RIFFA Screenwriters Fellowship

Christin Hanly is a Screenwriter and Script Coordinator based in Calgary, AB where she has worked on shows such as Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, Joe Pickett, Wynonna Earp and Fortunate Son. Christin grew up in Saskatchewan and brings her unique perspective and prairie humour to the projects she writes.

Marz Gebhardt is a recent 2022 graduate from the University of Regina, after completing an Honours English degree with a minor in history. Her undergraduate thesis and research focused upon the Sonderkommando of the Holocaust in terms of literary and photographic testimonial evidence. Marz is currently pursuing a screenwriting diploma at the Toronto Film School, and she works with RIFFA’s Marketing and Communications team as the Social Media Manager.

James Boswell is an emerging filmmaker/writer located in the heart of Saskatoon. He writes with a focus on bringing characters to life with the goal of making them unforgettable. James hopes to refine and publish his completed works in the near future.

PANELISTS

Lioz Bouganin
Lioz Bouganin is an award-winning film and television producer and writer. Lioz’s programs have aired on several networks including CBC, Rogers, YesTV, SCN and APTN. Lioz is the producer and co-writer of the popular children’s animated series, Louis Says, which airs in Canada on APTN, Citytv and YesTV. Winner of Golden Sheaf for Best Children’s & Youth Production, Louis Says is available on a number of streaming platforms including Lumi and YouTube. Other recent projects include the animated mini-series Sonny’s World which aired on CityTv as well as executive producing the TeleFilm funded feature film Mercy which had its world premiere at the 2020 Whistler Film Festival.

His documentary credits include the documentary series Reclaiming Our Education and People that Changed Lives (APTN, SCN) and the films Jim Brady: In the Footsteps of the Metis Leader (APTN, SCN) and Under the Skin: Drugs, Dreams and Demons (CBC, SCN) for which Lioz won the prestigious Golden Sheaf Best of Saskatchewan award.

Lioz continues to develop film and TV projects in a variety of genres including feature film, scripted series, animation, and factual entertainment through his Regina-based entertainment company, Landslide Entertainment. The company is committed to diversity and gender equality as many of their shows are led by women and BIPOC individuals in key creative positions. Current productions include two animated series, Indigrams (APTN, CMF) and Max Velocity (CMF, Shaw Rocket Fund) with co-producer Arcana Studio. Lioz represents his company at markets all over the world.

Recently he was a part of Team Canada Trade Mission to South Korea where he met with leading local audiovisual companies. Lioz is the former president and current board member of SMPIA (Saskatchewan Media Production Industry Association). He is a University of Regina alumni having graduated with distinction from the faculty of Media, Arts and Performance. He is also a member of Youth Media Alliance (YMA) and a voting member of the Academy.

Joanne McDonald
Joanne McDonald is an award-winning broadcast executive with well over 20 years of experience in the Canadian media industry. As Citytv Saskatchewan’s General Manager and part of the Original Production team at Rogers Sports and Media, she is involved in all aspects of television from operations to programming. Starting at SCN (Saskatchewan Communications Network) when the world was 4:3, she and her team have helped bring hundreds of hours of independently produced content from Saskatchewan and beyond to screens and viewers around the world. She leads our provincial educational broadcaster with deep working knowledge in areas such as CRTC/regulatory compliance, funding agencies, curriculum content and partnerships, program development, production, acquisition, scheduling, traffic, and so on.

Joanne helps independent producers tell their stories from pitch to premiere, and all stops in between.

When she’s not running a TV station, you can find her volunteering for arts and cultural organizations. Her parents were proud that she received a Queens Platinum Jubilee Medal for her work in the community. At present, she is Co-Chair of the Yorkton Film Festival, and Past President and current board director for SaskCulture. She also gets to vote as a member of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television and belongs to Women in Communications and Technology. In the past, she was on the board of SMPIA and was a member of the Saskatchewan Arts Board’s Creative Industries Advisory Committee. In her other spare time, she likes to make jelly salads, pull weeds in the garden and- (of course) watch TV.

Anand Ramayya
Combining a passion for inclusive stories and original voices, KarmaFilm founder Anand Ramayya has built an impressive, twenty-year track record as a BIPOC and equity seeking producer with over 80 hours of content notably Our Big Punjabi Family (2023), Donkeyhead (2022) & the groundbreaking stop motion series Wapos Bay receiving over 40 awards including five Geminis (two Canada Awards for excellence in diversity), a Canadian Screen Award (six nominations), a Kidscreen Award and most recently the 2023 SERIES FEST award for Best International Comedy Pilot.

As a creator of content Ramayya has written and directed numerous award-winning documentaries including Cosmic Current, Mad Cow Sacred Cow, Who Killed Gandhi? and the award winning series Landing: Stories from the Cultural Divide.

Ramayya has over 24 years of service to the industry, is past president of the Saskatchewan Motion Picture Association, an alumni of NSI, Strategic Partners and the CFC and sits on several Canadian and international juries. In 2020 Ramayya was also honoured with the Reelworld TRAILBLAZER AWARD which recognizes diverse Canadian pioneers in the entertainment industry and was most recently recognized by the Canadian film production community with the CMPA Indiescreen 2022 Established Producer Award. Ramayya is a member of SMPIA, the CMPA National Board of Directors and the ACE Producers Network.

Embracing shifts in production methodology, Ramayya is also a majority partner in Volume Global Technology SK Inc. working with Volume Global LLC in the field of cutting-edge volume design and training to establish a world class Virtual Production facility housed in the John Hopkins Regina Sound Stage located in Regina, Saskatchewan.