Candidates for 2020-21 CineVic Board of Directors
CineVic is pleased to have a full slate of 9 candidates who have put their name forward to serve on our Board of Directors for the coming year. It is great to have some returning directors as well as some fresh faces and new voices.
All current members are encouraged to join us at the Annual General Meeting where you can digitally meet these fine folks (if you haven’t already).
Darlene Tait
(returning)
Darlene’s first foray into the local film community on Vancouver Island began with extensive film training at the Victoria Screen Actors Studio in the late-90’s. After returning home in 2013 from living in Mexico for 10 years, her local film involvement has been extensive and varied. Her strong business background has made her an invaluable asset to the independent film community where she frequently consults to and/or is engaged on local productions. She is a well-known Producer of local films and, as an actor, she is also frequently seen in commercials for Tourism, Real Estate, Air Travel, Health Clinics and others and is represented by Coultish Talent Management. Darlene also sits on the Boards of both the Vancouver Island South Film & Media Commission (VISFMC) and Women In Film & Television Vancouver (WIFTV). IMDB
Sharon Joseph
(returning)
As a statement of intent I will just say that I really believe Boards benefit from some long-term contribution and I passionately believe that independent film is a great source of cultural enrichment which I am proud to support.
Grady Lawlor
(returning)
As co-founder of Evergreen & Bound Films, Grady Lawlor has produced films and videos over the past 20-odd years with a focus on storytelling with heart. Grady has produced award-winning short films since 2002, graduated from the Canadian College of Film & Acting and is a lifelong learner through CreativeLive both online and in-studio in Seattle. After a brief stint on-camera sprinting alongside Jason Statham, Grady moved to ‘the big city’ of Vancouver to see what all the buzz was about. Focusing on both sound production and the camera department for multiple years in the independent film scene of Vancouver & Whistler, he has worked on feature length films, documentaries, TV spots, ads, music videos and short films.
Deciding the Island life was in fact the life for him, Grady returned to Victoria to co-found Gradio Media. Creating successful educational, promotional and fundraising video content for organizations in Victoria & Vancouver, lead to the opening of Evergreen & Bound Films. This now 7-year venture allows Grady to explore the beauty of BC while sharing moving, emotive stories for connected couples. As proud foster parents of 27+ rescue dogs, Grady and his partner Breanna’s latest fundraising film directly resulted in over $240,000 being raised for the BC SPCA’s Cruelty Investigation Department to save more animals in need throughout BC.
Joining CineVic’s board in 2018, making fundraising fun, moderating filmmaker Q&A’s and earning a “Yaaaass queen!” from the audience of the sold out Short Circuit Film Festival, Grady is best known for being a friendly face for local filmmakers to turn to.
Octavian Kaul
(returning)
Octavian Kaul is an actor, director, and writer based in Canada. He first found his love for film at the age of four after using his father’s flip video camera for the first time. Years later he decided the easiest way for him to get on a professional film set was through acting. Since then, Octavian has acted in several Film/TV productions and has directed several short films, some of which have gone on to screen and win awards at film festivals across the world.
Steven Davies
(incoming)
Steven Thomas Davies is a filmmaker of Coast Salish (Snuneymuxw) and European-Canadian descent. His films are centred around cultural and political themes, that reconnect with Indigenous histories to educate himself and share with others. He is currently completing two documentaries for APTN, CBC, the Doc Channel, and NFB.
Brian Globus
(incoming)
Brian Globus has been passionate about film and television for as long as he can remember and, over the last decade, has made it the focus of his career. For the past eight years he has worked at the Vancouver Island South Film Commission, helping to attract productions of every kind to the Capital Region by promoting our locations, crew and local services. He is also closely involved with development of the local film industry as an event organiser, workshop instructor and career counsellor
While at the Commission, Brian also trained as a Camera Assistant with the International Cinematographers Guild Local 669 and is now a full member, with experience on feature film and television productions shot in Victoria, Vancouver and Alberta. He has worked with professional camera crews on shows like Lost In Space, Disney’s Descendants, Supernatural, Loudermilk, Murdoch Mysteries and more.
An indie filmmaker at heart, Brian started a meetup group in Victoria called ‘Film Club West’, which grew to over 500 online members. The collective produced a number of short films, and met regularly to share their creative skills and experience. Now with Cinevic, Brian has worked on a number of productions by other members including Connor Gaston’s ‘Encore’, Arnold Lim’s ‘All In Madonna’ short, and Jim Knox’s ‘Bubbalou’. With a vested interest in creating opportunities for local filmmakers, Brian welcomes the chance to serve on the Cinevic Board, on behalf of its talented membership. IMDB
Sonya Chwyl
(incoming)
CineVic is an amazing resource for Victoria filmmakers, and has been a huge part of the film scene here for many years. As a member of the board, I would use my experience as an emerging filmmaker, freelancer, and communications specialist to continue expanding CineVic’s role in the Victoria film community and grow existing initiatives.
In my time as a member of the Victoria film community, I have found it a welcoming and inspiring group of people eager to collaborate and create. There is so much potential here, and I want to be able to help encourage artists from every background to tell their stories.
For me this also means making concerted effort to uplift diverse voices within our community, including BIPOC and people from the LGBTQ2S+ community, which I’m part of. As a member of the board, I would do my best to listen, learn, and support diverse voices and make CineVic more inclusive as an organisation.
Thank you for considering me for this role!
Michael Korican
(incoming, previous director)
Bio: Michael Korican is an indie filmmaker based in Victoria, BC, Canada. He has written, produced, directed, animated, edited and created music for dozens of animation, documentary and narrative film and video productions. Michael blogs about the mediascape weekly at www.informediation.com/blog
Statement: I’ve been a member for over 15 years and would like to volunteer for the Board once again. I’ve made over four dozen shorts and one feature. I would love to pass on any tips and encouragement I can provide to new filmmakers; please ask!
Paul Ruta
(incoming)
Born in Manitoba and raised in BC, Paul’s love of film has given him the opportunity to experience the thrills of living in large industry markets such as Los Angeles and Toronto. From performing in plays, to directing his own short films in high school and completing many feature screenplays throughout college, all these experiences ultimately led to the completion of his first official festival selected short film “Unrepresented” back in 2012. The film brought Paul a small taste of the bright lights and stars of Hollywood where his time spent down south would soon lead him to an keen interest in improv comedy. Looking to further his skills in this area of performance Paul would spend the next few years at The Second City in Toronto learning this craft before eventually heading back west to act in numerous independent and short films over the past few years. Recently Paul directed, wrote, starred and produced his first feature film titled “Big Business” in 2016 and is in the process of FINALLY – working on final steps in finishing the project.