Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Access Canada and the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television (Canadian Academy) have selected 10 directors for the third edition of their directors training initiative.

The WBD Access x Canadian Academy Directors Program connects experienced directors from underrepresented communities with production executives and provides on-set placements for episodic television series.

Of the 10 directors selected, four hail from Toronto: Erskine Forde (Beacon 23), Faran Moradi (Tehranto), Romeo Candido (Gangnam Project) and Tyler Mckenzie Evans (I Live Here).

Additional participants are Montreal’s Anjali Nayar (Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut) and Eva Kabuya (Amours d’occasion); Winnipeg’s Darcy Waite (7th Gen); Vancouver’s Parisa Barani (Human Terrain); Halifax’s Stephanie Joline (Night Blooms); and Surrey, B.C.’s Gigi Saul Guerrero (V/H/S/85).

Participants in the WBD Access x Canadian Academy Directors Program are chosen via a selection process using internal and external reviewers.

The program was established in 2021 to provide directors from Indigenous, Black, racialized and LGBTQ2IA+ communities, as well as those with disabilities, with an opportunity to gain on-set experience. Past shadowing opportunities include the CBC series Allegiance and HBO Max original series The Sex Lives of College Girls.

Pictured (L-R): Anjali Nayar (courtesy of TIFF), Darcy Waite (photo by Armand Bladon), Erskine Forde (photo by Chavis Brown), Faran Moradi (photo by Samuel Engelking), Eva Kabuya (photo by Mallory Lowe Mpoka), Gigi Saul Guerrero (photo by Marcio Moreno), Parisa Barani, Romeo Candido (photo by Caroline Mangosing), Stephanie Joline (photo by Dee Dee Morris Photography) and Tyler Mckenzie Evans (photo by Kristina Dittmar).