Cohort
JEAN-BASTIEN NIYIGARUYE
Hello, my name is Jean-Bastien Niyigaruye, I am a Canadian of Burundian origin. I work mainly in the visual arts and more recently I have embarked on the adventure that is cinema. Cinema for me is a continuation of my interest in drawing, painting and sculpture. As in all the other mediums I use, I seek to construct and deconstruct the image to create a free space for language and ideally, in this process, bring us closer to our fellow beings.
« Un Soleil d’Or » is a web-series, a triptych composed of six episodes that tell the story of Kouakou’s visit to his family. Shangazi, his aunt and Miryam his niece. Kouakou arrives in Ottawa, an unknown land, from Uganda. Very quickly he witnesses mysterious happenings. He is a ghost in the eyes of the inhabitants of this new territory! Only his aunt, his niece and a few other individuals from his community see him. The triptych follows Kouakou in his quest for revelation.
PATRICE JECROIS
Creative and curious, Patrice Jecrois has produced and conceptualized several series of interviews with emerging entrepreneurs as well as several video clips over the past few years. Today, he wants to take a look behind the scenes of social realities and different societal issues.
The gap that exists between men and women in the field of technology shows that there is a great need for diversity in this industry. Today, women are standing up to fight against these persistent inequalities. But what about the next generation? The documentary series « Code avec moi » highlights the journey of 6 young girls between the ages of 10 and 18 who want to develop their technical skills as well as the ability to generate a positive social impact through technology. This documentary series focuses on the journey of these participants who, through workshops and professional coaching with mentors, learn all the steps that lead to the creation of a business and the basics of programming to develop a mobile application. Several themes will be addressed throughout the eight episodes.
XIAORONG LIU
Xiaorong Liu is an animation director, producer, entrepreneur, and new immigrant in Montreal. Her keen interest is in exploring different perspectives, channels, and expressions to protect and promote local cultural legacies under a cross-geographical, cross-cultural, and cross-ethnic context. She earned a degree in digital media from Peking University in China and became one of the first generations who applies modern digital technology to the animation industry of the country. She co-directed China’s first Peking Opera animation series with Chinese painting style, which coherently integrated the two traditional artistic heritages into a novel format and won the love of millions of younger generations. She also participated in many Sino-Canada, and Sino-US projects as the co-director and project planner to promote environmental protection themes through a multicultural lens.
Inspired by her immigrant life in Montreal, she is now preparing for her first documentary series focusing on the integration of Montreal’s Asian « study mothers », who accompany their children to study in Montreal while experiencing the long-term separation from their families during and after the pandemic. She hopes to probe the role of diversity, inclusiveness and cultural integration to the well-being of immigrants.
CHELSEA OSEI
In 2016, Chelsea moved from Toronto to Montreal to begin her studies and, eventually, her career in Speech-Language Pathology. Her passion for writing inspired her to participate in the 2022 Je me vois a l’ecran screenwriting residency with Black on Black Films. Her dream is to pursue a multi-faceted career in speech therapy and filmmaking.
« Buddy » is the story of a 9-year-old girl named Angela who is crushed when she receives news that her mother is transferring her and her autistic older brother to a new school. In an attempt to carve her own path, Angela rebelliously takes a journey through the city after school to get home all by herself. She starts to regret her decision when she finds herself lost and darkness starts to fall. Eventually, she recognizes a neighbourhood landmark, and although she makes it home safely, she has to confront her worried mother.
MIGUEL SORTO
Miguel Sorto is originally from Honduras, and came to Canada at the age of 14. His family settled in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district of Montreal where he grew up and has been living ever since. After studying management at HEC Montreal, he reoriented himself towards the arts. Self-taught, he explores several techniques in painting and sculpture. In 2017, he followed the training in documentary filmmaking techniques at the École des métiers du cinéma et de la vidéo de Rivière-Du-Loup. In 2019, he produced his first documentary film (10km/h) as an independent producer and director.
« Le son dans mes valises » is a documentary project that reconstructs the history and collective memory of the Latino-Canadian community through music. It is a journey into the quest for identity of Latino immigrants in Canada, an ode to Latino-Canadian music that addresses feelings of exodus, emotional integration and fulfillment.
WYLEM DECAILLE
Based in Montreal, Wylem Decaille holds a Bachelor’s degree in Film and Television from the University of Montreal and recently completed a certificate in Digital Marketing and Project Management from the University of Toronto. The young Martinican artist is interested in Caribbean sensibilities, its mythology, and the place of its history in the world of storytelling.
Wylem is currently in development of his first feature-length documentary film. From auditions to the final show, the documentary follows the life of a Montreal gospel choir. The project is intended to be a « music documentary » narrating the adventures of a group while highlighting the social and spiritual stakes involved.
DIEU DONNÉ RACINE
Dieu donné, a Canadian of Haitian origin, has been working for over three years at Real by Fake, a Montreal-based post-production company. He has built his expertise through various roles on a number of projects as an assistant editor, editor and VFX editor. He trained at Concordia University in Film Studies and has written and directed several short films with Kino Montreal, including two Kabarets and a three-month residency where he was asked to make one short film per month.
His project, « Those who remain », is a feature-length drama that explores the fate of those left behind on the African continent after the departure of slave traders. It follows the inhabitants of a razed village as they seek to rebuild despite their trauma and the conflicts that inhabit each.
SAL EIGH
Sal Eigh is an emerging screenwriter/director/producer based out of Montreal. She is an alumni of Reelworld E20 and Kino Mentorat.
« The World is Theirs » is an art house drama by writer-director Jonathan Degousée that peeps into the lives of the fictional Princeton Tower’s various residents. From an embittered young couple to a struggling musician, precocious siblings to a tormented older neighbour, these drastically different characters all deal with same thing: the enormity of having moral agency over their destinies and desires rather than being passive victims of their situations.
MORE INFORMATION
For any questions or additional information, please contact prisme@mainfilm.qc.ca