2022 Festival Jury
Get to Know the 2022 BCEFF Jury
Dr Banafcheh
Physician, Professor & Filmmaker
Dr. Banafcheh Hejazi is a family physician, a professor at the Family Medicine Residency Program at the McGill University, and a documentary filmmaker. Dr. Hejazi has devoted her rewarding career to breaking various traditional taboos and helping people struggling with mental health problems to live a fulfilling life. Through her work in the field of Adolescent Medicine, Dr. Hejazi has empowered many teenagers to take charge of their mental health and lead a healthy and normal life as they step into adulthood. In 2013, Dr. Hejazi took on the ambitious project of producing a documentary to create awareness about depression among physicians. “Doctors cry too “a documentary has been broadcasted multiple times on CBC TV and has become a mandatory component of the first-year medicine curriculum in all universities across Quebec. She has presented over 50 conferences around Canada for the last 2 years with the collaboration of CMA (the Canadian medical association) to present her workshop on mental health of doctors. Her latest documentary BEAUTTIFUL DIFFERENCE (TV5 Television will broadcast it in 2020) breaks the taboo of autism and explains the challenges of autistic teenagers and their place in our society. She is currently working on a research project at McGill University on anxiety among teenagers and the impact as a of art as a treatment which will also be filmed as her next documentary in April 2021 . Among many other achievements, Dr. Hejazi is the recipient of the prestigious Diamond Jubilee Medal from Queen ELIZABETH II for her 15 years of volunteer work at Shield of Athena which is a shelter for family violence.
Luis Villegas
Green Filmmaker & Film Editor
Luis Villegas is a passionate content director and storyteller with 12+ years of experience, in which he has focused on leading, creating, and managing conscious media and marketing solutions for global brands and projects focused on social impact, sustainability, and innovation.
In recent years, he has focused his work on activism, scientific dissemination, social responsibility, and environmental defense. Film Director and editor of 3 feature documentaries, a few short films, and several multi-platform digital campaigns. Founder of PAVOREAL FILMS, a production company focused on sharing stories that highlight the values of different cultures and analyze the complex social and environmental reality of the world.
Luis Villegas is a part of the team behind “EXPEDICIÓN TRIBUGÁ”, a documentary film that became a social movement, where a group of artists, scientists, conservationists, and inhabitants of the Colombian pacific community join forces seeking to protect one of the most biodiverse areas on the planet: The Tribugá Gulf in Colombia; threatened by the construction of what was projected to be the country’s second seaport. The film premiered online for 2 weeks, reaching more than 200k views, more than half a million visits on the website, and gathering around 25k organic followers on the IG account; where the topic became a focus of attention for many communities worldwide. Thanks to this movement, the construction of the port has been put aside for now, and more and more people are joining the conversation towards finding the best development model for the local communities.
He has been certified as a Green Filmmaker, seeking to prioritize the application of the principles of sustainable filmmaking to all the production I’m involved in, looking to reduce the carbon footprint by changing work practices.
Mike Douglas
Professional Skier, Producing/Director, & Environmental Advocate
Known as the ‘Godfather Of Freeskiing’, Mike Douglas is consistently listed by media outlets
as one of the most influential skiers of all time. He began his career as a mogul skier on the Canadian Freestyle Ski Team in the early 1990s. In 1997, he developed the first high-performance twin-tip ski, the Salomon Teneighty, and his freeskiing career was launched. Dubbed the New Canadian Air Force, Mike and his crew of Canadians revolutionized the sport with their tricks at ski resorts across the globe. He even has a signature tick – the D Spin. Mike has ap-
peared in more than 50 ski films, was named Powder Magazine’s ‘Male Skier Of The Year’ in 2003, and was the voice of skiing at the X Games for 14 years.
In 2004, Mike founded Switchback Entertainment – a video production company specializing in outdoor adventure films and commercials. He launched the groundbreaking web series, Salomon TV, in 2007 and has produced/directed more than a dozen award-winning films including The Freedom Chair, Tempting Fear, Eclipse, Snowman, Guilt Trip and Fountain Of Youth.
From 1997-2017 his roll as a marketing consultant and ambassador for Whistler Blackcomb helped propel the organization to the top of the ski resort rankings. He has been named ‘Favourite Whistlerite’ 7 times by the readers of Whistler’s local newspaper, Pique News magazine.
Today, Mike is a married father of two, and splits his time between raising his family, skiing professionally, producing/directing films and commercials at Switchback Entertainment, and environmental advocacy work. He is currently the Board Chair for Protect Our Winters Canada – an environmental group focused on fighting climate change. He is also on the Board of Directors for the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation.
You can find him on social media at:
Instagram: @mikedski
Twitter: @mikedski
Facebook.com/mikedouglas
Sashko Danylenko
Filmmaker, Visual Storyteller, Illustrator & Media Artist
Sashko Danylenko is a Ukrainian filmmaker, visual storyteller, illustrator, and multimedia artist. He directed many animated music videos for Ukrainian bands. Sashko combines folk and contemporary styles, nature and digital in his works.
Based in the US, Sashko works with animadoc projects for TED, The School of Life, TOPIC, Ukrainian Institute of America, and many more. Many films by Sashko Danylenko went viral on the web; a lot of them were part of international film festivals.
Andi White
Collaborator, Nature Enthusiast, & Public Servant
Andi grew up in a small community in coastal Nova Scotia that fostered her deep love for natural spaces and the species that inhabit them. With nearly 20 years of experience at the federal level conducting scientific research and bridging the science-policy interface, she is currently playing a leadership role in Canada’s contribution to the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science — connecting like-minded people and organizations to catalyze ocean science collaborations.
Andi is also passionate about advancing gender equity and inspiring youth and early career science professionals to become the next generation of environmental leaders. She currently lives lakeside in the forest in Kazabazua, Québec.
Lynnette Kissoon
Actor, Writer, Facilitator, & Mom
Lynnette Kissoon was born in Trinidad and Tobago and moved to Toronto, Canada at age 10. Her uncle, Freddie Kissoon, introduced Lynnette to acting in Trinidad where she did print and radio ads.
Lynnette continued her passion for acting in Canada and worked behind-the-scenes for several independent films in Toronto and Montreal. She has a B.Sc. (University of Toronto), a teaching degree (McGill University), a Masters of Arts for Teachers (University of Toronto and OISE) and a Certificate of Adult and Continuing Education (University of Victoria).
Lynnette has also lived in Japan, Saudi Arabia and South Carolina, USA. She moved to Victoria, British Columbia in 2005 where she worked as a public servant, writing coach, university instructor, writer and actor.
In the past decade, she has emerged as a climate and housing activist, and a human rights advocate. She sees the world through rights based intersectional lenses as a woman of colour immigrant who has worked with Indigenous organizations, communities and people.
She now balances working in documentary and narrative film and TV with her family and other passions in her life.
Gary Prendergast
Cinematographer & Director
Gary Prendergast was a cameraman for CBC for 30 years. Since then, he has made many independent films primarily on Vancouver Island that focus on environmental and cultural themes. Born in B.C., the birthplace of Greenpeace, he is grateful to be in a region of the world that has not been severely industrialized. The British Columbia Environmental Film Festival can be a vital tool to communicate the importance of the stewardship of Nature, vital for the health and well-being of the planet.
Cam MacArthur
Filmmaker & Cinematographer
Cam is an award winning documentary filmmaker who has found his niche in conservation/natural history storytelling. He has had the pleasure of working with some of the most influential names in conservation and his latest documentary won “Best Canadian Documentary” at the BC Environmental Film Fest. Through this work he has also cut his teeth as a cinematographer and editor. Cam’s inspiration as a filmmaker comes from the environment he is in and this often comes through in his work- nature is the true artist!
Essy Niknejad
Director & Producer
Essy Niknejad, in his 30 years of Hollywood experience, including director, producer, line producer, director of photography, supervising post production. He has worked on numerous projects for major studios such as Paramount, Sony-Colombia, Warner Brothers and Networks including; NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, Showtime and Movie channels. His education, BA, MFA, Ph.D. in Directing Film and Video.
David Hands
Filmmaker & Cinematographer
With a career spanning over 30 years, David Hands is a award winning Director, Cinematographer, and Editor of documentaries and short fiction films. He is a partner in the production company Crewhouse Media, a part-time lecturer at the University of Nicosia and a training consultant for Thomson Foundation.
He began his career as a professional photographer before joining a production company and working as a Director of Photography for commercials. At the age of 24, he moved into news and documentaries as a freelance cameraman/editor, working for ABC News (US) during the Bosnian war. Since then he has covered major news stories and documentaries in East and Central Africa, the Middle East and Europe mostly for the BBC, Reuters, WTN, UNICEF, Swiss, Dutch and German TV amongst others. Since 2006 he has been producing and directing short films and documentaries while still retaining his true passion of being behind the camera and has worked on a number of international documentaries in Cyprus, the Middle East, North Europe, North and South America.
In Cyprus he produced a number of bi-communal films aiming to breach the gap between the two communities of Cyprus. This work also led to him to his academic dissertation entitled “Challenges faced by a producer in bi-communal settings” and in 2012, he was awarded a Master’s Degree in Film and Video Production from Cambridge School of Art, Anglia Ruskin University.
He is a founder member of the Cyprus Wildlife Society and the Mediterranean Turtle Research and Conservation Society (MEDTRACS) and president of the International Children’s Film Festival of Cyprus.