Shasha Nakhai | Founder & Co-President
Shasha is a Filipino-Iranian director and producer based in Toronto. She grew up in Port Harcourt, Nigeria before moving to Canada as an international student in 2003.
Her body of work has aired on the BBC, CBC, ZDF, and Arte; screened at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA); been nominated for 16 Canadian Screen Awards; named TIFF’s Top 10; and shortlisted for an Oscar.
She is an alumna of TMU’s Journalism Program, TIFF’s Talent Accelerator, Berlinale’s EFM Toolbox, Hot Docs Accelerator, WIFT’s Ubisoft Toronto Producer Mentorship, the DOC Institute Breakthrough Program, and the Reel World Film Festival’s Emerging 20.
She is a member of the Director’s Guild of Canada (DGC) and the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television (ACCT).
Shasha is repped by Great North Artists in Canada, and Echo Lake Entertainment in the US.
When she isn’t making movies, she is an avid gardener and yogi, and fan of all things horror and kawaii.
Rich Williamson | Founder & Co-President
Rich is a writer and director with over a decade of experience as an editor and cinematographer. His work blends the best of fiction and documentary technique with a focus on social-issue subjects.
His body of work over the last 15 years include the Oscar-shortlisted FRAME 394 and the TIFF breakout hit SCARBOROUGH, adapted from the novel by Catherine Hernandez.
He is an alumna of TMU’s Image Arts Film Program, the Reykjavik International Film Festival’s Talent Lab and the Canadian Film Centre’s Cineplex Entertainment Film Program.
He is a member of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television (ACCT) and the Canadian Cinema Editors (CCE) guild.
Rich is repped by Great North Artists in Canada, and Echo Lake Entertainment in the US.
In his spare time, he also creates fan trailers and mashup edits for his YouTube channel, Flash Sideways, which has been featured in The Hollywood Reporter, AV Club, Slashfilm, Screenrant, Gizmodo, Mashable, Collider and Nerdist.
Kenya-Jade Pinto | Head of Marketing & Distribution
Kenya-Jade Pinto is an Indo-Kenyan-Canadian documentary photographer, filmmaker, and lawyer. She grew up chasing crabs on the Kenyan coast, before moving to Alberta’s foothills as a teen. Her hyphenated worldview informs her work where she focuses on non-fiction and narrative projects that navigate themes of displacement, belonging, and access to justice.
Kenya-Jade blends her creative eye with thoughtful precision, and most recently supported Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson as an associate producer on Scarborough – all the way to the Toronto International Film Festival and beyond.
Kenya-Jade’s training as a human rights lawyer has deepened her practice as a documentarian on projects like Not Yet Home, Level Justice, and more recently, The Sandbox. She has participated in DOC Institute’s Breakthrough Program as well as HotDocs’ Emerging Filmmaker Program. She’s the filmmaker-in-residence at York University’s Refugee Law Lab, and in 2021, she was named a National Geographic Explorer. She is currently directing her first documentary feature with frequent collaborators, Compy Films.
Stephanie de Bem | Production Manager
Stephanie "Sherlock" de Bem graduated from the Image Arts: Film Studies program at Toronto Metropolitan University in 2019. She specializes in producing, production managing/coordinating, and locations managing. Upon graduating, Stephanie has freelanced for several Toronto production companies including Compy Films, Storyline Entertainment, Scarborough Pictures, Visitor Media, and Great Pacific Media.
Stephanie’s producing work includes her short films: Your Mileage May Vary, which was aired on the CBC in August 2018; Fish Out of Water, which won "People's Choice Award" and "Best Child Performance" at the Toronto Metropolitan University Film Festival; The Next Right; and Not Just For The Nerds.
Steph became a member of the Academy Of Canadian Cinema & Television after being awarded a membership through Toronto Metropolitan University and Boat Rocker Media's partnership program which awards promising film students opportunities in the entertainment industry. She has also won four film-related scholarships: the Universal Studios Scholarship in Filmmaking, the HSBC Best 4th Year Producer, and two Norman Jewison Filmmaker Awards.