Jury
Vicenzo Natali, Director/Screenwriter/Executive Producer
Canadian fantasist director Vincenzo Natali is no stranger to dystopia; each of his three produced features thrusts ordinary human characters into the middle of an inexplicable and darkened future realm governed by seemingly impenetrable logic and follows the subjects as they struggle to come to terms with their environs. Natali burst onto the filmmaking scene in 1997 with his surreal, low-budget sci-fi thriller CUBE followed by CYPHER and NOTHING. He also shot a documentary on Terry Gilliam’s production of the 2005 feature TIDELAND. He then contributed a segment to the 2006 film-à -sketch PARIS JE T’AIME along side The Coen Brothers, Alexander Payne and Gus Van Sant. Natali recently completed his highly anticipated fourth feature film, SPLICE, starring Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley, which will hit screens this summer.
Stephen Stohn, Executive Producer & President, Epitome Pictures
Stephen Stohn is the president of Epitome Pictures Inc. and is executive producer of the teen television drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation and Instant Star, and most recently the television movie Degrassi Goes Hollywood. He is also executive producer of the telecast of Canada’s music awards show, The Juno Awards, and is the Chair of Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the organization responsible for The Juno Awards. Stephen is also the founding partner of the entertainment law firm Stohn Hay Cafazzo Dembroski Richmond LLP.
Eileen Arandiga, Festival Director, CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival
Eileen Arandiga is the Festival Director of the Worldwide Short Film Festival in Toronto. Eileen has been involved in various capacities with the festival for more than five years. She previously worked for the Toronto International Film Festival – Industry Programming and Services, and various arts organizations in Australia. She has also run filmmaking workshops for young women in Toronto, has sat on festival juries and has programmed shorts for Signals Festival in Britain and the Australian Canadian Film Festival in Sydney, Australia. Eileen holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Australia.
Wendy Noss, Executive Director, Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association
Wendy Noss is a veteran intellectual property lawyer who joined the CMPDA in 2006 as general counsel. Before joining the CMPDA, Noss practiced law with Sim Hughes and Bennett Jones in Toronto. Noss also served as counsel and director of government affairs for the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency.
A Robert Pisano, President and Interim Chief Executive Officer, Motion Picture Association of America, Inc.
Bob Pisano is President and Interim Chief Executive Officer of the Motion Picture Association of America. Bob has had almost 40 years experience in entertainment and the law. His first career was in legal practice at O’Melveny and Myers, where he specialized in business litigation and headed the firm’s Paris office between 1979 and 1983. He left O’Melveny in 1985 and, over the next 14 years, held successively the jobs of Executive Vice President of Paramount Pictures and Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of MGM. In 2001 he became the top administrator at the Screen Actors Guild, holding the titles of National Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer. In January 2010 he was appointed President and Interim Chief Executive Officer of the MPAA, having joined the organization as President Chief Operating Officer in October, 2005.
