Competitions

In 2015, Agnieszka Smoczyńska made her debut with THE LURE, in which she experimented with the musical and horror film genres. The film brought her dozens of awards around the world, including at Fantasia, Sitges, Fantastic Fest, Fantasporto, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Nashville, Neuchâtel, and at the Sundance Film Festival, where it received the Special Award for "unique vision and design". The film was released via the prestigious Janus Films and Criterion Collection in the U.S. Her second film FUGUE was invited to the prestigious competition La Semaine de la Critique 71st Cannes IFF and won several statuettes around the world. Smoczynska is currently working on her English-language debut SILENT TWINS with Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance, for which Focus Features has acquired worldwide rights.

A freelance writer and critic of film, television and other cultural ephemera based in London, England, Kambole has written work published in Empire, Sight & Sound, Little White Lies, i-D, BBC Culture, The Independent, Cartoon Brew, Hyperallergic, Thrillist, IGN, Polygon and more; he has writing across all things genre cinema with a keen interest in the medium of animation and representations of race in cinema and television.

Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, Paula Devonshire graduated with a Business degree from the University of Toronto and degree in Radio and Television from Ryerson University. She attended the prestigious Canadian Film Centre’s Producer’s Lab, Trans-Atlantic Partners and was the first Canadian to participate in the Inside Pictures Producer Program in London, U.K. Before starting her own company, Paula was the in-house producer at Copper Heart Entertainment where she worked on the Oscar winning animated film RYAN. While at CHE, Paula also produced the two sequels to the critically acclaimed GINGER SNAPS. Devonshire worked at eOne as a Production Executive supervising several TV shows in production and development. Devonshire has also produced on many other television series including JOHN GRISHAM’S THE FIRM, VIKINGS, MEN WITH BROOMS, FOUR IN THE MORNING, PEOPLE OF EARTH, STAR TREK’S SHORT TREKS for which she was nominated for the 2020 Emmy Awards, and most recently THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS sequel TV series CLARICE for MGM and CBS. Through her independent company Devonshire Productions, Paula produced the feature films REAL TIME, GEORGE ROMERO’S SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD, WET BUM, THE DARK STRANGER, INDIAN HORSE, and RUN WOMAN RUN. Paula is currently set to start filming Darlene Naponse’s next feature STELLAR on the Atikameksheng Reserve in summer 2021. Paula also produced on feature films including George Romero’s DIARY OF THE DEAD, Jeremiah Chechik’s THE RIGHT KIND OF WRONG, Atom Egoyan’s REMEMBER starring the legendary Christopher Plummer, and Neil Jordan’s GRETA, starring Isabel Huppert. Paula Devonshire was on the Board of Directors for the ImagineNative Film Festival for many years and is a member of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte First Nation. She is also a member of the Directors Guild of Canada, the Canadian Media Producers Association and is on the Feature Film Industry Advisory Board for the Ontario Media Development Corporation.

General Manager of the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, Mónica combines this activity with university teaching, being co-director of the UOC's Fantastic Film Master, and writing. She has more than a dozen published titles of an informative nature. She graduated in Communication Sciences and in Advertising and Public Relations. In addition, she is a PhD student in Multimedia Engineering and is currently working on a thesis on film festivals and film marketing.

Simon Rumley is a Fantasia veteran and has been coming to Montreal since 2006 when he screened the cult favourite, THE LIVING AND THE DEAD. His subsequent film, RED, WHITE & BLUE won Fantasia’s Sequences Award for Best Film and for Best Actor (Noah Taylor). Additional features include JOHNNY FRANK GARRETT’S LAST WORD, FASHIONISTA, ONE UPON A TIME IN LONDON and CROWHURST, the latter executive produced by Nicolas Roeg. His films have played and been distributed around the world and have won Best Film or Best Director at FantasticFest, Sitges, Frightfest, Fantaspoa, Lund, Boston Underground and Ravenna, amongst others. He has worked in Austin, New Orleans, Paramaribo and Bristol but currently resides in his native London and has recently completed his first novel, “The Wobble Club”. The Wobble Club details the life and times of a morbidly obese South London couple and what happens when one of them wants to go on a diet but the other refuses. The novel is very Rumleyesque.

Kim Newman is a critic, author and broadcaster. He is a contributing editor to Sight & Sound and Empire magazines. His books about film include Nightmare Movies and Kim Newman’s Video Dungeon. His fiction includes the Anno Dracula series,The Hound of the D’Urbervilles and An English Ghost Story. He has written for television (MARK KERMODE’S SECRETS OF CINEMA), radio (Afternoon Theatre: Cry-Babies), comics (Witchfinder: The Mysteries of Unland) and the theatre (THE HALLOWE’EN SESSIONS), and directed a tiny film (Missing Girl). His next novel is Something More Than Night (Titan Books).

Jill "Sixx" Gevargizian is a director, producer, writer, and hairstylist from Kansas City, Missouri. In 2012, she decided to bring independent genre films to her hometown by creating a monthly showcase called Slaughter Movie House. She founded Sixx Tape Productions in 2014 with her directorial debut, CALL GIRL. Since then, she has written, produced and helmed numerous short films – most notably THE STYLIST in 2016. The film screened at genre festivals across the globe and won 20 awards. That short was also the inspiration for her debut feature of the same title released via Arrow Video this year.

Gigi Saul Guerrero, born and raised in Mexico City, also known as "La Muñeca Del Terror" in Latin America. She is a Mexican genre director/filmmaker and actress living in Vancouver Canada, she's described by VARIETY, L'ATTITUDE LATINXT as part of the new wave of Latino talent, and scored a First Look Deal with Jason Blum's Blumhouse Productions. Gigi graduated with honours at Capilano University's Bosa Centre For Film And Animation and is also a current Directing instructor at Vancouver Film School. She has been praised as one of the top, emerging directors in the horror genre by Empire, Dread Central, Fangoria and Bloody Disgusting. Guerrero is co-founder of Luchagore Productions in Vancouver, Canada. Guerrero directed an action-packed episode for THE PURGE season 2. She directed her feature debut CULTURE SHOCK for Blumhouse Productions Television, winner of Best Primetime movie at Imagen Awards, and it is still 100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Guerrero started her career with several genre short films including gore-fest EL GIGANTE, now available on Shudder, and viral hits like A LUCHAGORE CHRISTMAS and EVIL DEAD IN 60 SECONDS. In 2014, Guerrero participated in the Mexican horror anthology Mexico Bárbaro with its DAY OF THE DEAD segment while still in film school. Her series with Warner Brothers/Stage 13 LA QUINCEAÑERA, won the Audience Award at the 2017 Morbido Film Festival. Guerrero is also known for not just her talent behind camera but her beauty in front. She has posed for Playboy Mexico, and many holiday-themed pinup pictures! She is also an actress and most commonly known for her voice-over work such as NETFLIX SUPER MONSTERS as Vida, and MARVEL SUPERHERO ADVENTURES as Spider-Girl. Recently Guerrero has booked two leading roles in new, anticipated animated series.

Brian O'Malley is a film director known for the Gothic horror movies LET US PREY and THE LODGERS, and the upcoming Spaghetti Western TV series THAT DIRTY BLACK BAG. LET US PREY, starring Liam Cunningham and Pollyanna McIntosh, won the Méliès d'Argent for Best European Fantastic Feature Film at its world premiere at the Belgium International Fantastic Film Festival in 2014. It went on to have its North American Premiere at Fantasia that same year. His second feature film THE LODGERS, an elegantly gothic ghost story set in rural Ireland in 1920, premiered at TIFF 2017 and was released theatrically in 2018. Brian recently directed four episodes of THAT DIRTY BLACK BAG, a Spaghetti Western TV series shot in Italy, Spain and Morocco in 2020/2021. The eight-part series, created by Mauro Aragoni, stars Dominic Cooper, Douglas Booth, Niv Sultan, Rose Williams, Aidan Gillen and Travis Fimmel. Brian has also written and Directed the short films CROSSING SALWEEN (2010) and SCREWBACK (2005). In 2005 he won the Hartley Merrill Screenwriting award for his feature films script SISK, co-written with Terry McMahon and Mark O'Rowe. Brian studied Fine Art, specializing in sculpture, before moving into music video and short film direction. He began directing TV commercials in 2001 before moving into drama.

Myriam Sassine majored in audiovisual studies and received an M.A. in Cinema Research. In 2010, she joined Abbout Productions producing several features and documentaries such as TRAMONTANE by Vatche Boulghourjian (Cannes Critic’s Week 2016), ALL THIS VICTORY by Ahmad Ghossein (Venice Critic’s Week 2019), 1982 by Oualid Mouaness (TIFF 2019), PANOPTIC by Rana Eid (Locarno 2017) and AMAL by Mohamed Siam (Idfa 2017). From 2016 to 2020, Myriam acted as the COO of Schortcut Films, dedicated to co-producing international films. In 2016, she co-founded Maskoon Fantastic Film Festival, the first and only festival of its kind in the Arab region.

Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani directed AMER in 2009 and L’ÉTRANGE COULEUR DES LARMES DE TON CORPS in 2012, a feminine/masculine diptych on desire, after several short movies that they had mostly produced by themselves. They were also among the 26 directors from around the world contributing to the anthology feature ABC’S OF DEATH (2012) with their erotic segment O IS FOR ORGASM. In 2016 they directed LAISSEZ BRONZER LES CADAVRES, their third feature film based on the novel with the same title by cult authors Jean-Patrick Manchette and Jean-Pierre Bastid, which the directors discovered more than ten years ago and that they always dreamed of adapting for the big screen… a dream come true! Their early short-film work has been shown at dozens of festivals around the world, and was regularly presented at Fantasia. Currently, they are working on DARLING, their first animation feature, and their new feature REFLECTION IN A DEAD DIAMOND.

Prano Bailey-Bond is a director and writer who grew up on a diet of TWIN PEAKS in the depths of a strange Welsh community. Her debut feature CENSOR (2021) premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2021, opening the festival’s Midnight section, and went on to have its European premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival. Named a 2021 ‘Director to Watch’ by Variety and a Screen International ‘Star of Tomorrow’ 2018, Prano’s work invokes imaginative worlds, fusing a dark vocabulary with eerie allure.

Yfke has been described as a master binger, a fantastical storyteller, a hamburger expert, and a blood-spattered fairytale princess. A Dutch native, she holds a BA and MA in Film History and Theory (2003) from the University of Amsterdam and an MFA in Film Directing (2006) from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). Yfke has directed award-winning films like the zombie musical ZOMBIE LOVE, the horror documentary XANGADIX LIVES!, the rom-com ALL THE SINGLE LADIES!, and the #metoo horror LILI. Her films have screened at over a hundred festivals all over the world and have won over forty international awards. Her feature THE HOUSE WITH THE SIX HEADS won the Imagine Film Festival Pitch Competition and was an official selection of Frontières Market 2020.

Scottish writer/director Faye Jackson specializes in horror and fantasy, drawing much of her inspiration from folklore and fairy tales. She shot her debut feature STRIGOI about the “real” Romanian vampires in rural Romania, with a Romanian cast and crew. STRIGOI won over 15 festival awards including Best Independent Film at Toronto After Dark and the Melies D’argent at Neuchatel Fantastic Film Festival. It was distributed internationally on VOD and DVD. Faye’s feature projects in development include period fantasy THE FISHERWOMAN AND THE SEA and sci-fi satire SNOWFLAKES. Her award-winning shorts LUMP, THE OLD WOMAN WHO HID HER FEAR UNDER THE STAIRS, CHANGELING and SNOWFLAKES have played festivals worldwide including the New York Film Festival, Fantastic Fest, Fantasia and Sitges.

Hefang is a Chinese animation creator living in France. She has been practicing traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy since her childhood. After graduating from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in Chongqing, she joined the French animation school La Poudrière, where she made three short films that won awards at many international festivals, such as the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and the Clermont-Fd Festival. Her short film LE BANQUET DE LA CONCUBINE was nominated for the César for best animated film in 2014. Since then, she has worked simultaneously on various films such as BIRD FLU, with Priit Tender, WARDI by Mats Grorud, THE ISLAND and THE EXTRAORDINARY JOURNEY OF MARONA by Anca Damian, PERFECT FATHER for China Central Television, HIDDEN LETTERS by Violet Du Feng,and Darling by H. Cattet and B. Forzani. In 2020, she co-founded her production company Weilaï. Currently, her time is divided between the direction of the 26-minute film LOUISE ET LE SERPENT À PLUMES, and the development of her short film PHARE, which will be included in the animated horror omnibus UNCANNY STORIES. Hefang also teaches at various art and animation schools. As a member of the jury, she has participated in numerous festivals such as the Festival de Clermont-Fd and Animafest Zagreb.

Ashkan Rahgozar is founder and chief executive of Hoorakhsh Studios (Iran) and co-founder of 7sky animation (Turkey) and Mystic House (Canada). He has initiated and directed many domestic products including short animations, music videos, computer games, graphic novels and animated collections. His works have been nominated and received several awards at domestic and international festivals around the globe. His latest 2D animated feature THE LAST FICTION competed in Annecy 2013's Mifa Pitches in France (for projects in preparation) and became one of the six projects selected and introduced to the world. Later, in 2016, THE LAST FICTION was invited by the Annecy Animation Festival to the program Annecy Goes to Cannes. In 2018, THE LAST FICTION became the first Iranian animated feature to be in official selection at Annecy, and in 2020 the film again became the first Iranian animated movie to qualify for the Oscars. Rahgozar won the first Fajr Film Festival trophy for an animation movie in the history of this festival, the most important in Iran.

Kalp is an animation filmmaker and illustrator from Kolkata, India. He graduated from the National Institute of Design, India in 2016. He co-directed and wrote the highly acclaimed animated short film WADE. His aim is to work towards creating indigenous storytelling with local flavours to connect with the audience. Kalp is also the co-founder of Ghost Animation, Kolkata, an animation collective which came together in 2015. His clients include Amazon Prime, Nickelodeon, Penguin Books, Wildlife Trust of India, Doctors without borders (MSF), Sony Entertainment, Animal Planet, DLF, A.R. Rahman, and The Los Angeles Philharmonic, among others.

Critic for magazines Séquences and Ciné-Bulles, Jean-Marie Lanlo has cowritten two books on Québec cinema and participated in many juries, including Fantasia – a festival he holds dear to his heart. Editor-in-chief of cinefilic.com, he is the co-owner of publisher L’instant même, where he oversees the “L’Instant ciné” imprint.

Seeing more than 350 films a year, speaking to Bong Joon-ho, David Cronenberg, Ari Aster, Robert Eggers or Takashi Miike. This is but a glimpse in Martin Gignac’s day-to-day as a freelance writer for some of our more popular national publications: Métro, Cinoche, Cinéfilic, Voir, ICI Montréal, Dedicated to transmitting his love of cinema by way of film criticism and interviews and ever-ready for new challenges, he is the writer or co-writer of two books on Québec cinema and has kept an eye out for genre cinema since childhood.

A critic for Panorama-cinéma and Séquences, Claire Valade was the AQCC’s president from 2016 to 2019 and has been active on the Montreal cultural and film scene for 30 years. She has collaborated with several festivals, including the FNC. She earns her living as a language professional and is working on her first book.

After graduation, François co-founded Spykefilm Productions and produced over a hundred music videos for bands such as Muzion, Noir Silence, BARF, Anonymus, Groovy Aardvaark, Gaston Mandeville and Okoumé. This was followed by a period of commercial production between 2000 and 2005, and then a period of documentary production from 2005 to 2010. He then directed many noteworthy series such as LA GUERRE DES SEXES, CORPS ET MONDE, LIEN FATAL and LE CONTRAT. Since 2010, François Bégin has specialized in comedy and dramatic fiction, such as LOL, L'ÉCHAPPÉE, LES MUTANTS, LES NEWBIES, and LES MOMENTS PARFAITS. For the jury of the Mon Premier Fantasia 2021 section, François Bégin will be accompanied by his daughter Juliette Bégin.

At 19, Marianne Farley made her debut as a singer, but since 1997, she has made her mark as an actor. Perfectly bilingual, she has appeared in various television projects (THE INVINCIBLES, OUR SUMMERS, THE DEAD ZONE, THE GENTLEMAN, LIVING MEMORIES, THIS LIFE, HEROES REBORN, 19-2) and in films (LA PEAU BLANCHE, CHRISTMAS CHOIR, UVANGA, LA CHUTE DE SPARTE). Determined to push her artistic vision even further, she directed her first short film SACCAGE in 2014, MARGUERITE in 2017 (nominated for the Best Live Action Short film category at the Oscars® 2019) and FRIMAS in 2021 (produced by Ô Films). A true enthusiast of the seventh art, Marianne also has four short films to her credit as a producer. For the jury of the Mon Premier Fantasia 2021 section, Marianne Farley will be accompanied by her son Valmont Brie.

Pierre-Mathieu is a producer at the National Film Board of Canada. Curious and creative, with a passion fueled by art in all its forms, he has a knack for emerging talents and trends that are changing our society. As a creative producer, Pierre-Mathieu Fortin has contributed to various works on all platforms. After co-directing BonGolem, an award-winning digital agency, he is appointed head of creative, digital content for Radio-Canada (CBC). There he accompanies several documentary producers in their original creations as well as numerous scripted series and several short films. He did a stint in advertising for agency SIDLEE, where he produced, in addition to numerous short-form series, a documentary on the indie video-game industry. He collaborated with URBANIA and the Quebec Cinema Foundation, where he creates La Forge, a five-day immersive screenwriting bootcamp for emerging film talents, funded by Netflix. He has acted as a consultant and juror for various companies and nation-wide institutions such as SODEC, the Ministry of Culture and Communications of Quebec or the Canadian Media Fund. He is the recipient of several Gemini awards, NUMIX awards and numerous international nominations. For the jury of the Mon Premier Fantasia 2021 section, Pierre-Mathieu Fortin will be accompanied by his daughter Alice Fortin.

From an early age, Anik Jean was attracted to the world of entertainment. At the age of 11, she attended a David Bowie concert with her mother, and it was then that she had the revelation that she would become a famous singer-songwriter. She quickly learned to play the guitar and the piano, and embarked on an adventure that would take her from her native Gaspé Peninsula to Los Angeles before returning to Montreal. She recorded several successful albums, including Le Trashy Saloon (2005), Le Ciel saigne le martyre (2008), Anik Jean (2010), Schizophrène (2013) And Lost Soul (2015). In 2016, Anik received her first contract as a film music composer. She also wrote the brilliant soundtrack for BON COP BAD COP 2 and won the 2019 SOCAN Award for Best Film Score. Her collaboration with directors Robin Aubert and Francis Leclerc for her music videos led her to discover cinematography and she instantly felt drawn to film. It was by directing her film LOST SOUL in 2015-2016 that everything was confirmed. In 2019, with the release of her second short film LA PORTE presented at the opening night of Québec Cinéma 2019, she confirmed her place in the film industry. Currently, Anik is writing the feature films TOP COIFFEUSE and LA MAISON LAZY BOGAN. Last October, Anik wrote her first children's book, NATHAN AU PAYS DES PIRATES. For this jury of the Mon Premier Fantasia 2021 section, Anik Jean will be accompanied by her son Nathan Jean-Huard.

Jimmy G. Pettigrew graduated from film school in 2006 with a degree in directing. With a few friends, he immediately founded the collective Ta boîte insolente, where he produced, wrote, directed and edited the group's web capsules. In 2015, he founded the collective La vie est belle, which presents screenings of films made exclusively for events by filmmakers from Quebec City and elsewhere. Since 2016, the collective has been invited by the FCVQ to produce film remakes or other tributes to cinema. Among others, Jimmy will direct with his son Charlie a “sweded” remake of THE THING and THE FLY. He has also made several short films that have been noticed in the film-festival circuit, including SPUTNIK (2015), LA SAISON DES MÉDUSES (2016), DEHORS (2017) and BEURRE NOIR (2018). In 2020, he won the NAD Award for Best Visual Effects for his films POUPÉE, CINEPOD and PASTICHE. For this My First Fantasia 2021 jury, Jimmy G Pettigrew will be accompanied by his son Charlie Pettigrew.