The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) and The Slaight Family Foundation have chosen five composers and songwriters for the 2023 Slaight Music Residency.

This is the 11th year of the six-month program, which integrates music creators into the onscreen storytelling process and furthers opportunities for them to work in film, TV and digital.

Of this year’s participants, two are based in Vancouver — Amine Bouzaher and Conan “Con the Artist” Karpinski; two are based in Toronto — Lydia Ainsworth and Stella Conway; and Tori Morrison is from Amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton).

Bouzaher is a classically trained multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer from Algeria. He’s toured and performed with Vancouver-based musical group I M U R and created music for a variety of film, TV and stage content.

Karpinski is a South African multi-instrumentalist, composer, songwriter and director. He’s the lead singer-songwriter of Canadian rock band Soul Push as well as an acoustic folk artist and record producer. He composed original music for 2021 feature film Portraits from a Fire, directed by Trevor Mack.

Ainsworth is a singer, composer and producer whose debut album Right from Real was nominated for a Juno Award and shortlisted for the Polaris Prize. She’s released two more albums since and had her tune Earth Song used in an episode of Stranger Things‘ third season.

Conway is an interdisciplinary performer and musician who’s toured nationally as the musical director and accompanist for drag artist Pearle Harbour. Their performance art/installation project “Twin Mask” has created works for several theatres and Pride Toronto.

Morrison is a sound designer, composer, technician, producer and creator. She is the executive director and artistic producer of theatre company Tiny Bear Jaws, and coproduces live and digital work with writer David Gagnon Walker as Strange Victory Performance.

The Slaight Music Residency runs through June and will see the participants go through tailored mentorship, workshops and industry sessions.

Previous participants have included Simon Poole (Black Ice, Overlord and the Underwoods); Kaia Kater (The Porter); Casey MQ (Soft, The White Fortress); TiKA (Faith Heist, Learn to Swim); Ben Fox (Stateless, One of Ours); Todor Kobakov (Brother, The Unsolved Murder of Beverly Lynn Smith); and Lora Bidner, a 2022 Emmy nominee (Children’s & Family Awards) for Ruby and the Well.

Photo courtesy of the CFC; L-R, top to bottom: Amine Bouzaher, Tori Morrison, Conan Karpinski, Lydia Ainsworth, Stella Conway.