I am a documentary film producer based in Toronto. My passion is for film projects which explore issues of inequality and social justice, and which encourage audiences to view their world through a constructively critical and creatively unique lens.

 

Aside from documentary films, I am also beginning to explore the worlds of narrative, animated and radio producing. I want to expand my horizons and explore other compelling ways of reaching audiences through storytelling.

 

"Ay naku" is a phrase very familiar to Filipinos. It is one of the few Tagalog words I grew up hearing spoken around me that I actually understood. It means "oh my!" or "oh my g--!" and is always uttered with a great deal of emotion.  It is very versatile and can express surprise, shock, dismay, delight, and so on.

 

My goal is for the stories I am involved in to create genuinely emotional, human reactions in audiences. I believe that the best way to get people to care about what is going on in the world around them, the best way for people to understand the experiences of others, is to tell a moving story about specific characters. If you are deeply moved by the lives of the people whose story you have just watched and heard, then we the storytellers have done our job.

 

 

MY FILM PRODUCING BIO

 

I began working at Storyline Entertainment in 2007, and then started working as a freelance producer since 2013. I have applied my background in finance, community media and grassroots activism to my role as Producer and Associate Producer on numerous documentaries.

 

My first feature length documentary was Herman’s House. It won a News and Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Arts & Culture Programming and was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award: the Donald Brittain Award for Best Social/ Political Documentary. Directed by Angad Singh Bhalla, Herman’s House played at True/False, Full Frame and Hot Docs in 2012, was broadcast on the PBS documentary series POV, and on documentary channel in Canada. We produced the film in association with the Ford Foundation JustFilms Initiative and were supported by many funders, film festivals and institutes, including the Sundance Institute, Tribeca Film Institute, the Ontario Arts Council and IFP.

 

My second feature documentary Migrant Dreams was directed by award-winning filmmaker Min Sook Lee. It world premiered at Hot Docs 2016, where it was a Top Ten Audience Favourite, and screened at DOXA where it received honorable mention for the Colin Low Award for Canadian Documentary. It will be broadcast on TVO and OMNI, and was picked up for distribution in Canada by Cinema Politica.

 

Also just launched into the world is Shadow Girl, directed by Maria Teresa Larrain. Shadow Girl world premiered at Docs Barcelona and then screened in its home town Santiago, Chile at SANFIC Festival Internacional de Chile. The film was also selected as one of the films to be screened in more than 70 communities across Spain as part of Docs Barcelona's Del Mes/ Documentary of the Month distribution program.

 

My other credits include Producer on Resilience: Stories of Single Black Mothers (OMNI), and Associate Producer on The World Before Her (PBS POV, TIFF Canada's Top 10, CSA Best Feature Length Documentary, News and Documentary Emmy nomination), Lone Twin (IDFA, CSA Best Documentary Program), The Market (IDFA, CSA Donald Brittain Award for Best Social/ Political Documentary) and The Real Inglorious Bastards (History, CSA Best History Documentary). I was the Production Manager on My Toxic Baby (Global, TIFF) and It's A Teen's World (CBC), and Studio Administrator on Tiger Spirit (History, Hot Docs) and Secret of the Snake Goddess (History). My first two short films, Borderless and Sedition, were both directed by award-winning filmmaker, Min Sook Lee.

 

I am currently Executive Producing Laila At The Bridge, directed by Gulistan and Elissa Mirzaei and supported by the IDFA Bertha Fund, and producing the short narrative film But, Beautiful by Sharon Lewis.