Menu Close

2021 Team

2021 Festival Team

Laurel K Brown - Festival Director

Laurel started Cinema Spectacular in 2014 and continues to build it into a stronger, more supportive event each year. She's a local cinematographer, videographer, and camera/lighting technician. After finishing her BFA, Laurel wanted to connect to the Canadian film community and get to know filmmakers living and working within the country. She has a soft spot for animation, small creatures, and ice cream. 

Website - Instagram  -   Facebook  -  Vimeo

 

 

Jessica Seymour - Festival Coordinator

Jess is a film and video Producer specializing in commercial content.   She has experience in all aspects of production, having run her company Focus Pull Productions for many years in both Canada and overseas.   She also produces and works with numerous events and is a founding member of OK Social, an after-work event for people in the creative industries.  She has been a keynote speaker on the creation of high-quality video for your brand and is currently working with new technologies as a means for storytelling. 

2021 Screening Committee

Laura Arboleda

Laura Arboleda was born in Bogota, Colombia and raised in Vancouver. She holds a degree in Film Production from Simon Fraser University. Since graduating, she has continued to direct and produce independent films, while working in BC's film industry. She enjoys working with found footage to make her own experimental films.

Lynn Matheson

Lynn Matheson is a Nova Scotia based filmmaker.

Zoe Hertz

Zoe is a freelance filmmaker based out of Vancouver, BC. She is a Creative Director for a small company in Yaletown, Bigtime Showroom, which is dedicated to helping female entrepreneurs grow and collaborate. She splits her time between this and working as a Teacher Assistant at InFocus Film school. Zoe works on films of all types from music videos to real-estate, but her true passion falls within the realm of documentary work. Zoe acquired a degree in International Relations with a minor in Visual Arts from UBC before switching her focus to film. She remains increasingly interested in the interplay between the world of art and politics and how imagery influences an audience that extends beyond the realm of academia. Zoe’s research and work unpacks how art/film can be used as an instrument to incline people to think more critically about pressing social and political issues. She has spent time living in the Middle-East where she worked, collaborated, filmed and photographed protests and other areas of conflict with freelance journalists and filmmakers from abroad. You can learn more about Zoe’s work abroad and her exhibitions that followed displaying this
work in Vancouver, here.

Sahar Khalaji

Sahar is a Vancouver based producer, camera, and lighting technician who has recently graduated from Capilano University’s Motion Picture Arts Program. She began her career in film and TV working on various types of independent projects. She is thrilled to have returned to the community full-time, while establishing a production company with friends to create more inclusive Canadian content.

Eloane Venkatapen

 

Alexandra Caulfield

Alley Rock Films

Sophia Gelfant

Sophia Gelfant is writer/director born and raised in Vancouver, BC. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Film Studies from the University of Victoria  in 2017. A recent graduate from Capilano University’s Motion Picture Arts program,  she plans to continue making films centered on representation and social change.