Vancouver-based Women in the Director’s Chair (WIDC) has set the 2024-25 cohort for its four-part Story & Leadership program.

The program focuses on the development of live-action fiction projects for mid-career women directors.

Five of the participants are based in Toronto. They are director and actor Dani Kind (Workin’ Moms), bringing her dark comedy series with the working title How to Leave Your Husband; filmmaker Jessica Hinkson (Sara) who is developing her first feature Concrete Marshmallow (C’mon Mort Productions); and writer, producer, director and professor Susan Bayani (Papa Sierra), bringing her feature drama Good News.

Rounding out the Toronto selections is writer and director Lu Asfaha (Sight), bringing her feature debut They Echo; and Kristina Mileska’s (Asteroid) feature debut, Summer 2002.

Two remaining directors and their projects are based in Vancouver: Rachel Rose (Are You Hungry?), with her feature drama Little Booms, based on her short film of the same name; and Pilled, a drama series from BANFF Spark Accelerator for Women in Media alumna Tamara Black (D1GG3R).

The last member is Montreal-based filmmaker Christina Katsiadakis (In the Fishbowl) with her feature Panoptikon.

The program begins with the cohort workshopping their scripts with a cast of ACTRA and UCPB/ACTRA actors alongside mentors and guests such as Dr. Rita Shelton Deverell, co-founder of Vision TV; actors Lori Triolo (Riverdale) and Veena Sood (Children Ruin Everything); and cinematographers Kim Derko (What We Do In the Shadows) and Sylvaine Dufaux (Solo: A Star Wars Story).

The cohort, as part of an Industry Immersion with the Whistler Film Festival (WFF), will attend WFF from Dec. 4 to 8. Supported by Warner Bros. Discovery Access Canada, they will meet with industry players such as Telefilm Canada, CBC Films, Bell Media and the Independent Production Fund, along with directors and producers.

The final phases of the program have the cohort spend a month in one-on-one story consultations with writer, producer, director and actor Sherry White (Pretty Hard Cases) followed by three months of career coaching with producer and WIDC co-creator Dr. Carol Whiteman (With Love and a Major Organ).

Joining White and Whiteman in mentor-director roles is author and filmmaker Dr. Jules Arita Koostachin (Angela’s Shadow).

Image courtesy of WIDC; pictured (L-R): (Top) Dani Kind, Susan Bayani, Jessica Hinkson and Lu Asfaha (Bottom) Rachel Rose, Kristina Mileska, Tamara Black and Christina Katsiadakis