Big Daddy Tazz a featured comedian from Standup Samurais will join us by phone.
Ric Beairsto is the writer and producer of Standup Samurais and joins us from Vancouver.
Nelson Giles has appeared on television, radio and more comedy clubs than you can shake a stick at. This Nova Scotia native calls Vancouver home and has been performing his clean and clever comedy rountine to audiences across the country. Not readily pigeon-holed, Nelson’s act runs the gamut from French-Canadian harmonica playing blues musician to a very respectable Jack Nicholson impersonation.
Ray Hall is a founding member of the From Grief to Action Society in Vancouver.
Gordon Harper. No one in our community is very far removed from the consequences of substance use. Gordon Harper is a social activist and advocate for all those who struggle with addictions issues. He is Board Chair of both the Regional Addictions Advocacy Society and the Greater Victoria Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Society, and serves on other regional committees concerned with addictions, mental health and homelessness. He currently acts as Community Liaison for the Dallas Society.
Duncan McKinlay is featured in Life’s A twitch and will connect with us by phone. (www.lifesatwitch.com.
Susie Ruttan is a founding member of the From Grief to Action Society in Vancouver.
Carolyn Showler is a Registered Nurse who has experience working as a volunteer in the local needle exchange program. She has worked in Victoria's Street Outreach Nurse program as well as in both local Correctional facilities. She is presently working at Victoria's 'inner city' Cool Aid Community Health Clinic."
Scott Smith is a graduate of Simon Fraser University’s film program and holds degrees in both Fine Arts (Film) and Business Administration (Marketing). In 1995, on the strength of his award-winning thesis short film Building Fences, Smith was invited to attend the Norman Jewison - founded Canadian Film Centre as a Director Resident. While attending the Centre in Toronto, he continued to hone his skills as a writer and director and in 1996 this culminated in the production of his second short film Sshhh. The film was screened at several international festivals and won the prize for Best Short Film at the Karlovy Vary Festival in Czechoslovakia. In 1997, Sshhh was nominated for a Genie Award for Best Live Action Short.
Smith¹s first feature film, rollercoaster, premiered at the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival, has been screened at over 35 film festivals worldwide and has won several awards, including Best Narrative Feature at the SXSW Film and Music Festival in Austin, Texas and Most Popular Canadian Film at the Vancouver International Film Festival. Scott directed the pilot episode of CTV¹s The Associates, as well as recent episodes of Cold Squad, The Chris Isaak Show, and Tom Stone. He is currently in post production on the $4M feature film adaptation of Barbara Gowdy¹s novel, Falling Angels, with Triptych Media in Toronto. (We'll be showing clips at the seminar)
Nettie Wild comes to film from a background of journalism and theatre. Her radio documentaries of the Philippine guerrilla war and the SNAP revolution were carried extensively by CBS Radio. She has worked professionally as an actress, producer and writer. She is a founding member of Vancouver's Headlines Theatre, Touchstone Theatre and Tahmanous Theatre. She is a part of Canada Wild Productions, an independent documentary film and television production company based in Vancouver specializing in making accessible and engaging documentaries about controversial issues. They believe that behind the politics in our communities lie human dramas with lessons that deeply affect out lives. Other productions include, A PLACE CALLED CHIAPAS, which opened in over 80 cities throughout Canada and the United States, A RUSTLING OF LEAVES: Inside the Philippine Revolution (1988), BLOCKADE (1993) and A PLACE CALLED CHIAPAS (1998). These productions have won a wide range of Canadian and International awards ranging from the Berlin Emerging Filmmakers Award to Canada's Genie for Best Feature Documentary to the International Documentary Association's Award for Best Feature Documentary
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