May 5, 2023
7:00 pm EDT
Hale Coffee, 300 Campbell Avenue, Toronto, ON M6P 3V6
An evening of networking, food, and music at Hale Coffee. An opportunity to meet filmmakers, industry professionals and film enthusiasts all in one fun evening, including a panel on “Creative Vision vs. Industry Expectations: A conversation about how to be the most important voice in the work you do” with Tamara Mariam Dawit, Aisha Jamal, Jude Chehab and Sherien Barsoum, moderated by Rolla Tahir.
Panel:
Creative Vision vs. Industry Expectations: A conversation about how to be the most important voice in the work you do
An intimate conversation on “Creative Vision vs. Industry Expectations: A conversation about how to be the most important voice in the work you do” with special guests: filmmaker and industry executive, Tamara Mariam Dawit, filmmaker and programmer, Aisha Jamal, Lebanese-American filmmaker, Jude Chehab and filmmaker Sherien Barsoum. Moderated by filmmaker and TAF’s co-founder Rolla Tahir.
Moderator:
Rolla Tahir, Filmmaker, TAF Co-founder & Artistic Director
Rolla Tahir is a filmmaker and director of photography based in Toronto. She’s lensed short, narrative and experimental films, which screened across Canada and internationally, including the UK, Germany, and the United States. Obsessed with the durability, longevity and spontaneity of the analog film medium, Rolla has worked with Super 8, 16mm and 35mm to explore the analog process and its possibilities.
Speakers:
Tamara Mariam Dawit, filmmaker and industry executive
Tamara Mariam Dawit is an Ethiopian-Canadian award-winning filmmaker and arts industry executive. She has experience producing arts content and campaigns for organizations, including Save the Children, Girl Effect, Keep a Child Alive, and Make Poverty History. She has a long history of managing training labs and export missions and has advised on programs and policies to support the screen sector for DW Akademie, UNESCO, Afreximbank, EUNIC, Canada Media Fund and the Ethiopian government.
Tamara is an alumnus of the Berlinale and Durban Talents and has been awarded fellowships by Docs in Progress, Logan Nonfiction and TIFF. Her film Finding Sally won the Doc Institute Vanguard Award, Adiaha Award and the Gordon Parks Award, among others. Tamara, a 2023 Chalmer Arts Fellow, is producing a slate of Ethiopian films.
Jude Chehab, Lebanese-American filmmaker
Jude Chehab is a Lebanese-American filmmaker based between New York and Beirut. Her cinematic interests have drawn her to the exploration of the esoteric, the spiritual and the unspoken. A richly layered visual and intimate personal shooting style developed under the mentorship of Abbas Kiarostami’s final student group; Jude has been credited in collaborations with the BBC, Refinery29, Oxfam GB, and Doctors Without Borders. She has worked as a DP internationally, on films in Somalia, Sudan and Pakistan and was an AP on Sesame Street’s Ahlan Simsim. Her work has been awarded fellowships through: CAAM, BGDM, NeXtDoc, Points North Institute, Firelight Media, Close-Up and Chicken & Egg. Jude is currently in post production on her first feature documentary and has been supported by: IDA, ITVS, TFI, and Sundance. In 2021, Filmmaker Magazine named her one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film. Her short film 300 Days of Sun, will be screening at this year’s Hot Docs Film Festival. And her debut feature, Q, will be screening at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. judechehab.com
Aisha Jamal, filmmaker and programmer
Aisha Jamal is a filmmaker and film programmer based in Toronto, Canada. Her films have played venues and festivals world wide. Her work often centers on people and their resilience in life. Aisha’s feature film debut A KANDAHAR AWAY, about her family’s connection the small Saskatchewan, Canada hamlet of Kandahar, premiered in 2019 at the Hot Docs Documentary Film Festival in Toronto, Canada and is currently available to stream on CBC Gem and playing on television on the documentary channel. Her previous short films include the award winning THE LONG WAY HOME (2017) and SEEDS OF THE PAST (2016). She recently directed, co-produced and co-wrote the documentary web series HOW WE DIE, an eleven part series about rethinking our relationship to death and dying. Aisha’s short, Field Notes, will be screening at Hot Docs Film Festival this year. aishajamalfilms.com
Sherien Barsoum, Filmmaker
Sherien Barsoum is a producer with the National Film Board of Canada. As an independent filmmaker she directed and produced Cynara, Ride for Promise and Player Zero, winning the Hot Docs Short Film Pitch and Best Canadian Documentary at NorthWest Fest. She was the producer of Dreams in Vantablack and Babe, I Hate To Go, which played top festivals internationally and was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award. Sherien was also the story consultant on the Oscar-shortlisted Frame 394 and co-produced House of Z, the first feature bought and distributed by Condé Nast, now on Netflix. Sherien is a founding member of the Racial Equity Media Collective, which uses research to advocate on behalf of racialized creators in Canada. She is also the former Director of Programming for the Reelworld Film Festival and served as a board member of the Documentary Organization of Canada.
Sincerest thanks to Hale Coffee for making this event possible and their continuous support.
