uphold the existing power structures?” The devastating conclusion they arrived at was, "Yes. Because we were all shaped by this society." That prompted Sarah and Naomi to embark on more than two years of conversations, research, and digging - sharing and dissecting their own very different experiences, but also discovering their surprisingly similar journeys of transformation. In this talk, the two share their gained understanding of the deeper work that we must each do individually and collectively to finally wake up from the nightmare of white supremacy and patriarchy and at last build a dream of our own. Naomi McDougall Jones is a storyteller and changemaker. She has written, acted in, and produced two award-winning feature films. The first, Imagine I’m Beautiful (2014), collected 12 awards on the film festival circuit before receiving a theatrical and digital distribution deal and is now available on AmazonPrime. Her second feature, Bite Me (2019), was released via a paradigm-shifting 3 month, 51 screening, 40 city Joyful Vampire Tour of America that took the country by storm, and is now available on iTunes, GooglePlay, and Amazon. She is currently at work on her third feature film, Hammond Castle, for which she received the honor of being the first artist in residence at the final home of Ernest Hemingway in Sun Valley, Idaho. Naomi is an advocate and thought leader for bringing gender parity to cinema. Her writing on this has appeared in The Atlantic, Ms. Magazine, and Salon.com and she gave a virally sensational TEDTalk, What it’s Like to Be a Woman in Hollywood, which has now been viewed over 1 million times and can be seen on TED.com. Naomi’s first book, The Wrong Kind of Women: Inside Our Revolution to Dismantle the Gods of Hollywood, published by Beacon Press, has received an electric response with Booklist and Kirkus Reviews naming it "bold," "convincing," "well-written," "urgent," and "necessary," and The Christian Science Monitor calling it, “...an outpouring of passion that will change the ways in which movies are seen.” It is now available in hardcover, e-book, and audiobook wherever books are sold. More at www.naomimcdougalljones.com. Sarah Springer is an Emmy-nominated producer, documentary filmmaker and creative working in unscripted and scripted development for production companies and labs. She started her career at CNN where she reported and wrote stories about race and identity for Soledad O’Brien’s In America series, then later worked as a producer for ABC's Good Morning America, CBS News/60 Minutes and VICE Media. She began working in immersive storytelling at RYOT Media where she oversaw creative direction and production for immersive, branded and linear series. Sarah was voted one of the top 28 most powerful Black people in media by Blavity and is Co-Creator of STILL HERE, an immersive experience created in partnership with Al Jazeera Contrast that focuses on black women and their triumph over generational trauma, mass incarceration, gentrification and abuse. She is an advocate for intersectional parity, inclusion and accurate representation in media and teaches about such topics at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. She hopes to continue to spread awareness and promote equity in media as co-founder of Advocates for Inclusion in Media, an organization that works to create safe environments and a sense of community for underrepresented people in the industry. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
Interview w Director,Actress and Writer Hannah Cheesman on her Short Film Succor at TIFF 2020
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Interview w Director,Actress and Writer Hannah Cheesman on her Short Film Succor at TIFF 2020

(This Interview is also on Soundcloud https://tinyurl.com/yxckejpm ) The 45th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival https://tiff.net is running from September 10–19. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic https://tinyurl.com/ this year will look different as the festival will adopt physical screenings, drive-ins, digital screenings, virtual red carpets, press conferences, and industry talks. This year’s selection comprises a lineup of 50 new feature films, five programmes of short films, as well as interactive talks, film cast reunions, and Q&As with cast and filmmakers. One of the Short films screening at Tiff is a movie about friendship, heartbreak, discovery and online dating . It premieres at TIFF Tuesday September 15 th,2020. Rudy Blair Entertainment Media rudyblairmedia.com speaks with Director,Actress and Writer Hannah Cheesman https://tinyurl.com/y2hnyo67 about her career, dealing and filming around the COVID-19 pandemic, her thoughts on women in Canadian film and how a catfish helped create the story behind her TIFF short film Succor https://tinyurl.com/y5onsgfy .
Whatever, Linda - Ep 101

Whatever, Linda - Ep 101

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