Producers

Sarah Spring

 

Sarah Spring is the founder and president of Parabola Films and sits on the board of Doc Quebec. She produced the feature documentaries Roadsworth: Crossing the Line about notorious Montreal street artist Roadsworth, and H2Oil about the battle over Alberta’s tar sands. Sarah also produced the 16mm dance short Transfert and the music video The Lamb for Montreal singer/songwriter Little Scream. In 2011, Sarah produced À St-Henri, le 26 août in which sixteen filmmakers simultaneously documented stories taking place in the Montreal neighbourhood over the course of a single day. Sarah’s films have shown nationally on Bravo!, Télé-Québec, Canal D, and Global, and internationally on the Sundance Channel and Discovery; in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada, and at festivals all over the world.

Selin Murat

Selin Murat is a producer at Parabola Films and À St-Henri, le 26 août is her first feature project. She has produced and directed several short films including The Lamb with Montreal artist Little Scream and Ginseng Empire that premiered at Big Sky Documentary Festival in 2010 in competition for best mini-doc. Selin previously worked with the film collective Loaded Pictures, managing award-winning productions like Roadsworth: Crossing the Line and H2Oil.

Directors

Shannon Walsh

Shannon Walsh is a Canadian filmmaker and writer based in Montreal. Her first feature documentary, H2Oil, was recognized as one of the top ten independent documentaries of 2009 for its urgent and poignant telling of the human and environmental devastation caused by Alberta’s tar sands. Her second feature documentary, “À St-Henri, le 26 août”, brought sixteen filmmakers together over the course of one day to uncover the complexity and contradictions of everyday life in a Montreal neighbourhood. Underlying all her work is a focus on social justice and collaboration. Walsh has a background in popular education and ethnography, and received a PhD from McGill University in 2010.

Laura Bari

Originally from Argentina and fascinated by the intersection between the arts and expression, self-taught filmmaker Laura Bari currently resides in Montreal. She chose film as a way to merge the themes of art, education and mental health. Antoine, her first full-length documentary, was shown at some thirty festivals around the world, winning the DocTape Award (RIDM), the Lindalee Tracey Award, First special jury prize in Athens, Honorific Prize for Best Experimental Documentary at Docupolis, Special Jury Award at the San Diego Asian Film Festival, and the Talent Dove of the Medie Foundation of the Sparkasse Leipzig at DOK Leipzig.

Pablo Alvarez-Mesa

Born in Medellin, Colombia, Pablo Alvarez-Mesa studied Design Engineering and Photography before moving to Canada to pursue his post secondary education in Film Production at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, BC. Since finishing his BFA, he has produced and directed various short films that have played at international film festivals throughout the world.  His most recent documentary, Jelena’s Song, produced by the National Film Board was awarded with the Pierre and Yolanda Perrault award at the RVCQ in Montreal. His interest in documentary lies in the relationship between fact and fiction; between what is recalled and what is inevitably constructed. His short films all touch in one way or another issues of displacement, history and collective memory. Pablo now resides in Montreal, Quebec where he is currently a Film Production MFA candidate at Concordia University.

Halima Elkhatabi

Halima received the Prix de la Relève Via le Monde at the International Pan African Festival for her short film “Demain peut-être” and was presented in various festivals in Canada and Europe. She also wrote the short fiction films “Une image de toi” and “La Barricade” produced by l’Inis. The latter received Ciné-Québec’s Pioneers of Cinema Bursary as well as the prize for Best Short Fiction Film in the 13+ category at the International Youth Cinema Festival in Rimouski.
In 2010, she worked with Bazzo Bazzo Productions as co-writer for the documentary “Crée-moi, crée-moi pas”. Furthermore, Halima was a unit director for the feature documentary “À St-Henri le 26 août” which was co-produced by the NFB and Parabola Films.