ARNOLD LIM
Moderator
Arnold Lim is an Independent director and producer who won Telefilm’s Talent to Watch grant twice with past awards & grants from the BC Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, BravoFACT and the Harold Greenberg Fund. He recently won the Director’s Guild of Canada’s Greenlight award and was selected to the National Screen Institute’s Features First program and hails from Victoria BC.

JOHNNY AITKEN
Indigenous cultural safety and engagement on film and art projects
Elder Johnny Aitken, Cowichan Tribes, Comiaken Nation is an inter-disciplinary 2Spirit artist living on Mayne Island BC. Johnny is guided by the term, Fumbling Towards Reconciliation. For Johnny this means that no one has a clear path to truth, healing, and reconciliation. We all are fumbling and that is okay! We are all Treaty people who need to learn to work together to create a more equitable society. Johnny will expand on this notion when he discusses what this means to him when it comes to cultural safety and creating safe spaces.

KATHLEEN JOHNSON
Why your indie script needs a Sensitivity Reader
Kathleen Johnson is CEO of Kreativ Culture Strategies based in the Victoria/Vancouver area that provides Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism training to organizations. She earned a degree in Sociology and Anthropology from Carleton University and a certificate in DEI from Cornell University. She is also an executive leadership and group coach with certification from Certified Coaches Federation and Values Inspired Coaching. Kathleen has worked with companies such as Bank of America, Desjardins Insurance, Fidusure Financial, the Town of East Gwillimbury, national non-profits, and federal governmental agencies. She has a background in Film and TV working on such productions as Beauty and the Beast, Suits, Umbrella Academy, and Suicide Squad. She volunteers as board chair of Odihi Foundation that helps women and girls of colour with overall wellness, getting into boardroom positions, and entrepreneurship.

CHEN WANG
Cultural traditions and protocols on a recent local student production
Chen Wang was born in Mainland China and moved to Victoria in 2013. He has worked on countless local film productions and is currently working on his PhD focusing on migration history and documentary films, while also teaching film courses at the University of Victoria. As a director, cinematographer, and writer, Chen has worked on over 60 commercials, music
videos, documentaries, shorts, and feature films which have screened at festivals internationally.

NICOLLE NATTRASS
Safe spaces, self care, and mental wellness on set
Nicolle Nattrass is grateful to live, work and create on the unceded and ancestral territory of the Snaw’na’as First Nations people. She is an advocate for mental wellness, psychological safety & bringing care & professionalism to the arts & entertainment industry. She is a counselor (CAC II), trauma informed consultant and facilitator. Holding space for artists, whether as a dramaturge, director or coach, is grounded in trauma-informed, heart centred and ethical practice. Helping others and offering tools for increased creative self care and mental wellness has been the key to her work as a coach and counselor, navigating difficult conversations and topics like trauma, anxiety and substance misuse. Her professional expertise unites two careers, 25+ years of experience working in the performing arts as a Jessie nominated theatre/film/tv actor (CAEA/UBCP/ACTRA), playwright (PGC), director and dramaturge as well as a career working front line as an Addiction Counselor (CAC II) and trauma-informed consultant specializing in mental wellness, coaching and creative self care practices.

MEGAN WONG
Why your indie production needs an Intimacy Coordinator
Megan Wong (she/they) is a queer, neurodivergent, Chinese-Canadian Intimacy Professional working primarily in the Pacific Northwest. Megan’s primary background includes classical ballet and contemporary dance, movement theatre, and psychology (B.A.). She is also a practicing special educator and sexual assault support worker and incorporates skills from those disciplines into her practice. Megan has consulted, instructed, and presented internationally as an IP and works predominantly in Victoria and Vancouver. Select credits include Superman & Lois (CW), Reginald the Vampire (Syfy), Selma Burke (Theatre Calgary) and Seventeen (Western Gold Theatre).

CONOR MOORE
Crew safety in union and non-union environments
Conor Moore (he/him) is a Vancouver-based labour organizer living on unceded Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) land. He currently works as an Organizer for IATSE 891, Recording Secretary for IATSE 118, and President of the Arts and Cultural Workers Union IATSE B-778. He aims to help workers amplify and increase their own inherent power that they possess, as workers -- whether they are organizing around higher wages, more control over their working conditions, or to create safer worksites, workers themselves hold the power to create change.

MATTHEW GIONET
Accessibility considerations in post-production
Matthew Gionet stands at the forefront of inclusive media production, championing accessibility through his extensive expertise in audio post-production. With a career spanning over two decades, he has become a trailblazer in the field, particularly in the realms of descriptive audio, audio post production, and Integrated Described Video (IDV). Matthew also has extensive experience with broadcast deliverables such as language versioning, localization, closed captioning and various network requirements. His expertise extends across a wide range of platforms, from major networks and streaming services like Netflix, CBC, CTV, APTN, and Amazon, Hallmark, Lifetime, Tubi Films, and the AMI Network. By providing vivid and immersive descriptions of visual elements, he ensures that every viewer can fully engage with the content. Throughout his career, Matthew has remained dedicated to advancing inclusivity in media production, with contributions that have not only transformed the way we experience media but have also opened doors for individuals to enjoy content without barriers.