Camera provider Panavision has named Johanna Gravelle its managing director for Panavision Canada.

Gravelle joined Panavision Canada in 2017 as national sales manager and has since led its sales teams based in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Halifax. Her new duties as managing director will include overseeing operations as well as leading the camera and optics business throughout Canada, according to a news release. Prior to arriving at Panavision, Gravelle spent 27 years with Kodak in senior sales and marketing roles.

Gravelle’s appointment coincides with the retirement of Panavision Canada SVP and CFO Paul Mason after a 30-year tenure.

Lora Campbell takes helm of ReelAbilities 

ReelAbilities Film Festival Toronto (RAFFTO)  has hired Lora Campbell as artistic director as the eighth annual edition gears up for a return to in-person and online festivities in May. Hailing from Mount Pearl, N.L., Campbell is a Canadian Screen Award-nominated, disabled, trans-nonbinary filmmaker, advocate and educator, according to a news release.

They have spent over a decade creating, writing and directing content ranging from digital to TV series, including Soul Decision Comedy, The Beaverton Digital, Odd Squad and The Fabulous Show with Fay and Fluffy.

Campbell has also worked as a facilitator and mentor at festivals including the Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ film festival and the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival.

RAFFTO 2023 will take place from May 11 to 19 featuring more than 20 Canadian and international short and feature films about Deaf and disability cultures, and by filmmakers and actors with disabilities and/or who are Deaf.

Chase Joynt joins Sundance intensive

Canadian writer and director Chase Joynt was among the creator advisors in The Sundance Institute’s latest Trans Possibilities Intensive. Six transgender storytellers of colour were selected for the second edition of the three-part event, which took place from earlier this week.

Joynt’s feature documentary Framing Agnes, based on studies from Harold Garfinkel’s work with transgender clients at the University of California, had its world premiere at the 2022 Sundance film festival. The doc won the NEXT Audience Award and the NEXT Innovator Award following its premiere.

Regard announces award winners

Seven Quebec projects were among the 14 award-winning short films at Regard, the Saguenay International Short Film Festival.

The festival ran from March 22 to 26 and screened nearly 200 short films with more than $100,000 cash and in-kind support provided through its juried awards, according to a news release.

Charles-Émile Lafrance won the Canadian Grand Prize for his film La trente-deuxième saison while the Jury Prize went to Vincent René-Lortie for Invincible. Both awards were part of the festival’s official competition. Quebec’s Raquel Sancinetti won the Fipresci International Critics’ Prize for the film Madeleine.

In the Parallel Competition, The Shoot No Matter What Award, which recognizes an independent film from Quebec made without financial support, went to Montreal-based director Alexia Roc for the short film Bergen, Norvège. The audience Award for the Parallel Competition was awarded to Jean-Martin Gagnon and Guillaume Harvey for their film Bonne fête le désordre, while director Justine Gauthier took the honour for Best Youth Short Film.

Photo of Johanna Gravelle courtesy of Panavision