TORONTO – The National Directors Division (NDD) of the Directors Guild of Canada announced its selections today for the latest program in the NDD’s Career Pipeline initiative: the Director Market Accelerator delegation at the Banff World Media Festival. Directors selected for this delegation will receive an invaluable selection of benefits and opportunities at the upcoming Banff World Media Festival, running from June 8th to 11th, 2025.

Selected Directors all have scripted television projects they are seeking to move forward, with a producer attached or at least partial financing secured. Delegation benefits include one-on-one meetings with industry decision-makers, a market preparation session, multiple sessions with renowned pitch-doctor Carole Kirschner, a private reception, discounted festival passes and targeted promotion for each Director representative and their project.

For a list of the full delegation and descriptions of each Director’s project, visit Directors.ca.

“Few events offer the same level of access to the industry’s top decision-makers than the Banff World Media Festival,” said NDD Chair Zach Lipovsky. “We’re delighted to have this delegation of ambitious filmmakers attend the festival as part of the NDD’s Market Accelerator, which provides real opportunities to forge new partnerships and advance their projects from pitch to production.”

The Guild is also proud to have the recipient of this year’s Jean-Marc Vallée Bursary, Director Alfonso Maiorana, attending the festival as a member of the delegation. Supported by the Banff World Media Festival (BANFF), WBD Access Canada, and the DGC, the bursary honors the legacy of Québec filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée, by offering a Québec-based director a full BANFF Festival pass, a stipend, and an opportunity to showcase their work and gain industry profile at the festival. “It is our privilege to continue Jean-Marc Vallée's commitment to supporting the next generation of Québec filmmakers.  We thank our partners, and heartily congratulate Alfonso Maiorana as this year's bursary recipient. We look forward to welcoming him to the festival,” says BANFF Executive Director, Jenn Kuzmyk.

The full delegation is comprised of filmmakers from across Canada:

Adrienne Mitchell	Ontario
Alfonso Maiorana	Quebec
Alison Murray	Ontario
Arshad Khan	Quebec
Berkley Brady	Alberta
Dylan Pearce	Alberta
Jo Marr	British Columbia
Kate Green	British Columbia
Michael Peterson	Alberta
Nat Boltt	British Columbia
Panta Mosleh	British Columbia
Paolo Barzman	Ontario
Rouzbeh Heydari	Ontario
Sid Santiago Zanforlin	Ontario
Virginia Abramovich	Ontario

The inaugural DGC Directors Banff World Media Festival delegation is part of the NDD Career Pipeline, aiming to build a pathway for DGC Directors upward through the industry and to help advance careers. Other delegations of DGC Directors are headed to Hot Docs and Content Canada during TIFF with international plans for EFM in Berlin and Series Mania in France for 2026.

The NDD Career Pipeline also includes the ongoing NDD Director Mentor Program and the NDD Director Observer Initiative. The mentor program is a framework for pairing emerging DGC Directors with DGC Director mentors, providing 12 monthly sessions over the calendar year. The Observer Initiative is a framework to easily enable producers to discover new talent and invest in the future of their production through an on-set placement of a Director Observer.

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Media:

Ian Gillespie – Director of Communications, igillespie@dgc.ca

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The Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) is a national labour organization that represents over 7,000 key creative and logistical personnel in the screen-based industry covering all areas of direction, design, production and editing. The DGC negotiates and administers collective agreements and lobbies extensively on issues of concern for Members including Canadian content conditions, CRTC regulations and ensuring that funding is maintained for Canadian film and television programming.