Women in the Director’s Chair (WIDC) has selected eight participants for this year’s Story and Leadership program.

The program, which is presented in collaboration with Whistler Film Festival (WFF) and delivered in a hybrid format for the first time since the pandemic, is aimed at supporting mid-career women directors develop their feature film, television or web series projects. The program is divided in four parts and delivered across four months.

This year’s cohort includes four participants from British Columbia, three from Ontario and one from Quebec.

The B.C.-based participants include Amy Bohigian, who is developing a sketch comedy series titled Southern Interior; Jenny Lee-Gilmore with the coming-of-age feature film Mixed Feelings; Sunny Mohajer with the feature Becoming Odella; and Giselle Miller with the feature drama Sweet Plantain.

Mohajer will be pitching Becoming Odella in the WFF Power Pitch later this month, while Miller was selected for the WFF Screenwriter program earlier this year for a separate project.

The three Ontario-based participants are Marjan Hashemi with the dark comedy film After Love; Shelly Hong with her debut feature Canadian Hanguk; and Yasmine Mathurin with the feature Sorry Pardon Madame.

Quebec-based Marielle Quesney rounds out this year’s cohort, and is developing the horror feature Lunaris.

In the the first segment, which is virtual and started on Nov. 9, the directors will work with story and leadership development experts, including ACTRA actors and ICG Cinematographers, who will workshop excerpts from the participants original scripts.

For the second part of the program, the participants will travel to the WFF for an in-person Industry Immersion, which is sponsored by Warner Bros. Discovery Access Canada and provides access to master classes, artist talks, one-to-ones and WFF’s Women In Focus series.

Roundtables and individuals meetings with industry experts from Telefilm Canada, Bell Media, CBC Films, the Independent Production Fund (IPF), Creative BC, and others, are also included

During the third and four parts, directors will continue to develop their scripts with screenwriter and story consultant Karen Walton and their strategic career plans with Dr. Carol Whiteman, WIDC’s co-creator and producer.

Mentorships during the program will be led and facilitated by Whiteman. This year’s mentors include Walton and director Nimisha Mukerji.

WIDC receives financial support from Telefilm, while Story and Leadership is also supported by ACTRA National, UBCP/ACTRA, AFBS, the IPF, and Creative BC.

This year’s WFF takes place in-person from Nov. 29 to Dec. 3, and online until Dec. 15.

Photo courtesy of Women in the Director’s Chair