2023 chopard x bttl action grant finalists
HoVER OVER PHOTOS TO REVEAL BIOS
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Teddy Leifer, Producer
Teddy Leifer is an Academy Award nominee and founder of Rise Films. A five-time Emmy® winner, his credits include The Invisible War (Oscar® nominee and Emmy® winner), The Interrupters (Emmy® winner), Icarus (Oscar® winner), Knuckle (Sundance world premiere), Dreamcatcher (Sundance winner), We Are Together (Tribeca winner), Rough Aunties (Sundance winner), The Human Factor (Telluride world premiere), Mayor (Emmy® winner) and The Art of Political Murder. Teddy’s latest feature, All That Breathes, directed by Shaunak Sen, is the only film ever to have won both the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and Best Documentary at the Cannes Film Festival – where it premiered in 2022. The film received BAFTA and Oscar nominations for Best Documentary. His other recent productions include George Carlin’s American Dream, a two-parter for HBO directed by Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio which won the 2022 Emmy® for Outstanding Documentary and Once Upon A Time In Londongrad, a timely political thriller about 14 mysterious UK deaths with alleged Russia links for Sky Documentaries, Peacock, and NBC Universal. He just wrapped production on a feature-length finale of the multi-award-winning Plebs, following a five-season run as the most-watched comedy in ITV2’s history. Teddy was recently listed in the “100 most innovative and influential people in British creative and media industries” by the Guardian newspaper. He is a member of the Producers Guild of America and BAFTA.
BEAR SEASON
documentary | CANADA, USA, UK
Bear Season follows a polar bear migration from a “bear’s-eye-view”, as a mother with cubs and a lone juvenile male are forced to navigate two very different towns in the Canadian Arctic, bringing the towns’ deep social inequities and cultural differences into sharp relief.
Gabriela Osio Vanden, Director
Gabriela Osio Vanden is an award-winning Venezuelan-Canadian Director and cinematographer based in Toronto. She brings a background in painting and dance to her images which have premiered at major festivals, including TIFF, Camerimage, SXSW, IDFA, Sheffield DocFest, and True/False. She is a HotDocs 2022 Fellow. Her student thesis film The Rambler was awarded an internship with Phedon Papamichael ASC GSC whom she shadowed on Alexander Payne’s Downsizing. Gabriela has a BFA in Film Production from York University. Her latest film Nuisance Bear premiered at TIFF and played at over 120 Film Festivals. It won multiple awards, most notably a Critics Choice Award and Outstanding Non-Fiction Short at Cinema Eye Honors. In 2023 Nuisance Bear was shortlisted for the 95th Academy Awards.
co-DirECTORS:
Gabriela Osio Vanden
Jack weisman
pRODUCER:
Teddy Leifer
Nicky Bentham, Producer
Nicky Bentham is founder and producer at London based Neon Films. Recently she produced the thriller LOCKED IN with Gaumont UK and Netflix, directed by Nour Wazzi. Last year saw the release of THE DUKE, starring Academy Award winners Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren directed by Roger Michell, which premiered at Venice and then Telluride. 2022 also saw the release of the music feature documentary WHO KILLED THE KLF? a co-production with Fulwell 73, released through Picturehouses and Sky Cinema. Other feature producing credits include Duncan Jones’ multi award-winning sci-fi MOON starring Sam Rockwell, THE SILENT STORM starring Andrea Riseborough and Damian Lewis which was executive produced by Barbara Broccoli, the children’s dance film YOU CAN TUTU acquired by Netflix and the BAFTA nominated theatrical documentary TAKING LIBERTIES. Nicky is the co-chair of Pact’s Film Producers' Group.
BRIDES
drama | Uk, ITALY, TURKEY
Two teenage girls in search of freedom, friendship and meaning, run away from their troubled lives in an English seaside town to join Isis in Syria. On their road trip we learn about what they are running from, as they come to understand the reality of where they are headed.
Nadia Fall, Director
Nadia Fall is the artistic director of Theatre Royal Stratford East, and was an associate director at the National Theatre from 2015 to 2018. Prior to this she spent many years as assistant and protégé of acclaimed theatre and film director, Sir Nicholas Hytner. Her work includes an adaptation of “King Hedley II” and “The Village” at Stratford East; “Three Sisters” (in a new version by Inua Ellams), “Home” (also as writer), “The Suicide”, “Our Country’s Good”, “Dara”, “Chewing Gum Dreams” (created by Michaela Coel), “Hymn” and ““The Doctor’s Dilemma” at the National; “Talking Heads” at The Bridge; “Hir” and “Disgraced” at Bush; “Way Upstream” at Chichester; “Hobson’s Choice” at Regent’s; and “The Maids” and “Oliver Twist” at the Lyric Hammersmith. In 2018 she completed her debut short film, “Bush” with Neon Films and Film4. In 2020 she filmed “No Masks”, a Sky original drama based on the stories of key workers from the community and their fight against the coronavirus, starring Russell Tovey, Anya Chalotra and Eamonn Walker. Fall also filmed her production of Alan Bennett’s “Talking Heads” (“The Outside Dog”), for BBC One, starring Rochenda Sandall. In 2020, Fall was named as a Sky Arts ambassador.
DIRECTOR:
NADIA FALL
Writer:
Suhayla El-Bushra
producer:
NICKY BENTHAM
Anand Ramayya, Producer
Combining a passion for inclusive stories and original voices, KarmaFilm founder Anand Ramayya has built an impressive, twenty-year track record as a BIPOC and equity seeking producer with over 80 hours of content notably WAPOS BAY & DONKEYHEAD receiving over 35 awards including five Geminis (two Canada Awards for excellence in diversity), a Canadian Screen Award (six nominations), and a Kidscreen Award. Ramayya is past president of the Saskatchewan Motion Picture Association, an alumni of NSI, Strategic Partners and the CFC. In 2020 Ramayya was also honoured with the Reelworld TRAILBLAZER AWARD and the CMPA Indiescreen 2022 Established Producer Award.
the devil’s tears
DRAMA, THRILLER, HORROR | INDIA, CANADA
When a sinister blood rain threatens a jungle village recovering from war, one disillusioned young man must find a way to revive his splintered community, or face the complete decimation of their village.
Maya Bastian, Writer/Director
Maya Bastian is an award-winning Tamil Canadian filmmaker & artist with roots in conflict journalism. Her work has been supported by HBO, Netflix, UN IOM, Edinburgh Fringe, Colombo Art Biennale and multiple film festivals around the world. Her most recent short film TIGRESS was nominated for a 2020 CEC AWARD and was supported by CBC, NETFLIX and the CANADIAN FILM CENTER, and participated in CANNES COURT METRAGE 2021. Tigress premiered at FESTIVAL DE NOUVEAU CINEMA. She is in development on her first feature ‘THE DEVIL’S TEARS’ with FAE PICTURES (Cannes Director’s Fortnight ‘In Flames’), JAR PICTURES (A Suitable Boy) and KARMA FILMS (Donkeyhead). Her comedy series in development will be at the TIFF 2023 Series Accelerator, and she is currently co-writing and directing a paranormal mystery series set in 1970's Southeast Asia with REFLECTOR ENTERTAINMENT and BANDAI NAMCO. Her work frequently explores the trauma related to displacement and migration.
WRITER/DIRECTOR:
MAYA BASTIAN
PRODUCER:
Anand Ramayya
GOOD CHANCE
DRAMA | USA
This comedic drama is about a feisty transgender teen who helps a church-going, undocumented Asian woman escape deportation, and they form an unlikely friendship that helps them heal the rifts in their own mother-daughter relationships.
Tricia Lee, Writer/Director
Tricia Lee is an accomplished AAPI female filmmaker whose ability to blend heart-warming and heart-breaking stories with uplifting humor has earned her recognition on the Black List x3: 2020 (GOOD CHANCE), 2021 (IDOL) and 2023 (AMERICAN DREAMS). As a fellow of the SONY Diverse TV Writers Program, Tricia creates from a Canadian perspective, exploring themes of belonging, voicelessness, and shared humanity through the lens of the American Dream. Her feature script, GOOD CHANCE has received numerous accolades, including being a top 50 finalist in The Academy Nicholl Fellowship, winning the grand prize in Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope Screenplay Competition, a top 14 finalist Universal Studios Writers Program, on the CAPE List, being selected for the prestigious Producers Guild of America Power of Diversity Master Workshop and The Writers Lab (supported by Meryl Streep & Nicole Kidman).
A CDDP Commerical Director finalist, Tricia's impressive directing credits include working with top talent such as Eva Longoria (DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES), Simu Liu (Marvel's SHANG-CHI), Ingrid Rogers (BOSCH), and Rachel Hilson (THIS IS US). She has written a pilot for and will be a showrunner of the animated anthology A BANQUET FOR HUNGRY GHOSTS produced by 108 Media. Lee has directed 3 award-winning features including BLOOD HUNTERS, which sold to Hulu and was presented in Cannes by Frontieres and SILENT RETREAT, which was theatrically released across Canada and sold to NBC Universal’s Chiller Network and Shudder.
writer/DIRECTOR:
TRICIA LEE
PRODUCER:
TRICIA LEE
Camila Savala, Producer
Born and raised in Peru, Camila Zavala is a Los Angeles-based producer and writer with an MFA from Columbia University’s School of Theatre, Film & Television. She is a 2019 Film Independent Producing Lab Fellow for the feature film Malpelo. Camila’s work spans a range of fiction, TV, branded content and theatre plays. As a filmmaker she has been honored to win several awards and has been selected in various film festivals around the world including the Tribeca Film Festival, Palm Springs International Shortfest and Telluride Film Festival. Her last film project as a creative producer and writer “The Catch” received the Katherina Otto-Bernstein Production Grant and the Bertha Tamayo Grant during the production stage and was awarded the Richard Brick Fund for special distinction in Line Producing. In addition to her experience in film, TV and theater, Camila has over ten years’ experience as the production manager of PLAY | Storytelling, a creative production company based in Lima, Peru dedicated to helping brands connect with their consumer through stories. She has created content for brands such as Samsung, Intel, Sura, Cadbury, Unilever among others.
MALPELO
DRAMA, THRILLER | COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, USA
A headstrong female freediver travels to Malpelo Island to investigate the disappearance of hammerhead sharks, aboard a fishing boat with an all-male crew who turn out to be just as dangerous as the predators she’s after.
Victoria Rivera, Writer/Director
Victoria Rivera is a Colombian-American writer/director based in New York City. She graduated from Columbia University with a MFA in Film in 2020 and was named one of 25 New Faces of Independent Film by Filmmaker Magazine the same year. Her short film Lucia (2021) won Best Short Film at Premios Macondo, the Colombian National Film Awards and was a Student Academy Awards Finalist. Her short film Night Swim (2019) won the Jury Award for Best Student Film at Palm Springs Shortfest, and was an official selection at Tribeca Film Festival and Telluride Film Festival. The Directors Guild of America, of which she is now a proud member, awarded her short film Verde (2018) the Student Film Award. Most recently, Victoria directed The Longest Breath (2021), a short film for Hulu’s Bite Size Halloween series. She is currently in development of her first feature film, Malpelo, an Academy Nicholl Fellowship Semi-Finalist and Sloan Screenwriting Grantee, with the generous support of organizations such as the Sundance Institute, Gotham, CineQuaNon Lab and Film Independent, through their various Artist Development Programs and Fast Track Market.