Director Biographies

Breakin' In: The Making of a Hip Hop Dancer

Elizabeth St. Philip
An accomplished writer and film director, St. Philip’s work has been shown on the Discovery Channel, National Geographic and the CBC. She is the medical producer for CTV's National News. This is St. Philip's debut documentary and first collaboration with the National Film Board of Canada.

Connect the Dots
Claireandean Humphrey
As a child, Claireandean's interest in the visual arts was nurtured by her father and later by her teachers at Keelesdale Public School in Toronto.  During her teen years, she coped with coming of age and her sexuality with visual arts and poetry.  Now in her early twenties, she continues to paint as a means of expression and to explore visual language in video and film.

Lullaby
Sharon Mareeka Lewis, Writer
This director, on-air host, actor and writer has appeared in films, television, and theatre across the globe. Her role as the D.J. Rude in the film Rude took her to Cannes and across Europe. She is the co-author of the published play, Sistahs, and currently runs the independent production company urbansoul, inc. (http://www.sharonlewis.com).

In the Dark
Niko Blaxxx
This film represents Blaxxx' directorial debut. It won the Jury award for best Canadian Female Director in a short film/video at Inside Out last year. She is an alumnus of the Queer Youth Digital Video Project which enabled her to take In the Dark from concept to completed project. Blaxxx is also a 1st year Business student at George Brown College, thus embracing both sides of "show business."

The Locks Narratives
Natalie Wood
Multimedia artist, curator, arts educator...Wood's work cohabits the worlds of art and historical research, exploring issues of identity, marginalization, resistance and representation. In her art, Wood uses symbols and objects to subvert the experiences of loss and invisibility felt by many in the Black Community. She has had solo/group shows at a number of Toronto galleries and her videos have screened at Inside Out, Hot Seat 5, the Pleasure Dome and the Mix film festival in New York. This particular short is part of a web art project called Kinlinks, a faux corporation that does “genetic" testing on popular western icons such as Mickey Mouse to locate their African ancestry
(http://vtapedigital.org/kinlinks).

Kounandi
Apolline Traoré
One of Africa's few women filmmakers, Traoré was born in Burkina Faso and received her BFA in film (1998) from Emerson College in Boston.

Blood
d'bi young
Jamaican born and raised, this uniquely talented actress, playwright, dub poet, author and new mother claims a body of work that explores multidisciplinary forms of storytelling.  Her work is rooted in socio-political accountability, responsibility and anti-oppression.  young has starred in theatre, television and film productions including 'da kink in my hair and Lord Have Mercy. As a dub poet, she has independently produced three recordings and has another in progress - plus she recently published her first book of poetry art on black. young lives in Toronto with her son moon.