Future of Film Names Two
Staff Editors
(March 13, 2023 – Toronto, ON) The Future of Film Showcase (FOFS) has made two key appointments as they begin to ramp up for their 10th annual festival this May. Pictured left to right above, Kim Christmas becomes Chief Operating Officer and Samantha Summers, who is Manager Individual Giving at the Toronto International Film Festival, joins the FOFS Advisory Board.
Summers joins returning board members Paige Murray, Executive in Charge of Development, Drama, CBC; Samah Ali, Founder, Sisterhood Media; Shant Joshi, President, Fae Pictures; and Jenn Kuzmyk, Executive Director and Publisher, BANFF World Media Festival. FOFS gratefully acknowledges the significant contributions and guiding vision of board member Ravi Srinivasan, International Programmer, Canada at TIFF, who passed away in January 2023.
Kim Christmas brings more than 17 years of professional experience in the areas of change and project management, people management, and service development. She is Prosci® Change Management Certified, and has years of hands-on project management experience, including full-cycle projects. Kim has experience supporting and leading organizational learning and development initiatives. She holds Master’s degrees in English Literature and Language, and Library and Information Science.
The Festival’s milestone 10th edition will take place May 18th – 21st, with a hybrid of virtual and in-person events connecting veteran industry professionals with emerging talent nationwide. The newly expanded Festival will once again hold screenings at the Scotiabank Theatre in Toronto, opening with a Canadian shorts programme and closing with a debut feature film from a Canadian director. The FOFS programming team grows this year with the additions of Associate Programmers Winnie Wang, C.J. Prince and Andres Herrera, joining Director of Programming Zac Goldkind, who has been with the Festival since 2018.
“Over the past nine years it’s been a true privilege to work alongside the amazing team at FOFS that has helped cement our Festival as a launch pad for emerging Canadian filmmakers,” said Eric Bizzarri, CEO of the Future of Film Showcase. “This is an exciting time of growth for the organization and our leadership team is dedicated to fostering the next generation of storytellers.”
FOFS is funded by Telefilm Canada, the DGC Ontario, Canada Media Fund and the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA). FOFS is a Canadian Screen Award qualifying Festival.
Click here for a link to our May Film Festival listings.
SOURCE: Future of Film Showcase
PHOTOS: Courtesy of Future of Film Showcase
