Archive for the ‘filmmakers’ Category

Elizabeth Spanó – Composer

In 2002 her debut CD, captured the attention of many people in the classical music scene, including Stefanos Karabekos, conductor and founder of the Symphony Orchestra of Canada. Stefanos was enlisted as a consulting producer for the Elizabeth Spanó project.

If you’ve ever had a chance to hear Elizabeth Spanó play, you would know first hand the truth in this statement. With every musical note she plays, she takes us with her into a surreal, sonic adventure of fast paced rhythms and beautiful melodies. As a child, Elizabeth developed a strong fascination with the piano, and a growing hunger to learn how to play. At age eleven, she began taking lessons at the Royal Conservatory of Music, located in Toronto, Canada. By age thirteen, she was playing the music of great composers such as Bach and Mozart at the level befitting a concert pianist. She was capable of playing virtually any piece of music placed in front of her.
Elizabeth then discovered composing and it was here that she began to fulfill her true musical desires. She has written numerous classical compositions. Her debut CD features some of her best works to date. Not only is Elizabeth a brilliant pianist and composer, she is also an excellent vocalist. Her mind is constantly at work composing new music every day and retooling her symphonic creations. Her music communicates and consumes the listener; it is not unusual to see many of her audience overcome by emotion.

Select Career highlights…
2000 – performed at the Trudeau Stage Award ceremonies.
2001 – performed chosen pieces at the 12th Annual SOCAN Dinner & Awards.
– performed at the Cannes Film Festival.
2002 – released her debut classical piano album “Symphonic Music for
Piano” and landed a distribution deal through Universal Music Canada in 2005.
2009 – recently during the TIFF she was personally asked to re-record the
main theme to a classic French movie by Ariel Veneziano (previously president of Icon Entertainment International and Director of Motion Picture Sales and International Home Video Distribution at Alliance Atlantis, now president of GreeneStreet Films International) it should also be noted that he expressed an interest in helping Liza rebuild, and launch her career on a multilevel media platform.

Brent Setterington – Composer

Brent Setterington has had the pleasure of working with vastly talented major label artists over the years. His journey as a uniquely talented producer started with the funk soul outfit Jacksoul, and as the main co-writer, arranger/keyboardist and musical director, he helped Haydain Neale and Jacksoul land a MAJOR recording contract with BMG back in 1995-96. In 1997 he signed a MAJOR publishing deal with Polygram Canada, and in 2001 re-negotiated his publishing contract with the newly conglomerated Universal Music Publishing Group. It was also around this time that he was working as an in-house producer at Sony Music Canada, a rare feat considering that Sony usually only allows Sony signed writers to become part of their “team”. Brent spent a good part of a year writing and recording for such Canadian treasures as Tom Wilson (Junkhouse) and Edwin (I Mother Earth) as well as keeping busy working on off hours developing indie unsigned artists. In 2002 he met another important writer/producer Robbie Patterson formerly signed to Peer Music, where he quickly forged a solid easy going musical bond and ended up co-producing 3 of the 4 songs landing on Canada’s premiere reggae pop artist Snow and his EMI release “Two Hands Clapping”.

Brent has extensive writing and producing experience and he’s always highly committed to the utmost excellence and detail, while not losing site of a truly original artistic vision. He has been a part of many writing sessions (Pop Stars, Justin Gray) and symposiums, and in 2004 he co-wrote a song called “Single” which was covered a year later, by Canadian Idol winner Kalan Porter, on his debut release “219 Days”. The song became Kalan’s 2nd single, and the album would be certified double platinum by the end the year.

Other artists he’s worked with and cowritten with
Jenna Andrews (Universal Motown)
Clayton Bellamy (The Road Hammers, Open Road, Montage US)
Jordan Cook (Sony NY)
Outmatch (Universal/Centarus Germany)

Always surrounded by amazing talent, Brent is a special sort of producer who doesn’t have his own sound because he has always chosen to wear the artist. It is this approach that has enabled him to be completely comfortable in any genre often delivering resulting music that defies convention but still has enough of a radio pop sensibility and is “market friendly”. One of his career milestones was achieved when he had the honour and pleasure of meeting Dominic Miller in 2006 (longtime co-collaborator guitarist for Sting) through a very talented close personal violin prodigy Sonia Jun, (former TSO principal violinist) and was able to hire and produce Dominic when Brent was working on another exciting solo debut in England.

Presently he is co-owner of THE BOOM BOOM ROOM, a small professionally set up studio, and works with many different upcoming and well seasoned gifted experienced artists, such as Leroy Emmanuel who’s pedigree goes back to days of working with Motown, Marvin Gaye, Patti Labelle, Bohannon (and creating his ground shattering progressive funk/soul band “The Fabulous Counts”.) Brent is always looking to expand his vision and challenges himself daily to recreate something fresh and totally new, so that he’s in touch with the most current production techniques as well as finding new groundbreaking methods to push the music forward. However, his approach is deeply rooted in the old school very “hands on” to his richly textured sonic tapestries carefully woven and held tightly together by spiritual intuition and innate desire to keep the listener always guessing and pleasantly surprised when they hear just a fragment of his vision and scope of music.

Allan Pynn – Sound Designer

Allan Pynn enjoys writing about himself in the 3rd person. A Toronto native, Allan has been immersed in music and sound since 11 and a half. “My neighbor bought a drum kit, and when I saw it, I was hooked.” As an accomplished air drummer (a la John Bonham) by the age of 10 , the transition to the real thing was seamless. Over the next 10 years, he would study everything from Classical, Jazz, Rock, Electronica, RnB, Hip Hop as well as experimental music genres. During this time, he also became obsessed with recording everything… “I still have cassette tape recordings of my friends and I jamming from the Junior High School days”. In the early two thousands, Allan purchased his first computer and ProTools system. After endless days and nights of nerding out with the newly acquired equipment, he tried his hand at composing music for short films as well as creating and mixing sound for them.

Allan has currently designs audio and composes music for film, t.v., commercial and fun times.

Lucius Dechausay – Editor

As an artist and editor, Lucius Dechausay has held a number of different positions in the entertainment industry. He has worked on everything from independent films to nationally televised shows like Entertainment Tonight and The Hour. He has worked on music videos for artists such as Saukrates, Choclair, Kardinal and commercials for companies including Goodwill, GO Transit, L’Oreal Paris and Holt Renfrew. He has also created illustrations for The Toronto Star, Mac Cosmetics and the CBC. Currently he freelances on various independent productions and is working on his next animated short film.

Rion Gonzales – Director of Photography

Rion Gonzales has been a Toronto-based cinematographer since 1994 and has extensive experience in filming and lighting dramatic themes and documentaries for cinema and television, both on location and in studio. His work has screened around the world, including screenings at the Sundance Film Festival, Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin, Toronto International Film Festival, NSI Film Exchange, and the Worldwide Short Film Festival.

Over his fifteen-year career, he has been the director of photography for numerous documentaries, commercials, television series, short films, and most recently, the independent feature-length film Webdultery that is currently in post-production. Some examples of his body of work include credits as the Director of Photography for the Canadian Film Centre’s short films, In Shadow, directed by Shirley Cheechoo and Short Hymn_Silent War, directed by Charles Officer, and for several documentaries directed by Min Sook Lee, including Badge of Pride, which aired on CBC.

Rion has thorough knowledge of lighting for film motion picture formats and has used High Definition analog and digital video technology since it became available, including tapeless workflows and direct-to-web productions. His experience includes special effects shooting where green or blue screen is used. He also worked with motion control camera rig systems and large screen rear projection.

His experience at the post-secondary level includes teaching a fall/winter film production course at the Ontario College of Art and Design in 1997. And has also acted as a guest lecturer in lighting for production at OCAD for several years. He is a graduate of OCAD, having received five scholarships in new media during his time there. In the spring of 2009, he taught a lighting class at Humber College as a guest lecturer. And also a weekend course funded by the government of Prince Edward Island on lighting for cinematography in Charlottetown in September 2010.

Rion’s professional associations include my membership in IATSE Local 667 and my associate membership in the Canadian Society of Cinematographers.

Muzafar Malik – Producer

Born and raised in Toronto, Muzafar Malik has been an active member in the independent film community working as a producer and an editor. While awaiting the distribution for his debut film, WEBDULTERY, he is fast at work producing his next two feature films, BAD PAPER and ABSCIDO.

As an editor Muzafar has worked on various short films and music video’s. He transitioned into editing feature films applying the finishing touches on The Dot Film Company’s feature film THINGS TO DO, now available at all Blockbuster stores across Canada. He followed that up by editing on The Dot Film Company’s next feature film, IODINE, now available on iTunes.

Along with his film experience, Muzafar also has worked extensively producing live events in Canada and the US. He has worked with clients producing The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, The National Magazine Awards and The SOCAN Awards.

Muzafar is also a proud graduate from the prestigious Post-Graduate Advanced Television and Film Program at Sheridan College.

Charles Wahl – Writer & Director

Born in London, England, and raised in Toronto, Canada, Charles is a graduate of the highly competitive Post Graduate Advanced Film & TV program at Sheridan College.

Charles co-wrote and co-directed his first short film COFFEE SHOP, which premiered at the 2002 Montreal World FilmFest, and was later broadcast on Movie Central. Charles next wrote and directed a short comedy entitled PASS THE SALT, which went on to screen at film festivals across Canada, and was also broadcast on Movie Central.

In 2004 Charles won the award for best direction, and best screenplay for the film LAST LOOK which he co-wrote and directed for the first round of the 2004 NYC Midnight Moviemaking Madness Competition.

Charles has since gone on to expand his template as a working commercial director for such clients as Nestle, GO Transit, Vancouver Sun, Pizza Nova, Forest Ethics, The Stephen Lewis Foundation (featuring K-OS), and many others. Charles has also directed music videos for and featuring Juno winning artists including Hatiras, and Choclair.

Most recently, Charles has completed his first feature film, WEBDULTERY, while in development on his next two films, BAD PAPER, and ABSCIDO.