Eight women directors have been selected for the 2024 spring/summer edition of the Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) Career Advancement Module (CAM).

The program provides training and mentorship for mid-career filmmakers, primarily in scripted content development. It is presented in collaboration with GEMFest (formerly Vancouver International Women in Film Festival) and Toronto’s Female Eye Film Festival, with the support of Telefilm Canada.

The cohort for this edition includes Toronto-based Korean and Jewish writer-director Jordana Allen-Shim, who is developing the feature-length rom-com Gay Marriage.

Also hailing from Toronto is Macedonian-Canadian filmmaker Kristina Mileska, developing her debut coming-of-age feature Summer 2002, and Lebanese-Canadian writer-director Karel Malkoun, developing the fantasy drama Wildernesses.

Toronto and L.A.-based filmmakers Hannah Cheesman and Emily Coutts were selected for their respective projects, genre feature The Door (working title), and the comedy Rosebud.

Selected Vancouver-based filmmakers include Tricia Collins with drama feature Clinch and Jinjara Mitchell with the feature Last Summer, based on her recently completed debut short The Ornament.

Elizabeth Hicks, based in St. John’s, N.L. and Toronto, rounds out the list of participants with comedy short I Need to Get This Off My Chest, and the comedy feature film Rosella and Bride.

The eight selected directors will take part in workshop sessions aimed at building a strategic career plan during the program, which runs from March to July and coincides with GEMFest and the Female Eye fest. The participants will also receive follow-up career coaching, which extends through summer.

Photos courtesy WIDC