Special Guests

Janine Windolph

We will also be welcoming our special guest, Janine Windolph with a curated screening of their work “Our Maternal Home” (Regina Premiere) and “Stories Are in Our Bones” (2020) followed by a Q&A session.

Janine Windolph (Atikamekw/Woodland Cree) is the Director of Indigenous Arts at Banff Centre Arts and Creativity.

Windolph is known as an Interdisciplinary artist: filmmaker educator, curator, and storyteller. She has a Master of Fine Arts Interdisciplinary in Indigenous Fine Arts and Media Production. She is currently the Writer in Residency for the University of Winnipeg.

Filmography includes Stories Are In Our Bones (Director/Writer) Lifegivers: Honouring Our Elders and Children (Director/Writer), The Land of Rock and Gold (Director/Writer/Producer), Ayapiyâhk ôma niyanân “Only us, we are here at home” (Production Mentor/Narrator), From Up North (Producer), The Beacon Project: Stories of Qu’Appelle Valley (Production Support/Storyteller /Producer), and RIIS from Amnesia: Recovering the Lost Legacies (Co-Director and Co-Producer).

Aaron Sinclair

Aaron Sinclair is a filmmaker based in Regina, Saskatchewan. His work focuses on eye-catching aesthetics and compelling stories. His career includes many modes of creation including music videos, short films, commercial work, documentary and photography. No matter where in the world he is, there is probably a camera within reach and a story on his mind.

Notable Works Include:

The Wild (2023) – Director & Writer. Feature Film.

Awake (2024) – Director & Producer. Experimental Series.

Crush by Ben Sefton (2022) – Director. Official Music Video.

She’s Gone by The Pxrtals (2022) – Director. Official Music Video.

Destiny Takes The Lead (2022) – Director. CBC Mini-doc.

Table For One by Megan Nash (2021) – Director. Official Music Video.

Jury

Alex Rogalski

Alex Rogalski is the Senior Canadian Programmer for Hot Docs and has been working with the festival since 2010. His programming career has focused on documentary and Canadian cinema for festivals across the country including TIFF, Calgary International Film Festival, Human Rights Watch, Victoria Film Festival, Gimme Some Truth and others. His films have screened at Artifact Film Festival, Dawson City International Short film Festival, Images and 8 Fest. He holds a Masters in Communication and Culture and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in film from the University of Regina. He's written for POV magazine and recently published in Landscape of Moving Images - a compendium of Prairie Cinema.

Chrystene Ells

Chrystene Ells is a director, visual artist, and animator. She grew up on an Alberta cattle ranch before moving to San Francisco in 1986, where she made practical special effects for film and animation, working on The Nightmare Before Christmas and for George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic, among others. Over two decades she built models, creatures and puppets, storyboarded, created concept art, and directed a number of theatrical productions and films.

Dianne Ouellette

Dianne Ouellette (she/her) identifies as Métis and is of mixed European ancestry. Her indigenous ancestry comes from Canyon Creek, Lesser Slave, and Lac la Biche (Alberta). She currently resides on Treaty 4 Territory. She is a producer, writer, director, multimedia artist and curator. She completed her MFA in Media Production (2020). She is also a Sessional instructor and a Communications Specialist at the University of Regina. Dianne’s current films focus on family, lost culture, and language, aen loo pawatamihk (wolf dream) (2020) and a short film, lii bufloo aen loo kishkishiw (buffalo wolf memory) (2022).