About Us

The Future of Film Showcase (FOFS) is a Canadian not-for-profit media arts organization presenting short films from Canadian Filmmakers aged 40 and younger. FOFS fosters the future of emerging Canadian filmmakers by providing them with a platform that celebrates their art alongside an audience as unique as they are, and one that allows filmmakers to network, cultivate, and share their talent through an annual film festival and professional development events that are held throughout the year. 

Our Team

Eric Bizzarri
Co-Founder & Artistic Director

Leah Holah
Director of Marketing

Zoe Statiris
Graphic Designer

Winnie Wang
​Associate Programmer

Jon Burke
Festival Intern

Shantel Sobaram
Executive Director

Samah Ali
Industry Director

Ziana Pancham
Graphic Designer

Braedon Balko
Copy Editor

Zac Goldkind
Senior Programmer

Karl Go
Sponsorship Manager

Robyn Bacon
Social Media Coordinator

Michele Kaye
Copywriter

Zaarin Bushra
Director of Operations

Carmelle Cachero
Director of Accessibility

Júlia Batista
Web Developer

Bianca Linhares-Huang
Associate Programmer

Advisory Board

Shant Joshi
President - Fae Pictures
​

Shant Joshi is a queer Indo-Canadian producer based in Toronto and Los Angeles. His credits include the features, Porcupine Lake (TIFF, Busan, Rome, Outfest), Last Car (director John Greyson), and Framing Agnes (Tribeca, Inside Out, Outfest - Best Experimental); the hit web-series, Teenagers, Dekkoo original series, I'm Fine, and more than 15 short films that have travelled the global festival circuit. Joshi co-founded the Future of Film Showcase as a launchpad for emerging Canadian filmmakers, and he previously worked in literary representation and packaging at Buchwald and Lit Entertainment Group (fka Madhouse Entertainment). He is a recent alum of the Canadian Film Centre's Producers' Lab and owns and operates Fae Pictures, a production company with a mandate to "engage audiences with stories rooted in the perspectives of the Other."

Jenn Kuzmyk
Executive Director - Banff World Media Festival

As Executive Director of the Banff World Media Festival and Publisher of Playback, Jenn oversees all aspects of the renowned international event and Canada’s premier national media industry publication. Together with an amazing team, Jenn originated and leads two of Canada’s largest inclusion and diversity programs serving the media sector:  The Netflix-BANFF Diversity of Voices Initiative and the BANFF Spark Accelerator for Women in the Business of Media.  Combined, these programs will provide professional development, mentorship and advanced business opportunities for up to 700 professionals, focusing on under-represented groups.
 
Previously as Director of International Distribution at Proper Television, Jenn led program sales in key territories in North America and Europe, headed up the company’s OTT strategy and worked with independent producers, financing projects for the international market.
 
As VP, Development at Cream Productions, Jenn created, developed and co executive produced television series for top channels worldwide, including Emmy nominated series Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan, and hit international TV format Know-It-All, among many other titles.
                             
Prior to joining Cream, Jenn spent a decade as Canadian Bureau Chief and an Editor at C21Media, a leading UK-based trade publisher focused on the global business of television and digital media content. She worked with C21 from almost start up, helping to build the company into one of the world’s most influential media industry business publishers.
 
Jenn currently sits on the Women in Film and Television Toronto Foundation (WIFT-T) Board of Directors as Vice Chair, on the Future of Film Showcase Advisory Board and has served as adjunct professor at Toronto’s York University, designing and teaching a 4th year course on the business of film, television and digital media.

Sophy Romvari
Filmmaker - Founder of Exquisite Shorts Projects

Sophy Romvari is a filmmaker born in Victoria, B.C. and based in Toronto. Her critically acclaimed short films have travelled the international festival circuit and have earned her a reputation as a leading young talent.
Her 2017 hybrid documentary Pumpkin Movie premiered at True/False to considerable praise, as well as at Hot Docs and Sheffield Doc Fest. It has been praised by critics as "a lovely, subtle work of feminist protest." In 2018 her short Norman Norman received its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. It was also the centerpiece of “Super Succinct and Radically Direct,” a retrospective of Sophy’s work at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City. She has directed documentary films for such acclaimed outlets such as CBC Short Docs (In Dog Years, 2019) and Kino Lorber (Remembrance of József Romvári, 2020).
Sophy completed her Master of Fine Arts at York University, where she shot her thesis film Still Processing. The film had its World Premiere at TIFF in Sept 2020 where critics called it “her most masterful and heart-wrenching work to date; the kind of personal reflection on family and loss some directors and writers can spend their entire lifetimes striving to accomplish.” (The Gate)

Mirella Tersigni
Creative and Culture Officer - City of Vaughn

Currently a Creative and Cultural Development Officer with the City of Vaughan, Mirella is responsible for the management, planning, development and activation of initiatives and programs for the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Community Engagement Plan (VMC) as it relates to the economic development of Culture identified in the Culture and Public Art Strategy for City of Vaughan. As the lead for the development and implementation of projects/programs her work is instrumental in fostering and enhancing the cultural growth of the City of Vaughan as a vibrant and creative municipality, she provides her expertise and leadership in knowledge of cultural trends and development in the cultural sector; assesses any required resources; formulates strategies and proposes initiatives to increase Cultural impact on the economic and social aspects of the VMC and City of Vaughan. 
Mirella is also the project lead for citywide National, Provincial and Local cultural initiatives and events. Mirella’s exceptional facilitation and negotiating techniques in innovative partnerships serves to support the advancement and development of Culture, tourism sectors and related creative industries as it relates to the Culture and Public Art Framework. She also serves as the Arts and Culture Liaison to the arts community of Vaughan and greater GTA, including working with various arts committees and creative industries to facilitate initiatives and programming citywide. Mirella consults and collaborates with external cultural industries and organizations, including the development of contacts with others at the Municipal, Provincial, and Federal levels, non-governmental organizations and interest groups, other agencies and the private sector.

Connect With Us

General inquiries: info@fofs.ca
Submissions or programming inquiries: submissions@fofs.ca
Sponsorship or donation inquiries: sponsorships@fofs.ca
Design or social media inquiries: marketing@fofs.ca